Mass Rapid Transit :: SINGAPORE ::

Outram Park station

Outram Park interchange station is the second deepest station along the North East Line, after Dhoby Ghaut. Built under the junction of Eu Tong Sen Street, Cantonment Road and Outram Road, the station is connected by an underground linkway to the existing Outram Park station on the East West Line. Commuters can transfer seamlessly between both lines, enjoying smoother journeys. A covered linkway leading to a bus terminal ensures the comfort and ease of those switching from the MRT to buses.

Made up of five levels with a depth of 28 metres, the new Outram Park station provides a network of underground pedestrian links to several large developments nearby, including health institutions such as the National Dental Centre, Health Promotion Board and Health Science Authority. Patients and visitors welcome the direct links to the Singapore General Hospital.

Wang Lu Sheng created artworks for Outram Park interchange that bear the imprint of his training as a graphic designer. Bold, decorative, graphic and impossible to miss, the works of the China-born artist give the station entrances where they are located a strong, distinctive identity.

Instantly recognizable at a glance, the brilliantly-coloured works serve as visual signposts that help guide commuters through the sprawling MRT interchange.

A Chinese opera mask adorns the station entrance closest to Pearl's Centre. The distinctive shape and strong colours of the mask pack a visual punch and reminds commuters about the early Chinese migrants who settled in the area.

In the connecting subway, form fuses with the function as another visual of the opera mask is stretched horizontally for 25 metres into the station interiors. The horizontal colour bars stretching out from the mask seem to point commuters towards the trains, functioning as an unusual yet artistic arrow. Commuters who are on their way out of the staion can trace the colour bars backwards to the mask and be led out towards Pearl's Hill.

The second entrance at Outram Park interchange leads to Singapore General Hospital (SGH) while the third entrance links the interchange to the Central Police Headquarters.

Both entrances share a single underpass that is 64 metres long and opens up to almost 9 metres wide. Playing up the area's association with the law and medicine, the artist worked with historical images from the area such as early photos of SGH and policemen inspired by the shape of the human head.

By looking inside these 'heads', commuters can see a visual documentary of the area and its history. One example of recent history captured in Lu Sheng's work is the rainbow-coloured Outram Park housing estate. Once a colourful landmark that sat across from the SGH, these HDB blocks were recently demolished as part of urban redevelopment. Now, the colourful flats live on as memories on the station walls.

In recognition of the Chinese clan associations and music societies in the area, the artist designed a large, striking opera costume for the station's Cantonment Road entrance.

In designing the opera costume for the Cantonment Road entrance, the artist wanted to continue the opera theme that began with the opera mask at the Pearl's Centre entrance.

All the artworks revolve around the concept of "Memories", the artist's intention being to recreate, within the station, memories of Outram Park that are cherished by those who live and work there.

Each work also makes a historical connection with the entrance where it is connected.

To get a feel of Outram Park's history, the artist immersed himself in all aspects of life at Outram Park. He spent numerous weekends walking around the area, going to the rooftops of shophouses and apartment blocks to get a bird's eye view of the area.

The artist's designs were fabricated in silkscreen on vitreous enamel by PG Bell, a Canadian wall panel manufacturer. In Canada, the LTA team found that despite their best efforts, not all the brilliant colours in Lu Sheng's works reproduced well on vitreous enamel.

While history provided the inspiration for his work, the artist deliberately used contemporary techniques that would speak to present-day commuters. The artist had wanted to create lively, vibrant images which can capture the attention of commuters even if they only have a few seconds to spare. He also wanted to do it in the bold, visual style of modern public art.

For the artist, being involved in a public art project for the North East Line marks the culmination of an interest in architecture and design nurtured over twenty years.

Artist: Wang Lu Sheng
Born: Qingdao, China, 1956
Education:
- Bachelor of Arts & Crafts, 1984
Jiao Tong University, Shanghai

In the linkways of Outram Park interchange, artist Teo Eng Seng has created a thought-provoking artwork comprising wall reliefs of both human and man-made forms. Eng Seng's monochromatic images seem to pop in and out of the concrete walls inviting close scrutiny from commuters and stimulating discussion, as the artist, no doubt, intended.

A sparkling ebullient personality at his best, volatile at his worst and always spirited, Teo Eng Seng doesn't pull any punches about his works at Outram Park interchange. He is also the Cultural Medallion winner for 1986 and had been the head of the Art department at United World College.

His wall reliefs of the human form in motion are certainly intriguing enough to pique the curiosity of commuters over many trips though the station. Each of the 69 wall panels measuring 2 metres by 2 metres was individually fabricated by the artist.

Homing in on the 'public nature' of the Art in Transit programme, Eng Seng focused on the commuters themselves and their thoughts and feelings while in transit.

He describes his images as "straight forward" yet there is a sense within his work of a picture within a picture. The mental images that flash across the minds of commuters - what they ate for dinner, what a spouse or lover said to them - are interwoven with advertising messages and visuals directed at them.

Interestingly, his subjects, whether office workers, monks, old people or children, seem to blend into the wall or emerge out of it, so only part of the individual is discernible at any one time.

The blank spaces between the images are deliberate, so as to leave something for your imagination. Breathing spaces are also featured in his larger body of works employing paper on canvas and paper sculptures. The wall friezes may smack of the surreal, but sinister they are not.

What is less apparent to the casual onlooker is the way Eng Seng has cleverly incorporated references to Outram Park and its history throughout his work. The Peranakan houses of the Bukit Pasoh area, accessible from the Cantonment Road exit, are alluded to by the outline of a shophouse framed by a pair of legs, and the Chinese roots of the area by a bold, expressionistic and far from the traditional dragon.

The artist's peculiar signpost for the Singapore General Hospital is the image of a little girl jumping in the air. It seems that she is in a hurry to visit her relative in the hospital.

The image of a carefree child on her way to visit a sick relative reflects Eng Seng's gift for picking life's little quirks. The artist's sense of humour however belies the tenacity of his approach to his craft. The use of glass reinforced cement or concrete, the ultimate medium for his works in clay, were made before being transferred to concrete.

Most of the work was done from October 2000 to July 2001, at a concrete factory, Poh Cheong Concrete Product, in Sungei Kadut. Working almost non-stop, the artist spent entire days astride a plank suspended over the clay, sculpting each individual panel by hand.

The artist acknowledges that it was a challenge to balance the requirements of a public building with the demands of his craft, but looking back on his work for Outram Park interchange, he feels a certain sense of pride and fondness.

Artist: Teo Eng Seng
Born: Singapore, 1938
Education:
- BA (Hons) Fine Art, 1967
Birmingham College of Art & Design, England
- Art Teacher's Diploma, 1968
Birmingham, England
- Certificate of Education, 1968
Birmingham University, England

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