Tiffany Singh

Bio.

May the rainbow touch your shoulder...

Wax, honey, feathers, rose petals, rice, paper, salt, ribbons and bells. Simple objects and natural materials are assembled into clever configurations by Tiffany Singh so that they might be encountered with joy. Wooden, bamboo wind-chimes hang waiting to be set in motion by gentle winds or curious hands, rows of figures and objects moulded in beeswax form inviting long lines. There are golden apples, lotus flowers and little deities. Powdered spices and pigments are piled into inviting mounds. Such components are often arranged into grids or lines so that the eye might take them in either with a sweeping glance or in easy increments. Aside from the rich glow and rainbow of colours- red, magenta, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet, there is the importance of touch and one’s sense of smell. Sounding bells, pulling on a string, knocking a wind-chime… or inhaling the scent of honeycomb, star anise, paprika, incense or wax.

Although they are visually spectacular orchestrations of multitudes, repeated forms and variable colours, Singh’s works await the presence of viewers or participants and are incomplete without them. Central to Singh’s practice is the notion of public participation and a reciprocity between artist and audience. These installations of significant materials act as offerings, recalling shrine cultures in which seemingly mundane materials are presented so that they might be transformed, becoming sacred. Here auspicious arrangements of lovingly crafted and placed elements act as invitations, gifts, moments of exchange and experience. Generosity and the labour of the artist give way to contemplation, collaboration and community-building.

Sensual, exuberant and optimistic, each installation and encounter transfigures the commonplace, strengthening social relations. Using forms from multiple faiths and mythologies, vivid colours, simple materials and expansive arrangments, Singh initiates wonder and awe. Most importantly of all there is an abundance of enjoyment.

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Tiffany Singh (b. 1978) currently lives and works in Auckland. Since completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours at Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland in 2008 she has initiated major artistic projects both nationally and internationally. She was the 2017 frecient of a New Generation Arts Award from the Arts Foundation of New Zealand. Her major collaborative public project "Fly Me Up To Where You Are" has been featured as part of the Auckland Arts Festival 2013 and continued in other major city centres both in New Zeraland and internationally in 2013 - 2014. In late 2012 a year long project "May the Rainbow Touch your Shoulder" was unveiled at the Auckland Art Gallery and she exhibited two major site specific projects as part of the 18th Biennale of Sydney (2012) and Medi(t)ation: Contemporary Asian Art Biennial at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (2011). Selected works by Singh have also been included within curated exhibitions and group shows including Preserve (Papakura Art Gallery, 2011) Stealing the Senses (Govett Brewster, New Plymouth, 2011) and Knowing Me, Knowing You (Artspace, Auckland, 2010.) Singh has received significant recognition for her work - in 2012 she participated in a residency at Shanti Studios in India and in 2013 she  undertook a residency at McCahon House in Titirangi and at the Montalvo Arts Centre in California. In 2018 she will take up an artist residency in Taiwan.

For additional information and a complete CV please contact the gallery.

Selected Media.

  1. ART BEAT
    Interview with Tiffany Singh, Art Zone
    2019
  2. DRAGON'S BLOOD, TURMERIC & LIGHT: TIFFANY SINGH'S HEALING ART
    Radio New Zealand interview, Lynda Chanwai-Earle
    2018
  3. RITUALS AND WELLBEING: TIFFANY SINGH IN CONVERSATION
    Te Papa Museum of New Zealand website, Nina Tonga
    2018
  4. Tiffany Singh and Social Practice
    Aimee Ralfini interviews Tiffany Singh, Who Arted, BFM
    2017
  5. JAMES 4:14 LIFE IS BUT A VAPOUR
    Te Uru Gallery, exhibition catalogue
    2014
  6. Maqula Al-Hala Wa Qaws Quzah - On the Rainbow and Halo
    Iola Lenzi, Esplanade Singapore exhibition catalogue
    2014
  7. FLY ME UP TO WHERE YOU ARE
    Elisapeta Heta, Tautai
    2013
  8. PRACTICE PERSPECTIVE: TIFFANY SINGH
    Mitakuye Oyasin, Scope
    2013
  9. RAINBOWS OF COLOUR
    Catharina van Bohemen, Art Zone
    2012
  10. TIFFANY SINGH: STEALING THE SENSES
    interview with Rhana Devenport, Govett Brewster Art Gallery
    2011
  11. TIFFANY SINGH: CHAKRA PROJECT
    Auckland Print Studio
    2011
  12. SACRED EXCHANGE
    interview with Jasmine Pujji, Asia Downunder
    2009

News.

  1. Tiffany Singh | In Motion: The Moving Parts of Contemporary Art | Dunedin Public Art Gallery
  2. Tiffany Singh | A Collective Voice | COCA, Christchurch
  3. Tiffany Singh | Art That Needs You | Tauranga Art Gallery
  4. Tiffany Singh | Kalaidoscope: Abstract Aotearoa | Te Papa Museum of NZ
  5. Tiffany Singh | Taiwan Residency Announcement
  6. Tiffany Singh | New Generation Award | NZ Arts Foundation
  7. Kirstin Carlin, Richard Orjis & Tiffany Singh | Flora | Franklin Arts Centre
  8. Tiffany Singh | Best Awards
  9. Tiffany Singh | The Journey of a Million Miles - Following Steps | New Zealand Maritime Museum
  10. TIFFANY SINGH & MATT ELLWOOD | Headland Sculpture on the Gulf
  11. Tiffany Singh | OM MANI PADME HUM | Dunedin Public Art Gallery
  12. Tiffany Singh | Indras Bow | MTG Napier
  13. Tiffany Singh | Art For Food | Art Week 2016
  14. Tiffany Singh | Pasture to Paper
  15. Art Week 2016
  16. TIFFANY SINGH, ERICA VAN ZON & LIYEN CHONG | Visiting Asia | Hastings City Art Gallery
  17. An Occasional Rant | Female representation in New Zealand Galleries
  18. White Night | Auckland Festival 2016
  19. TIFFANY SINGH | Fly me up to Where You Are | New Zealand Festival, Wellington
  20. Tiffany Singh | Enshrine | Corbans Estate Arts Centre
  21. TIFFANY SINGH | Mahabhuta: The Great Element | Malcolm Smith Gallery
  22. TIFFANY SINGH | Calling a Circle
  23. TIFFANY SINGH | Santa Fe Art Institute Residency
  24. ERICA VAN ZON, TIFFANY SINGH & LIYEN CHONG | Imagine Asia | Pataka Art Museum
  25. TIFFANY SINGH | Life is but a Vapour | Te Uru
  26. TIFFANY SINGH | The Revision of Optics | Singapore
  27. Tiffany Singh | Kathmandu Contemporary Arts Centre residency
  28. ART NEW ZEALAND Magazine texts
  29. Tiffany Singh | Fly me up to where you are | 2014 International Festival of the Arts
  30. Tiffany Singh | Brick Bay Sculpture Park
  31. Tiffany Singh | Calling a Circle | McCahon House Residency
  32. Tiffany Singh | McCahon House Artist in Residence
  33. Tiffany Singh | Fly me up to where you are
  34. Tiffany Singh | Govett Brewster Art Gallery
  35. Tiffany Singh | Rationalization Resistance
  36. Tiffany Singh and Peter Peryer | Art New Zealand magazine
  37. TIffany Singh | Montalvo Arts Centre residency
  38. Tiffany Singh | Auckland Art Gallery