By Mayo Martin

RBKD: Rui En steps into the shoes of pioneer artist Georgette Chen for her first documentary-drama, The Worlds Of Georgette Chen, a three-part docudrama collaboration between Channenewsasia and National Gallery Singapore.

This role is one which few identify with the actress — art. While filming in Paris, a self-portrait of a certain Vincent van Gogh changed her view of art. “It’s so different when you see it in person because the thing that stood out were his eyes. I could actually feel that he was a tortured soul. It just basically changed everything for me — all my opinions about art being hifalutin, about being intimidated by art, just flew out the window because it was just a human connection,” Rui En told TODAY.

Rui En hoped that with her role as Georgette Chen, she could help spread an appreciation of art to people who wouldn’t necessarily be inclined towards it. “I felt, beyond the glamour, beyond all the Star Awards and the trappings of celebrity, there are certain things that you could do to make a positive change to society or individuals,” she said. “I felt this was one of those — to bring heartlanders and younger children to just take some tentative baby steps to not be intimidated by art.”

One of the challenges of doing this docu-drama was dealing with issues of accuracy and Rui En felt “a little bit of pressure” in playing this historical figure as there was not much footage to base her performance on.

The Worlds of Georgette Chen debuts 29 April 2015 on CNA, 8pm.

Source: TODAY

Categorised in EN, The Worlds Of Georgette Chen, TODAY.

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By Rebecca Tan Hui Shan

Watching Rui En take her seat on stage and tuck her legs delicately by her side, it feels uncannily like looking at pioneer artist Georgette Chen, whom the actress portrays in an upcoming three-part docudrama.

Beyond the sharp chin, ruler-straight posture and pursed red lips, there seems to be a sophisticated, unapologetic dignity about the 34-year-old MediaCorp actress that similarly emanates from the woman in the self-portrait behind her.

During the filming for the programme, which premieres on Wednesday on Channel Newsasia and MediaCorp Channel 5, Rui En uncovered aspects of Chen that she identified with intimately.

At a press conference last Friday, she says of Chen: “She was feisty, strong-willed and incredibly independent. In these ways, I felt like a mirror of her.”

She adds with a laugh that “both of us also do not smile very much” – alluding to the recent media backlash against her supposedly sulky demeanour at the Star Awards.

Born in 1906 in Zhejiang, China, Chen is best known for her still life paintings and portraits and contributed tremendously to the growth of the Nanyang art movement in Singapore, which fused South-east Asian themes with Western painting techniques.

The docudrama, The Worlds of Georgette Chen, commissioned by the National Gallery Singapore and produced by Channel NewsAsia, recreates the colourful life of the artist, who had a privileged, cosmopolitan upbringing as the daughter of a rich businessmman.

It takes viewers from her childhood in France to her youth in revolutionary China and, finally, her adulthood in Singapore, where she taught at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. She died in 1993 after a long illness.

She was highly regarded for her post-Impressionistic work, with her heavy brushstrokes and emphasis on volume and texture influenced by French Impressionists of the late 19th century.

She was one of the few female Chinese artists featured in the famous Salon d’Automne exhibitions in Paris. In 1982, she was awarded Singapore’s Cultural Medallion. Her works will be on display at the National Gallery when it opens in October.

Yet, for all her professional success, it was her capacity for love that Rui En admires most.

The actress explains: “Even though her husband, Eugene Chen, was a political fugutive and more than twice her age, he was the love of her life. For me, what makes her human is that she dared to love unconventionally.”

One of the most memorable scenes, she accounts, was filmed in an unabandoned school in Braddell Road. She was tasked to play the piano while channelling the grief that Chen had for her husband who had just died, shortly after the end of the Sino-Japanese war in 1944.

While Chen may have been “a woman after my own heart” to Rui En, portraying her did not come without difficulty.

Prior to the project, she knew little about the artist. She was terrified at having to portray a real-life person for the first time, though she says this fear was also what challenged her to take the job.

To prepare herself, she read up as much as she could on the artist, from biographies by art historians to Chen’s personal letters.

At the same time, she was also grateful that there was limited video documentation of the artist as this gave her the space to “breathe life into the character”.

She hopes that by portraying Chen as a woman, rather than just an artist, she can bring her story to a wider audience.

“We do not want the production to be an arty-farty docudrama made for people who already know about her.”

Rui En also had to get used to the lack of dialogue. In most scenes, information is delivered by a narrator and the cast is used only to dramatise a particular moment or encounter. Freed from having to memorise lines, Rui En was able to focus on the production’s other priorities, such as historical accuracy.

