In Seek of Light

Light has always been visually present, yet it is often overlooked.
It can easily become a background, a sub-focus, yet it is one of the most important elements of life.

Light can be better noticed in the Erasure of distraction.
Just as how the innate essence of things is better appreciated in the Erasure of the superfluous.

In this group of works, I explore the beauty of sculpted shapes of light by using a painting’s negative space to see light as both a subject matter and material. In reflecting consumeristic society, the works stand in a gentle resistant position to remind us that it is not always in what we consume or add, but also in what we subtract (erasure), that we can find a sense of fulfilment and wholeness.

Kayleigh Goh was born and raised in Malaysia/Singapore and is currently based in Melbourne.

Inspired by the psychological and poetic implications of place, Goh explores the use of painting and architectural languages in her practice. In her works, Goh aims to construct meditative spaces and mental shelters that can encourage rest. Within the fast-paced life of the city, Goh endeavours to create access, or a type of portal, to a metaphysical space where audiences can safely unpack unresolved emotions of despair. With that, her works aim to offer a temporary escape from the complexities and incongruities in life.

In her highly tactile paintings, Goh predominantly uses raw, textured cement and exposed wood as a medium through which she seeks to create a sense of balance in her work. As a life-long city dweller, she sees cement and wood as domesticated materials. For Goh, the notion of the “concrete jungle” has become so infused in our contemporary lives that the once lamented negative reputation of the “city” is no longer relevant to the increasing number of city-dwellers. Urban design, with its 90-degree angles, flat coloured walls and the abundance of cement, have all become elements of familiarity. Goh’s works protest-against the long-held notions of the city, and instead, she openly embraces the city as her space for healing.

Goh has participated in various exhibitions in and around Southeast Asia. She had her first solo show at Gajah Gallery Singapore in October 2018, and recently presented her second solo show in Yogyakarta, Indonesia in early 2020. Goh is the final prize winner for “2018 UNTAPPED Connections”, and a finalist for Malaysia UOB Painting Award and Singapore Clifton Art Prize. She was nominated for participation in the 2020 Sovereign Art Prize and was commissioned by Singapore Public Art Trust for a Public Installation work in 2019. Goh received her BA (Fine Arts) from Singapore Lasalle College of the Arts and is currently undertaking her MA (Contemporary Arts) at the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne.