Art In Everyday Objects

This is a chair. A what? A chair. A what? A chair. Oh, a chair!
Rene Robles gives mundane items like tables, light bulbs and chairs their 15 minutes of fame in The Art of Making Visible
By James P. Ong

ARE you familiar with the “This is a what?” parlour game? A group sits in a circle and the person who starts the game picks up any object (for example, a pen) and passes it on to the person to her right. The giver says, “This is a pen,” and the recipients says, “A what?” and the giver again explains, “A pen.”

This routine repeats two more times and then the recipient, exclaims, “Oh, a pen,” then passes on the pen to the next person to his right. At the same time, the original giver picks up a new object and passes it again to the person to his right. Pretty soon, the entire group in the circle is passing objects left and right.

The point of the game — and this lengthy introduction — is not only to test the player’s memory, but also to focus the spotlight on ordinary, everday objects: a pen, a key, a chair, a table…Which brings us to real point of this story: the art exhibit in Singapore by international artist Rene Robles, entitled The Art Of Making Visible.

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