My Own Words: Jasper Johns, the White Whale
Target Paintings to Moby Dick
By Ian Tee
'My Own Words' is a monthly series which features personal essays by practitioners in the Southeast Asian art community. They deliberate on their locality's present circumstances, articulating observations and challenges in their respective roles.
In March 2023, I debuted a new body of work in a solo exhibition titled ‘MOBY DICK (I AMTHE DEVIL INYOUR HEART)’. The suite of Moby Dick paintings references Herman Melville’s iconic novel of the same name.Truth be told, while I was previously aware of Moby Dick and the symbol of the white whale, I was—and am still—not invested in it as a work of literature. Rather, I was lured in on this voyage through the peculiar appearance of the whale in Jasper Johns’ encaustic on canvas painting ‘Ventriloquist’ (1983).
Appearing on the left half of ‘Ventriloquist’, the whale is among several objects and images in John’s composition. It is rendered as an outline based on Barry Moser’s wood engravings, published in a 1979 edition of the novel. Though the whale recedes into the background of the painting, it remains clearly visible. Rather, what is unclear is why Johns included this reference into the work. With a suggestive title such as ‘Ventriloquist’, one cannot help but speculate about the artist’s intentions. And so, my engagement, and subsequent obsession, with Moby Dick began.
Ian Tee, ‘MOBY DICK (I AM THE DEVIL INYOUR HEART)’, 2022, acrylic paint, target papers, comic strips, prayer card, postcard and collage on destroyed aluminum composite panel, 180 x 150cm. Image courtesy of the artist and Ames Yavuz.
Ian Tee, ‘THE WHITENESS OF THE WHALE’, 2022, acrylic paint, target papers and collage on destroyed aluminum composite panel, 180 x 150cm. Image courtesy of the artist and Ames Yavuz.
Collage as Method
As with my other bodies of work, the process of making is a form of thinking. For me, collage is a method of bringing disparate fragments together: materials, forms, and ideas. Often, my acrylic and collage paintings on aluminium can also be thought of as highly composed mind maps that operate around a formal logic.Yet, embedded within paint are also pieces of text, imagery, and symbols that viewers may recognise. My paintings are highly tactile things where the materiality of surfaces matter. What I mean here is: acrylic paint behaves in a fluid or gel consistency; comic books and other paper sources are the actual thing in their original scale; and shine comes from metallic substrate.
“For me, collage is a method of bringing disparate fragments together: materials, forms, and ideas.”
The works in ‘MOBY DICK’ are a development of this approach. While the paintings draw from characters and imagery evoked in the novel, and are titled in reference to specific chapters, I do not think they are “illustrating” the story. In my research into the whale in John’s ‘Ventriloquist’, I have been unable to find a satisfactory interpretation for its presence. Johns, much like Moby Dick, has become that elusive white whale.
Ian Tee, ‘SWEET DREAMS’, 2019, exhibition view of ‘EVIDENCE’ and ‘MAN AGAINST MAN’ (both 2019) at Yavuz Gallery, Singapore. Image courtesy of the artist and AmesYavuz.
Ian Tee, ‘PERILOUS NIGHT’, 2019, acrylic paint, target paper, torch lights, collage and cord on destroyed aluminium composite panel, 150 x 120 x 7cm. Image courtesy of the artist and Ames Yavuz.
Moving Targets
It is not the first time I have engaged with the symbols in John’s work.This preoccupation began much earlier during my student days, and took form in the ‘Target Paintings’ I started making after graduating in 2018. Instead of suspending the target in a state of abstraction, as Johns did, I wanted to return the body into this motif. It spurred my use of target papers which are used for firing practice. I have chosen designs with an adult human scale to establish a bodily relationship with the audience. In his review of my first solo exhibition ‘SWEET DREAMS’ (2019), writer Marcus Yee described vividly:
“Standing passively before pictures of violence, you are complicit in the motors of violence… Pain and spectacle are churned into pleasure and guilt. You become a witness, passing-by, a firer, on standby, aiming your gaze directly at figures on target papers.”¹
For me, the target symbol acts as a screen to explore themes of difference and vulnerability. The meaning of the target is further charged when it read alongside slashes into the painting’s surface. While a gunshot may come across as distant and impersonal, the cuts suggest a more intimate encounter. By stepping closer to view the artwork, the audience becomes complicit in the violent gaze. With this body of work, the target motif is absorbed into my own visual vocabulary, into a network of associations which continue to expand each time it is used.
