Curatorial statement – Jenn Ellis x Breguet

The 2024-25 partnership between Breguet and Frieze takes the form of a year-long project, exploring evolutionary change by independent curator and founder of Apsara Studio, Jenn Ellis. In Frieze New York 2024, the first exhibition of the yearlong collaboration, Ellis has chosen to work with the Singaporean artist, Dawn Ng, an artist whose work resonates with the geographical considerations and topographical readings of deep time.

“ An Atlas of Us” is the inaugural exhibition in the cycle, Dawn Ng’s articulation of time through colour, shape and form, and its emotive associations. Through working with ice, the most ephemeral material available to the artist in her home country, Ng’s work is represented by moving image, a lightbox, photography, and painting. Over several weeks in her studio, Ng creates 60-kilogram blocks of ice which evolve into a near-geological confluence of pigments, watercolours, acrylics, and dyes. The stratification of these blocks speaks to the topography of our planet, where time is read through age-old formations that are testimony to gravitational pushes and pulls. The effect of these natural forces is a key consideration in the history of watchmaking and evidenced by the design of timekeeping mechanisms.

“In my work I explore time through the ultimate ephemeral material: that is the ice. Pervading my work is the question of what if we described time as a colour, shape and form, through the lens of emotions, rather than strict numerical terms? [...] Collaborating with Breguet, a brand that is vested in not only time but also in the notions of heritage, is interesting and prompts me to think about what predates us, in particular land, topography, and geological formations. Through my presentation, curated by serial collaborator Jenn Ellis, I am excited to unpack thoughts around what makes us ‘us’, how time can be reflected by the surfaces we stand on, but also how it comes, goes, and evolves in a cyclical manner.” said Ng.

Dawn Ng biography

Dawn Ng, born in 1982, lives and works in Singapore. Her practice uses photography, light, film, collage, painting and large-scale installations to consider time, memory and the ephemeral. In her recent series “Into Air” she emphasises temporality and beauty through the documentation of melting blocks of pigmented ice, sculptural forms that she creates in layers in the studio. The final stage of the process results in ‘ash’ or ‘residue’ paintings, where paper is soaked in the melted pigment over several weeks, creating a new surface, a combination of careful manipulation and chance. Encouraging slow looking, Ng’s works are characterised by lyricism and a nuanced use of colour, drawing visual parallels with topographical references of landscape and geology.