✷ Welcome Back, Boo (2025)
✷ Sundry AiR: The Gift That Keeps on Giving (2023)
✷ I’m Exhausted, Where is He? (2022)
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
✷ Of Dreams and Contemplation... (2025)
✷ Lady Dior As Seen By (2024)
✷ Of placebos that sing sweet in the... (2024)
✷ Between The Lines (2024)
✷ ASEAN ON PAPER (2023)
✷ Serving Thots (2023)
✷ Diverse Visions (2023)
✷ Nature and Now: Asian Art in Focus (2023)
✷ There Are Flowers in the Morning Mist (2022)
✷ State of Play (2022)
✷ It’s my party and I’ll if I want to, you’ll... (2022)
✷ only losers left alive (love songs for... (2021)
✷ The Foot Beneath the Flower: Camp... (2020)
ALL WORKS
✷ 2025
✷ 2024
✷ 2023
✷ 2022
✷ 2021
Welcome Back, Boo
24 May–21 June 2025
Richard Koh Fine Art
Singapore, Singapore
Images Coutesy of Kahying Gan, & Richard Koh Fine Art
Related Artworks
I Can Dish It, and I Can Take it (2025)
I’ve Never Felt Guilty About My Pleasures (2025)
I Pick My Battles Carefully (2025)
I Play No Games With My Good Judys (2025)
I’m Not Even Going to Dignify That With a Defence (2025)
Oh, so Now You See Me, Ok (2025)
Calm Down, What’s the Rush (2025)
Maybe You've Never Liked Me All Along (2025)
You Do It Your Way, I’ll Do It Mine (2025)
Destruction Comes at a Price (2025)
What Have You Even Sacrificed? (2025)
I Won’t Run, I Have Nothing to Hide (2025)
You Have Quite a Lot to Unravel (2025)
Weave Study 1 (Love Letter, Dissected, Unresolved) (2025)
Weave Study 2 (Ambition, Chanced, Adjusted) (2025)
Weave Study 3 (Friendship, Frayed, Kept) (2025)
Weave Study 4 (Time, Reconfigured, Warped) (2025)
24 May–21 June 2025
Richard Koh Fine Art
Singapore, Singapore
Images Coutesy of Kahying Gan, & Richard Koh Fine Art
Related Artworks
I Can Dish It, and I Can Take it (2025)
I’ve Never Felt Guilty About My Pleasures (2025)
I Pick My Battles Carefully (2025)
I Play No Games With My Good Judys (2025)
I’m Not Even Going to Dignify That With a Defence (2025)
Oh, so Now You See Me, Ok (2025)
Calm Down, What’s the Rush (2025)
Maybe You've Never Liked Me All Along (2025)
You Do It Your Way, I’ll Do It Mine (2025)
Destruction Comes at a Price (2025)
What Have You Even Sacrificed? (2025)
I Won’t Run, I Have Nothing to Hide (2025)
You Have Quite a Lot to Unravel (2025)
Weave Study 1 (Love Letter, Dissected, Unresolved) (2025)
Weave Study 2 (Ambition, Chanced, Adjusted) (2025)
Weave Study 3 (Friendship, Frayed, Kept) (2025)
Weave Study 4 (Time, Reconfigured, Warped) (2025)
Description
Excerpt from Press Release:
Marking a significant milestone in the artist’s practice, Welcome Back, Boo presents a new body of work created over the past year. Known for his maximalist visual language, Xun draws on his background in fashion to craft works that navigate the intersections of identity, memory, and materiality. Through intricately composed surfaces, the exhibition reflects on how dress and adornment operate as both armour and expression.
Central to the works are simulated weave reliefs, layered textile constructions that function as a kind of secondary skin. These sculptural elements echo the artist’s ongoing exploration of garments as mediators of the self, simultaneously revealing and protecting. The tension between defence and display is palpable, as embellishment becomes a strategy for preserving personal history while projecting individuality.
