Gavin’s art practice drifts between motion graphics, new media, and illustration. He is currently completing his BA (Hons) in Fine Art at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, following a diploma in Motion Graphics from Nanyang Polytechnic. His projects for MTV Asia and Light to Night Singapore—the latter earning a Crowbar Award Finalist nod—hint at his ability to move fluidly between commissioned work and a more reflective personal practice.
What draws us to Gavin’s work is the way he threads small narratives through the machinery of the late-capitalist urbanity governed by techno feudalism, revealing its anxieties with a distinctly local sensitivity. His images often feel like brief apertures into an elsewhere, even when that elsewhere lies just behind the familiar.
From September 2025 to September 2026, Gavin will be with us in the studio, in the field, and in the conversations that form the spine of Vertsub’s practice.
Art as a Sharp Weapon
1940–2026
Wood and glass
162 × 76 × 50 cm
Commissioned by National Gallery Singapore
This work revisits Art as a Sharp Weapon, a graduation address by Lim Hak Tai, founding principal of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, first delivered during wartime in 1940. Translated into English in 2013 by Justin Loke, the text was first presented in an earlier form in a group exhibition at NAFA curated by Dr. Wang Ruobing.
In this second iteration, the speech is reframed as a contemporary “relic,” echoing the layered inscriptions of objects such as the Rosetta Stone, where translation, transmission, and survival become integral to the work’s form. The presentation emphasizes the text not as a historical document, but as a fragment that continues to endure across time through preservation, reinterpretation, and return.
Through translation and remake, it re-emerges as a fragment in which the urgencies of the past continue to surface within contemporary conditions. In this work, translation is more than the linguistic transmission of information. It is a message addressed to an addressee, and it requires interpretation mediated by time.
A man wandering the National Library encounters a madman who speaks in footnotes and vandalised toilet cubicles scrawled with quotations without citations. In rooms, streets, archives, and forgotten corners of the city, lives unfold at the boundaries of etymology and the imaginary. Blending fiction, essay, and meditation, these works transform the landscapes of #singapore and beyond into territories of history, memory, and private archaeology
Here, the past does not simply recede. It returns in charged moments when fragments break free from the narratives that once confined them. An old event, an image, or a forgotten life emerges with new intensity, as if it had been waiting to be seen differently. History is no longer what has passed, but what flares up in the present, illuminating not only what once was, but what might have been. It lingers in objects, in gestures, in the silence between words — inviting the reader into a world where the act of looking is always also an act of remembering
lerepress.com/books/madmenofnationallibrary
toko__noma
Toxoplasmosis is an exhibition featuring 20+ cat-themed works by local and international artists, exploring the historical and cultural obsession with felines.
The title references the parasitic condition associated with cats, known for subtly reshaping behaviour and emotional responses of its hosts.
The dense salon-style hang reflects how cats have captivated human imagination across eras and cultures.
🐈 ADOPT A CAT ARTWORK 🐈
All works are for sale; 10% of proceeds go to @kittensanctuary.sg .
Opening day
Sunday, 19 April 2026 (National Cat Lady Day)
11am – 7pm
Exhibition continues until 3 May (by appointment).
Tokonoma
16 Shaw Road #3-10
367954
www.tokonoma.art
Art exhibits, clothing & events.
P.S. IF YOU RECOGNISE 5 OR MORE OF THESE CATS, YOU MAY HAVE A PROBLEM.
StreetPower: On Contemporary Art and Independent Spaces in Southeast Asia
Fri, 24 April, 6–9pm
136 Goethe Lab
Free, register at streetpower.peatix.com
In this programme, art historian and curator Iola Lenzi presents her recent book, examining the conditions that formed Southeast Asian contemporary art. Then, in collaboration with artists and independent art-space founders Jeremy Hiah (Your Mother Gallery, Singapore); Josephine Turalba (Philippines); Justin Loke (Singapore), Mella Jaarsma (Cemeti Art House, Jogjakarta), and Natalia Kraevskaia (Salon Natasha, Hanoi), the panel examines and debates the role of non-conventional venues for art in Southeast Asia past, present, and future. The evening will end with performances by Mella Jaarsma, Jeremy Hiah, and Josephine Turalba.
Register now for free at streetpower.peatix.com! (link in bio)
Got a new book by Iola Lenzi on Vũ Dân Tân. Realising language doesn’t have to behave.
Written on surface where registers collide. Text, as material, cut, worn. Language isn’t just a vehicle for information—the message speaks itself, its communicability.
we are (not quite so) quietly delighted to celebrate the debut short-story collection of Justin Loke ... and deeply honoured he has chosen Delere Press to give his words and worlds a home ... <3
lerepress.com/books/madmenofnationallibrary
OUR NEW BOOK !!!
Delere Press is really happee to announce the advent of ‘Madmen of National Library’ by Justin Loke ...
lerepress.com/books/madmenofnationallibrary
A man wandering the National Library encounters a madman who speaks in footnotes and vandalised toilet cubicles scrawled with quotations without citations. In rooms, streets, archives, and forgotten corners of the city, lives unfold at the boundaries of etymology and the imaginary. Blending fiction, essay, and meditation, these works transform the landscapes of Singapore and beyond into territories of history, memory, and private archaeology.
Here, the past does not simply recede. It returns in charged moments when fragments break free from the narratives that once confined them. An old event, an image, or a forgotten life emerges with new intensity, as if it had been waiting to be seen differently. History is no longer what has passed, but what flares up in the present, illuminating not only what once was, but what might have been. It lingers in objects, in gestures, in the silence between words — inviting the reader into a world where the act of looking is always also an act of remembering.
lerepress.com/books/madmenofnationallibrary
Thank you everyone for celebrating with us the launch of A Few Little Words II today!
This afternoon’s panel invited us into a rich set of reflections on authorship, the tension between functional and creative writing, and whether we write with an audience in mind. We spoke about the discipline required to hone one’s craft amidst endless distractions, and were reminded that even tools like the typewriter and word processor were once considered forms of “AI.”
At the heart of it all was a simple but weighty question: can we stand by our work, and be proud enough to put our name to it?
“Its generosity opened space for reflection and thought, not just production.” – A youthful Justin Loke looks on as today's @jus_tinloke recalls Vertical Submarine’s summer residency with Fiona Koh and Joshua Yang over a decade ago at @fondationlarochejacquelin . A publication of texts and photographs, Condemned Milk (2015), emerged from the residency, now out of print but shared in selected extracts here.
Applications are open for the 2026 Sub+ Residencies x Fondation la Roche Jacquelin until 27 March 2026, calling for Singapore/Permanent Resident artists based in Singapore, aged 35 and below.
Learn more & apply at /sub-residencies-x-fondation-la-roche
(link in bio)
Final deadline: Fri 27 Mar 2026, 11.59pm SGT (GMT+8)
📷📖: Justin Loke
Our AFLW II publication is ready to be launched!
BOOK LAUNCH: PAPER — reading | writing | making
What does it mean to read, to write, and to make together?
Join us for the launch of A Few Little Words II, a community anthology shaped by voices from Tampines and beyond. This intimate afternoon brings together writers, readers, and makers to reflect on the creative process and the stories we carry.
Featuring a panel discussion with Yeow Kai Chai and Justin Loke, moderated by Jeremy Fernando
🗓 Date: 4 April 2026 (Sat)
🕒 Time: 3pm – 5pm
📍 Venue: Tampines Library, Programme Zone 1 (Level 2)
Free admission — sign up via the NLB website or scan the QR code on the poster.
