When Vertical Submarine’s (VS) Justin Loke first announced his debut solo exhibition, The Seven Scenes Of Barry Lyndon, people immediately asked him: Was the art collective breaking up?

As if in response, the group affirmed their intention to remain a collective when they launched the second volume of their Logbook Of Public Ideas at the Substation last week, and they have some works at The Esplanade Tunnel. But the knee-jerk reaction is nonetheless telling.

PART OF A BIGGER PICTURE

That’s the thing about collectives: For its members, whether they like it or not, the collectives are part of their identity. And sometimes, their solo works get compared to the group’s efforts.

“It’s unavoidable,” shrugged Loke, adding that he isn’t particularly bothered by audiences associating his solo work with VS. But he agreed that it can sometimes be a burden. “There will be certain expectations. Perhaps subconsciously, an artist’s work won’t be compared with other artists but with the place (or group) he’s from.”

He added that he “almost very consciously” avoided the use of text in his solo show because it’s a element used a lot by VS.

Gallerist Richard Koh, who sells VS works (and now Loke’s), revealed that he initially had to do a bit of explaining as well regarding the distinctions.

“The reception is slightly different as collectors need to digest the fact that this is a solo act first,” he said.

For Zero (whose real name is Mohammed Zulkarnaen Othman), his current solo show Anthology Of The Abysmal, marks a first in that “for the first time, I painted something more introspective rather than talking about social problems. I’m now looking within myself”.

The self-portraits in the show can perhaps be seen as a gentle reminder that, even though he’s part of RSCLS, he’s an individual artist too.

Of course, it’s not always easy for an individual to rise above the group — even if you’re not a part of it any more.

In the early 2000s, multi-hyphenate artist Choy Ka Fai was a member of the defunct multi-media collective Kill Your Television (KYTV), before going solo and becoming associate artistic director at TheatreWorks. But when he was shortlisted for a local art prize, and showed his work, the jury, “thought what I was showing were all collaborative works”, he said.

“They said they didn’t see me in the works and I was like, ‘What do you mean? I’m the director’.”

Incidentally, Choy has since become part of another collective, The Seven-Headed Dragon, which will come out with its first show, In The Curve Of The Wanton Sea, at the Esplanade in July.

GROUP THERAPY

It’s a balancing act, for sure, but it would seem the benefits of being in a collective are plentiful.

For one, it gives you a structure and, ultimately, focus. Longtime friends and collaborators Lim Woan Wen, Darren Ng and Lim Weiling had already worked together for various shows. But this year, they’ve formally named their group Index, and will have an installation performance titled In:dex this week.

“By announcing ourselves as a new collective, we are committing ourselves to develop design-centric installations and performances,” said Woan Wen.

While all three are also part of theatre group The Finger Players (TFP), Index “anchors us with a stronger sense of autonomy”, she added.

Offering an alternative identity can also be a draw. Take Zizi Azah, the artistic director of Teater Ekamatra who is also a member of the Seven-Headed Dragon collective.

According to her, while Ekamatra is slowly widening its definition of theatre, it’s still based on certain expectations. whereas things have been more fluid with The Seven-Headed Dragon. “It’s more like a pop-up store,” she quipped.

But there are obviously more tangible benefits to collectives. KYTV, for instance, used to have a studio where everyone lived and created work, which benefited its young members at the start.

“We were nobodies fresh out of college and if you wanted to do your own thing, who’d want to work for you? But as a group, people thought we were making interesting work,” said Choy, who said that it ultimately gave them a bit of “bargaining power” when it came to doing shows at The Esplanade.

For Zero, RSCLS isn’t just a kind of “feedback group” in an artistic sense, nor does it only give them a kind of strategic leverage — they recently received a seed grant from the National Arts Council; are tenants at Aliwal Arts Centre; and, being a registered society, have a wee bit more clout to bargain financially. During the recent events surrounding graffiti artists and RSCLS members SKLO (Samantha Lo) and Antz (Anthony Chong), the collective stood by the two, (Zero bailed Antz out) and acted as a conduit between the artists, the arts community and institutions like The Substation. “Our main thing was to support our artists as well,” said Zero.

COLLECTIVE SOUL

In most cases, the idea of the collective seems somewhat utilitarian. For instance, The Seven-Headed Dragon will be scrapped after three years, once they finish the trilogy they’re planning (perhaps after a lesson learned with KYTV, which simply fizzled out after it vaguely ran its course).

But others think collectives aren’t just to serve the needs of the invidivual members.

“It’s easier for us, street artists, urban artists, to get into a collective mindset as compared to an artist who’s constantly working solo. We have the same vision, goals, ideologies. It’s a global culture, too, so we keep saying ‘we’ instead of ‘I’,” said Zero, adding that they’re envisioning RSCLS to hopefully grow beyond Singapore and into the region.

As for Loke, his view is that what drives VS isn’t three people but an “idea”. “Whatever we do (as a collective), we say it’s by the collective — even if it looks like it could’ve been done by one person. Because it is to serve the idea that we had and brought us together,” he elaborated.

There are certain works that have actually been finished by only one person (although Loke declined to say which ones) but, in the end, he pointed out, it ultimately boils down to a question of authorship. What’s the difference between a work by a collective and one by an artist-member of a collective?

“Did Radiohead produce Thom Yorke or did Thom Yorke produce Radiohead?” said Loke.

Perhaps it doesn’t really matter. As long as it is good.

The Seven Scenes Of Barry Lyndon runs until May 20 at Objectifs Gallery.

Anthology Of The Abysmal runs until May 26, at Chan Hampe Galleries, Raffles Hotel Arcade.

In:dex happens on May 15 and 16, 8pm, Esplanade Theatre Studio. Free — but you must register for tickets by email: raw [at] esplanade.com with your name, contact number, show details. Limited to four tickets per person.

In The Curve Of The Wanton Sea is on July 25 to 27, 8pm (3pm Saturday matinee), Esplanade Theatre Studio. Tickets at S$25 from Sistic.