Each work is painstakingly constructed using a blend of synthetic metallised ribbons and natural materials such as cotton and wool. Xun employs a meticulous hand-aided gathering technique using a sewing machine to shape each strand, assembling them onto textile or wooden backings. Visual patterns are then collaged, permanently pressed, dissected, and remixed to create rich, textured compositions. Wood elements, often multilayered birch ply or mixed ply, are sealed, painted, and integrated with the textile forms, merging structure with ornamentation.
Welcome Back, Boo offers an intimate look into Samuel Xun’s world—where material experimentation and personal narrative converge in bold, tactile forms. The exhibition positions his work within an evolving dialogue of contemporary textile and mixed media practices in Southeast Asia.
Excerpt of Essay by Louis Ho:
Samuel Xun’s practice, like those of his antecedents in the wearable art movement, is positioned in the space of critical cross currents between the white cube and the runway. Trained in fashion design, his focus has shifted from body-oriented garb to wall-bound object – or, more accurately, a conceptually liminal zone that intersects both. A concern with formal elements of materiality, shape and construction, premised on dressmaking skills, informs his latest body of work. In place of painting, sculpting and modelling, he employs a repertoire that includes pattern-cutting, stitching, ruching, folding, boning, draping, and – a trademark element – embellishment. The pieces in the present exhibition, from interwoven panels to fabric-covered armatures, draw on a fashion-derived language as the basis of material adaptation, compositional experimentation and visual fantasy; here, the textile medium provides the crucial connective tissue between couture and fine art. As he notes: “Colour, texture and form are important continuities in my practice. That is especially true at this point, when the world seems to be shifting into the digital realm. The analogue and hand-crafted are vital.”
Excerpt from Press Release:
Marking a significant milestone in the artist’s practice, Welcome Back, Boo presents a new body of work created over the past year. Known for his maximalist visual language, Xun draws on his background in fashion to craft works that navigate the intersections of identity, memory, and materiality. Through intricately composed surfaces, the exhibition reflects on how dress and adornment operate as both armour and expression.
Central to the works are simulated weave reliefs, layered textile constructions that function as a kind of secondary skin. These sculptural elements echo the artist’s ongoing exploration of garments as mediators of the self, simultaneously revealing and protecting. The tension between defence and display is palpable, as embellishment becomes a strategy for preserving personal history while projecting individuality.
Each work is painstakingly constructed using a blend of synthetic metallised ribbons and natural materials such as cotton and wool. Xun employs a meticulous hand-aided gathering technique using a sewing machine to shape each strand, assembling them onto textile or wooden backings. Visual patterns are then collaged, permanently pressed, dissected, and remixed to create rich, textured compositions. Wood elements, often multilayered birch ply or mixed ply, are sealed, painted, and integrated with the textile forms, merging structure with ornamentation.
Welcome Back, Boo offers an intimate look into Samuel Xun’s world—where material experimentation and personal narrative converge in bold, tactile forms. The exhibition positions his work within an evolving dialogue of contemporary textile and mixed media practices in Southeast Asia.
Excerpt of Essay by Louis Ho:
Samuel Xun’s practice, like those of his antecedents in the wearable art movement, is positioned in the space of critical cross currents between the white cube and the runway. Trained in fashion design, his focus has shifted from body-oriented garb to wall-bound object – or, more accurately, a conceptually liminal zone that intersects both. A concern with formal elements of materiality, shape and construction, premised on dressmaking skills, informs his latest body of work. In place of painting, sculpting and modelling, he employs a repertoire that includes pattern-cutting, stitching, ruching, folding, boning, draping, and – a trademark element – embellishment. The pieces in the present exhibition, from interwoven panels to fabric-covered armatures, draw on a fashion-derived language as the basis of material adaptation, compositional experimentation and visual fantasy; here, the textile medium provides the crucial connective tissue between couture and fine art. As he notes: “Colour, texture and form are important continuities in my practice. That is especially true at this point, when the world seems to be shifting into the digital realm. The analogue and hand-crafted are vital.”
