Merc (Min Yu Naing)
About
Min Yu Naing, practicing under the name Merc, is a Myanmar-born artist currently based in Singapore.
Growing up in Yangon with limited access to formal art education, his passion began instinctively through sketching in the back of school textbooks. Merc later built a technical foundation at the National University of Arts and Culture in Yangon, focusing on the fundamentals of drawing and visual language. After his studies were interrupted by the 2021 military coup, he moved to Singapore to complete a Diploma in Fine Arts at LASALLE College of the Arts.
Merc, previously influenced by the bold visuals of Pop Art, experienced a significant shift in his creative direction at LASALLE . His recent work marks a departure from these early graphic interests and instead favours an experimental focus on materiality and abstraction. This current practice reflects a deeper, more internal perspective, prioritising the reflective nature of the art-making process itself.
making an aesthetic out of not doin' well
This work explores a state of mind shaped by uncertainty and the emotional weight of displacement. It began as a study of fire imagery but has since shifted toward capturing its essence, moving away from literal representation into a more abstract and immersive approach. The work focuses on how a feeling spreads, lingers and resists a definitive form.
By utilising watercolour on an unstretched canvas, the work embraces the medium's unpredictability. The staining, bleeding and layering of pigment reflect a loss of control, echoing the emotional shifts behind the process. The surface reveals moments of both restraint and release, where intensity and emptiness coexist.
The work does not attempt to address this state through a clear or linear narrative. Instead, it exists as a shifting state of mind, constantly moving and navigating the tension between memory and expectation. It lingers in that in-between space, unsettled and unresolved, where meaning slips and resists being fixed. At the same time, the work remains open, allowing viewers to project their own emotional responses and interpretations.
Ei Myat Phyu Sin
Zhang Yalan
Maya Ellena Binte Stephan Da Silva
Dessa Nur Khair
Nur Syuhadah Binte Suhaimi
Aiden Setiadi
