Shayne Phua
A Confucius for everyday folk (celery), 2024
Ceramic
31.5 x 20 x 18 cm
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The nine-tailed fox of Asian mythology is a trickster figure that purportedly possesses the ability to shapeshift, often taking on human form to deceive for its own ends. In A...
The nine-tailed fox of Asian mythology is a trickster figure that purportedly possesses the ability to shapeshift, often taking on human form to deceive for its own ends. In A Confucius for everyday folk (celery), Phua casts the supernatural being, incongruously, in the mould of the ancient Chinese sage Confucius, from the archaic robes to the sword tucked under one arm (part of the philosopher’s common iconography, as he was born into the warrior class, or shi). It is common Chinese practice to pray to Confucius for good grades— the historical figure having been deified —and, here, Phua makes a cheeky statement about the rituals of popular religion in the Sinosphere: celery, also called qin cai, alludes, through pun, to being hardworking, or qin lao. Confucianism has become associated with the discourse of “Asian values” that was espoused by Lee Kuan Yew and Mahathir Mohamad in the 1990s.
Exhibitions
ART SG 2025, presented by Yeo Workshop, 17 – 19 January 2025, Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Singapore.A roast of Asian nine tails topped with broken femur and bile, accompanied by more curious ingredients, 20 July – 1 September 2024, Yeo Workshop, Singapore
Pavilion Hong Kong 2026
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