Sundry Artist in Residence: The Gift That Keeps on Giving
14 December 2023–30 March 2024
Sundry
Bangkok, Thailand
Curated by Shaun Ling
Images Courtesy of Sundry
Related Artworks
The Gift That Keeps on Giving (2023)
Have Your Moment #1 (2023)
Have Your Moment #2 (2023)
Have Your Moment #3 (2023)
Have Your Moment #4 (2023)
14 December 2023–30 March 2024
Sundry
Bangkok, Thailand
Curated by Shaun Ling
Images Courtesy of Sundry
Related Artworks
The Gift That Keeps on Giving (2023)
Have Your Moment #1 (2023)
Have Your Moment #2 (2023)
Have Your Moment #3 (2023)
Have Your Moment #4 (2023)
Description
Excerpt from Artist Statement:
‘The Gift That Keeps on Giving’ is a multi-compoment installation for Sundry Bar. Reflecting on the season cues of the holiday season, the work is informed by the cultural phenomena of “cuffing season”, whereby partnership is actively sought out as a remedy for loneliness and the need to “stay warm”. Reimagining the Sundry building as a love letter to the artist himself, a momumental bouquet of florals drape on the its facade. Tapping into the artist’s continued interest in aesthetic interventions that unpack cultural miliues, the proposed set of new works references the artist’s signature floral motif throughout separate floors, with the intention of creating a visual narrative that seeks to be a catalyst for introspection and engagement.
Offering a unique perspective on this intersection between art and hospitality, the environment is envisioned as a glittering monument, layered to address the intricacies and complexities of personal relationships. The artworks shown explore themes of identity-building and kinship, furthering the artist’s ongoing interest in the embodied practice of self-therapy and mental mitigation. Paying homage to the house colours, the works, both inside and outside, take on a mishmash of autumn palettes and bright campy accents. The featured type of works intended for the space will be in an even spread of mediums synonymous with Xun’s practice–a mix of inflatables, textile & text based works, and mixed medium fibre-glass foam sculptures.
Excerpt from Artist Statement:
‘The Gift That Keeps on Giving’ is a multi-compoment installation for Sundry Bar. Reflecting on the season cues of the holiday season, the work is informed by the cultural phenomena of “cuffing season”, whereby partnership is actively sought out as a remedy for loneliness and the need to “stay warm”. Reimagining the Sundry building as a love letter to the artist himself, a momumental bouquet of florals drape on the its facade. Tapping into the artist’s continued interest in aesthetic interventions that unpack cultural miliues, the proposed set of new works references the artist’s signature floral motif throughout separate floors, with the intention of creating a visual narrative that seeks to be a catalyst for introspection and engagement.
Offering a unique perspective on this intersection between art and hospitality, the environment is envisioned as a glittering monument, layered to address the intricacies and complexities of personal relationships. The artworks shown explore themes of identity-building and kinship, furthering the artist’s ongoing interest in the embodied practice of self-therapy and mental mitigation. Paying homage to the house colours, the works, both inside and outside, take on a mishmash of autumn palettes and bright campy accents. The featured type of works intended for the space will be in an even spread of mediums synonymous with Xun’s practice–a mix of inflatables, textile & text based works, and mixed medium fibre-glass foam sculptures.
I’m Exhausted, Where is He?
02 April–24 April 2022
Art Agenda S.E.A.
Singapore, Singapore
Images Coutesy of Art & Market
Related Artworks
Psycho Ornamental Ideal Boyfriend I (2022)
Psycho Ornamental Ideal Boyfriend II (2022)
Old Habits Cry Hard (2022)
That’s the Last Time I’m Watering Your Flowers (2021)
Everything Reminds Me of Him (2021)
I Hate You THVIS Much (2021)
Maybe That’s What It’s Supposed to Feel Like (2021)
02 April–24 April 2022
Art Agenda S.E.A.
