Chronicles of a Circuit Breaker

Artist: Joseph Chiang

1 – 15 May 2021

In collaboration with Epigram, Mulan Gallery is proud to present an exhibition of original comic art pages from Joseph Chiang’s new book Chronicles of a Circuit Breaker, which will be launched on 1 May 2021 at Mulan Gallery. The exhibition will run from 1 to 15 May 2021.

Joseph Chiang (b.1967) is a Singapore-based, self-taught printmaker. As a founder of printmaking studio Monster Gallery, he is best known for his retro pop culture inspired art and prints and has been exhibiting in Singapore and internationally. He started drawing comics in the late 1990s but stopped to pursue printmaking. He revisited comics last year during the circuit breaker and after getting inspiration from classic newspaper comic strips Peanuts and Nancy, and the autobiographical comics of Seth and Joe Matt. Funny and stark, Chronicles of a Circuit Breaker brings some of these influences together.

Chronicles of a Circuit Breaker records the strangeness and the mundanity of daily life during the trying months of Singapore’s lockdown from April to June 2020. Toilet paper shortage, mask-wearing woes and forced family time were some inconveniences we faced. Chiang’s slice-of-life stories provide humour during these unprecedented times and document local events and idiosyncrasies that stemmed from this new-normal era. His comics remind us to just take one day at a time and to try to laugh in the face of adversity.