Draft:Justin Loke

Singapore Artist - Curator - Writer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Justin Loke (born 1979) is a multi-disciplinary artist and curator based in Singapore.[1][2] He works across installation, theatre, and curatorial projects, with a practice that incorporates humour and social commentary.[3] Between 2011 and 2013, he served as Associate Artistic Director at TheatreWorks.[4] He was also listed in 50 Singaporean artists You Should Know for SG50 both as a solo artist and part of an art collective he co-founded.[5]

  • Comment: Judging by the creator's writing style, I do not believe their denial of a relationship with the subject. I will formally warn them on their talk page. Whyiseverythingalreadyused (t · c · he/him) 08:22, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
  • Comment: Unsure if person meets WP:BLP notability guidelines. Needs more secondary, reliable sources, see WP:SOURCE. BenTanXiaoMing (talk) 12:25, 18 November 2025 (UTC)
  • Comment: This suffers from multiple examples of WP:CITEKILL. Instead we need one excellent reference per fact asserted. If you are sure it is beneficial, two, and at an absolute maximum, three. Three is not a target, it's a limit. Aim for one. A fact you assert, once verified in a reliable source, is verified. More is gilding the lily. Please choose the very best in each case of multiple referencing for a single point and either drop or repurpose the remainder
    It will be almost impossible to give this a meaningful review until you have chosen the references you intend to use
    The overal effect is WP:BOMBARD, often employed to seek to demonstrate notability when none exists. We need quality of referencing, not quantity. You have work to do, please. 🇵🇸‍🇺🇦 FiddleTimtrent FaddleTalk to me 🇺🇦‍🇵🇸 10:21, 22 October 2025 (UTC)
  • Comment: substantial edits since the last submission, but still needs some work. You need inline citations on all content, aim for a citation for every sentence. Content like this: "Although primarily known as a visual artist, Loke has also engaged with literature, drawing particular influence from Spanish and Latin American writers. His literary work has included translation, approached both in the linguistic sense and as a form of intertextual and comparative reading within philological and etymological contexts." can just be removed. WP:PROMO concerns throughout. Caleb Stanford (talk) 00:20, 1 September 2025 (UTC)
  • Comment: Declining again for now. I suggest you rewriting it from scratch, not using AI. The Career section should be the focus of the article and it should summarize in prose (again in your own words) what secondary, independent reliable sources say about Loke. See Your first article. S0091 (talk) 17:41, 31 July 2025 (UTC)
  • Comment: This needs to be completely rewritten. S0091 (talk) 17:16, 31 July 2025 (UTC)

As a co-founding member of Vertical Submarine (Art Collective), Loke has received several accolades, including the Singapore Art Show Judges' Choice (2005)[6], the Credit Suisse Artist Residency Award (2009)[7], Singapore President's Young Talents Award (2009)[8], Japan Foundation Art Award (2009)[9], a nomination for the Signature Art Prize (Asia Pacific) (2011)[10] and won the Celeste Prize (2011) in New York[11]. In 2012, the collective participated in the Gwangju Biennale (2012).[12][13]

Career

Early trajectory with Vertical Submarine

Loke's artistic career began in 2003 when he co-founded Vertical Submarine.[14] In 2009, the collective exhibited A View With A Room as part of the Singapore President’s Young Talents at Singapore Art Museum (SAM)’s 8Q gallery.[15] That same year, they were commissioned by Zouk, in collaboration with the Singapore Art Museum, to develop Flirting Point for ZoukOut 2009.[16], which later re-exhibited in 2010.[17] During the Singapore Night Festival that year, they also presented Abusement Park, an installation that drew public attention and has continued to be referenced in accounts of the festival more than a decade later.[18]