Singapore, Singapore
Images Coutesy of Art & Market
Related Artworks
Psycho Ornamental Ideal Boyfriend I (2022)
Psycho Ornamental Ideal Boyfriend II (2022)
Old Habits Cry Hard (2022)
That’s the Last Time I’m Watering Your Flowers (2021)
Everything Reminds Me of Him (2021)
I Hate You THVIS Much (2021)
Maybe That’s What It’s Supposed to Feel Like (2021)
Description
Excerpt of Review by Writer Nicole Wong for Art & Market:
I’m Exhausted, Where is He? is a glorious explosion of meticulously balanced abstraction, ribbons, and glitter. It is immediately evident that Xun’s works play with ideas of campness. For the unacquainted, and against the contrary instructions from Susan Sontag to avoid defining it, camp is a sensibility that gravitates towards artifice and drama. Camp also began as a kind of unspoken code within communities that shared those same sensibilities.
Each of Xun’s pieces sport an aesthetic extravagance that leans into the exaggerated femininity, customary of drag culture. On first sight, the flamboyance of his works appear at odds with the emotional tenderness of their titles. For example, in That’s the Last Time I’m Watering Your Flowers, Xun’s flowers bloom in gold glitter and a technicolor palette of green, orange and purple. Instead of emphasising finality and loss, the visual electricity of the work gives the effect of a sly grin or a hair toss, as though reminding this nameless ex-lover, “You’re going to miss me when I’m gone.”
Through his work, Xun transfigures the rawness of his emotions and experiences into self-contained, decorative abstractions. In works such as Psycho Ornamental Ideal Boyfriend II and Maybe That’s What It’s Supposed to Feel Like, Xun blatantly gestures towards a romantic ideal while emphasising the artifice of these aspirations through his use of lush materials as well as mod-inspired geometric lines and shapes that contribute to the visual drama.
Every heartbreak is uniquely personal. Despite the many ways we can share them as stories of humour, grief, or at times, growth, each romantic entanglement and dissolution is individually experienced, even for those on either end of the break. To experience ‘I’m Exhausted, Where is He?’ is to be constantly aware of this distance while also relishing in the brief moments of community that come from commiserating over yet another bad date or sharing a wink over an inside joke.
Excerpt of Review by Writer Nicole Wong for Art & Market:
I’m Exhausted, Where is He? is a glorious explosion of meticulously balanced abstraction, ribbons, and glitter. It is immediately evident that Xun’s works play with ideas of campness. For the unacquainted, and against the contrary instructions from Susan Sontag to avoid defining it, camp is a sensibility that gravitates towards artifice and drama. Camp also began as a kind of unspoken code within communities that shared those same sensibilities.
Each of Xun’s pieces sport an aesthetic extravagance that leans into the exaggerated femininity, customary of drag culture. On first sight, the flamboyance of his works appear at odds with the emotional tenderness of their titles. For example, in That’s the Last Time I’m Watering Your Flowers, Xun’s flowers bloom in gold glitter and a technicolor palette of green, orange and purple. Instead of emphasising finality and loss, the visual electricity of the work gives the effect of a sly grin or a hair toss, as though reminding this nameless ex-lover, “You’re going to miss me when I’m gone.”
Through his work, Xun transfigures the rawness of his emotions and experiences into self-contained, decorative abstractions. In works such as Psycho Ornamental Ideal Boyfriend II and Maybe That’s What It’s Supposed to Feel Like, Xun blatantly gestures towards a romantic ideal while emphasising the artifice of these aspirations through his use of lush materials as well as mod-inspired geometric lines and shapes that contribute to the visual drama.
Every heartbreak is uniquely personal. Despite the many ways we can share them as stories of humour, grief, or at times, growth, each romantic entanglement and dissolution is individually experienced, even for those on either end of the break. To experience ‘I’m Exhausted, Where is He?’ is to be constantly aware of this distance while also relishing in the brief moments of community that come from commiserating over yet another bad date or sharing a wink over an inside joke.