“For me, the target symbol acts as a screen to explore themes of difference and vulnerability. The meaning of the target is further charged when it read alongside slashes into the painting’s surface. While a gunshot may come across as distant and impersonal, the cuts suggest a more intimate encounter.”
IanTee, ‘MOBY DICK (I AM THE DEVIL IN YOUR HEART)’, 2023, exhibition view at Yavuz Gallery, Singapore. Image courtesy of the artist and Ames Yavuz.
IanTee, ‘MOBY DICK (I AM THE DEVIL IN YOUR HEART)’, 2023, exhibition view at Yavuz Gallery, Singapore. Image courtesy of the artist and Ames Yavuz.
The connection between the target and Moby Dick became clear to me through language. In common parlance, the white whale is used to describe a goal or desire that one pursues obsessively. It can refer to material aspirations, and abstract notions such as the idea of revenge. In the novel, Captain Ahab’s maniacal pursuit of Moby Dick resulted in his demise, and also that of the ship’s crew. Only the narrator, Ishmael, lived to tell the tale.
The ‘Moby Dick’ paintings are driven by the psychology of the chase. Conceptually, it is an evolution of the earlier ‘Target Paintings’, where the idea of the target has shifted from the bodily to the abstract. Despite their narrative origins, the 'Moby Dick' series is a formal exploration of movement in gestural painting and comic book aesthetic. I wanted to move beyond the incorporation of comic strips as a collage material, and infuse its sensibility and formal strategies into the overall composition. The deep incisions I make into the aluminium as a finishing touch became more graphic, functioning like motion lines that guide the viewer’s eye across the surface. These elements come together to create a dynamic choreography that keeps the eye moving, akin to a page turning comic book as they move from one painting to the next in the exhibition.
‘THE CHASE (FALSE START)’ and ‘THE WHALE (VENTRILOQUIST)’, works in progress in Ian’s studio, April 2024. Image courtesy of the artist.
The Chase (False Start)
A year later, I embarked on a second suite of ‘Moby Dick’ paintings. I return to John’s ‘Ventriloquist’ for another attempt at making sense of Moby Dick’s appearance. Rather than a sequel, it might be intriguing to think of this new body of work as a re-run. I am charmed by the idea of false start, to begin again at the source of inspiration and run this race a second time.This time, I allowed myself to be swayed by the novel and interpretations of its themes. It is an exercise in confabulation that entangles Moby Dick with fragments from John’s oeuvre and my visual vocabulary. Connections can be semantic, formal, or entirely speculative.
I find inspiration in the title ‘Ventriloquist’, and the idea of speaking through another. Neither an homage nor appropriation, I am unable to put a finger on this form of citation or entanglement. Yet, an impulse continues to guide me in this direction. Who is the ventriloquist in this relationship? And what do such acts of voicing entail? I believe that making is a sense-making, and that is the practice. I hope to come closer to this white whale, even if it remains a little beyond my reach.
“Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree?
I travel the world
And the seven seas
Everybody’s looking for something”
- Lyrics taken from the chorus of Eurythmics’ ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)’ (1983)
In hindsight, the theme of searching is already a seed planted in ‘SWEET DREAMS’.The exhibition title references the song Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (1983) by Eurythmics. Much like Eurythmics’ lyrics, there is an inherent darkness in the early ‘Target Paintings’. But in its evolution into the ‘Moby Dick’ series, I think this has given way to curiosity and an openness to allow the work to be about this seeking.
This article is a part of CHECK-IN 2024, our annual publication, which comes in at 313 pages this year. You can buy a limited-edition print copy at SGD38 here.
Read all My Own Words essays here.