In 2011, the Singapore Art Museum, in collaboration with the Singapore Writers Festival, commissioned the trio to create UnderWriter’s Table.[19] That same year, Vertical Submarine staged their first theatrical production, Dust: A Recollection, co-written and directed by Justin Loke and Joshua Yang, a member of the collective, and presented in collaboration with TheatreWorks (now T:>Works).[20] Loke and Yang also conceptualised Incendiary Texts II: Selected Anatomical Studies or Thirty-Six Eastern Vulgarities and One Incendiary Oath… In Roman Letters, which was presented at Art Stage Singapore in 2011 and later at Art HK in 2012.[21][22] In 2012, Vertical Submarine also presented an installation at the 9th edition of Gwangju Biennale, titled “A Roundtable on ROUNDTABLE”.[23][24] At Singapore Art Week 2015, the collective exhibited John Martin: The Butcher and the Surgeon at the Golden Mile Complex.[25]

Solo debut as Justin Loke

Throughout his work with Vertical Submarine, Loke has also been active as a solo artist. His first solo exhibition in 2013 titled: The Seven Scenes of Barry Lyndon[26], was first presented at Objectifs – Centre for Photography and Film[27][28], and was later shown at the ArtScience Museum in Singapore and at the Saatchi Gallery in London as part of the Prudential Eye programme (2015)[29][30]. In 2016, Loke collaborated with Samuel Chen on the exhibition Monkey Business, held from 28 July to 14 August at Chan Hampe Galleries in the Raffles Hotel Arcade.[31] The exhibition was later named one of the top ten shows of 2016 by The Business Times (Singapore).[32]

Institutional validation and market recognition

From 2016 onwards, Loke's practice has received institutional validation through participation in global art markets as well as Singapore art-historical projects. Domesticated Violence, a sculptural work conceptualised by Loke, was presented in 2016 as part of Vertical Submarine’s exhibition Death by a Thousand Cuts.[33] The work was later auctioned at Christie's in Hong Kong.[34][35] In 2022, Loke was commissioned by the Singapore Night Festival to present a Highlight Act, resulting in creation of The Curse of the Missing Red Shoe, a work that reimagined the history of Singapore's Cathay Hotel.[36][37][38] In 2023, Loke was the curator for Benchmarks[39][40], a placemaking initiative in Singapore's Civic District that featured a series of artist-designed benches created by six Singapore-based artists.[41][42]

In 2024, he presented 8-bit Word Cloud, a participatory installation on the Arts House Front Lawn as part of Light to Night Singapore.[1][43] Later in that year, Loke presented Leaving Room at Jakarta Art Exhibition 2024.[44][45][46] The installation was later listed among the top three booths by Plural Art Magazine.[47] In 2024, Loke also curated Creative Intersections: Traces of Dragons (2024) and subsequently, Creative Intersections: Snakes and Ladders (2025), both presented at Funan mall during Singapore Art Week.[48][49]

During Singapore Design Week 2025, Loke participated as both an artist and a curator to present Care-Full Shelter, an installation[50] and Grandma Story in Three Seats, an interactive performance.[51] In addition to his artistic contribution, Loke curated Tran-Slate: Contemporary Design x Craft in collaboration with Heritage Singapore where the inaugural edition was unveiled during Singapore Design Week at the National Library Board, Singapore.[50] Loke also participated in Holding (Space), an exhibition curated by Yeo Workshop in 2025, presenting Unarmed Chairs.[52] This body of work was later presented in another exhibition the titled Inside the Dream of a Durian Seller.[53]

Literary and critical work

Although best known as a visual artist, Loke has also worked in the field of literature, drawing influence from Spanish and Latin American writers.[54][55] In 2013, Loke translated Art as a Sharp Weapon (21 June 1940) from Chinese, a text written by Lim Hak Tai, the founding principal of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.[56]

Selected art writings

2013        The Logbook of Public Ideas Vol.II, Red Herring, The Substation, Singapore[57]

2012         The Logbook of Public Ideas Vol. I, Red Herring, The Substation, Singapore[58]

References

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