Photograph of a detail of Roberto Chabet's Boat, showing drawings of the Philippines made by children who were not given a map to copy from, but instead were asked to draw from memory.

The work, together with Pier and Ocean, is a two-part installation that was first exhibited in 1996 in the exhibition, 'Regarding Place, No Place,' which Chabet curated at The Art Center in SM Megamall. The original boat was unpainted; the new one is painted black. The title of the other work, Pier and Ocean, refers to one of Piet Mondrian's 'plus/minus' compositions.  

In his notes to the exhibition, Chabet wrote, 'Art implies place. It depicts space, exists in space, and is perceived in space. Placement, location is central in art. The artist stakes out territories, establishes boundaries, or represents a sense of place. This sense of place is the artist's sense of self.'

On his work, he wrote, 'My sense of place is literal - the exhibition space and the virtual spaces generated by my installation. Though seemingly non-referential, the work alludes to geography - or geographies.'

This photograph shows the reconstructed version of the work from the exhibition, 'To Be Continued,' at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Singapore - La Salle College of the Arts from 13 January - 11 February 2011. The work was also included in the same exhibition at Osage Kwun Tong in Hong Kong from 12 August - 21 September 2011.

'To Be Continued' is a landmark survey exhibition of Chabet’s plywood works from 1984 to the present. In these works, he utilises his signature material – store-bought plywood boards. It is a material which has 'become not only the surface and support of his paintings and installations, but to a large extent its subject matter and content.'

The exhibition gathers for the first time significant works, including the seminal 1980s trilogy Russian Paintings, House Paintings, and Cargo and Decoy. Highlighting process and the provisional aspect of the material, it is reflective of Chabet’s practice, which gives precedence to the fugitive and contingent nature of art.

The exhibition is part of 'Roberto Chabet: Fifty Years,' a year-long series of exhibitions organised by King Kong Art Projects Unlimited in various venues in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Manila from 2011 - 2012.