Managing director of Channel NewsAsia Debra Soon explains that to achieve an accurate portrayal of the artist, all the periods of her life spent in Paris and Shanghai were shot on location. Sixty-two other sets were created in Singapore and each prop, right down to Chen’s paintbrush, was selected carefully.

Naturally, these efforts required an extensive amount of research, which led to valuable new discoveries. For example, a fifth self-portrait by Chen, which had been given to an old neighbour of hers, was uncovered during the making of the docudrama, along with the unpublished memoirs of Chen’s sister.

Curatorial and collections director at the National Gallery, Mr Low Sze Wee, says that new painting may well be the earliest known self-portrait of Chen, preceding the four that had been discovered before.

The journey had also been personally enlightening for Rui En.

“As you grow older, you want to learn more about the world around you. This project came at a point when I was just starting to become interested in other forms of art beyond acting. From it, I have begun to cultivate real appreciation of other mediums,” she says.

The Worlds of Georgette Chen debuts 29 April 2015 on CNA, 8pm.

Source: The Straits Times, Her World

Categorised in EN, Her World, The Straits Times, The Worlds Of Georgette Chen.

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By Han Wei Chou

RBKD: Rui En and the cast of The Worlds Of Georgette Chen shared their experiences shooting the three-part docudrama, at a special preview screening and media conference held at the National Gallery Singapore on last Friday.

To play the artist, Rui En revealed that she not only picked up the basics of sketching and painting, but also had to learn to speak several lines of Malay and French, and even sing two Malay songs as well as a French lullaby in the series. This was stressful for her but she had help from her co-star Ralph Lee to vet her accuracy.

While Rui En played Georgette Chen in the docudrama, she said she is not artistically inclined and has never attempted a self-portrait before. “Painting my own self-portrait will be a nightmare! I can act, I can sing but when it comes to doing things with my hands, I am a complete failure. The best I could do for art, maybe, would be stick figures. So no, I would not attempt to paint a self-portrait,” said Rui En, before adding that she may take on art classes in the future when she is less busy.

The Worlds of Georgette Chen debuts 29 April 2015 on CNA, 8pm.

Source: Channelnewsasia

Categorised in channelnewsasia.com, EN, The Worlds Of Georgette Chen.

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Toggle娱乐组报道
照片：Lee Lay Na、Toggle娱乐组

RBKD: 当晚，瑞恩获得了她第10座“十大最受欢迎女艺人”奖座，明年将成为“超级红星”等上神台。她受访时说：“我真的放下心头大石！终于能够毕业，不必再为它担心了。我真的要打从心底说声谢谢，过去10年来粉丝所花在我身上的金钱，想到你们花的钱我就很心痛。不过这就是我们的圈子，这就是我们的游戏，必须要玩的。”

Source: Toggle Chinese | English

Categorised in CH, EN, Star Awards, Star Awards 2015, Toggle SG.

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Pic 1: Group selfie on stage right after Star Awards Show 2.

Pic 14: Rui En holding the bouquet of 99 red roses from RBKD, which had a bling-bling crown to go along with it.

Source: Toggle

Categorised in EN, Star Awards, Star Awards 2015.

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By Denise Ngo

RBKD: Toggle had a “pleasant surprise” seeing Rui En in a delicate Zuhair Murad gown. Verdict: HOT

Source: Toggle

Categorised in EN, Star Awards, Star Awards 2015, Toggle SG.

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By Jocelyn Lee and Gao Wenxin

Local actress Rui En, who made headlines last week for sulking throughout the entire Show 1, sang a different tune last night.

The 34-year-old, who was all smiles last night, addressed the issue while on stage to receive her Top 10 Most Popular Female Artist award.

She said in Mandarin: “I know many people were discussing my performance during the show last week. I want to say that if it brought about inconvenience to anyone, I hope that you can accept and tolerate it.

“This is not my strength, but thank you everyone. I will work harder.”

Rebecca Lim, who won Best Actress said : “I thought Rui En would win Best Actress instead. I think I won because maybe it’s a lighter comedy role and judges saw a different side of me.”

Source: The New Paper

Categorised in EN, Star Awards, Star Awards 2015, The New Paper.

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RBKD: Rui En won her tenth and final Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes award at Star Awards Show 2.

Source: TODAY

Categorised in EN, Star Awards, Star Awards 2015.

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RBKD: At Star Awards Show 2, Rui En wore a “pretty and delicate” Zuhair Murad dress which was specially flown in for the show.

Source: TODAY

Categorised in EN, Star Awards, Star Awards 2015, TODAY.

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