Gallery Hopping: Part 2

The Big Picture Show
An exhibition filled with huge, bold canvases, visitors can expect to gasp at the sight of the array of wall-sized paintings. The Big Picture Show showcases works from the SAM's collection that represents countries in Southeast Asia and Asia. Not surprisingly, many asian cultural and local themes ran through the paintings exhibited.

What hit me almost immediately as I stepped into the long narrow hall was the painting on the far end. Wong Shih Yaw's Vibrant Youth bore a strong resemblance to my art bud's A level painting. Here's a photo of it:


Wong painted youth flying blissfully in mid-air against a backdrop of Singapore's cityscape. The scape simply looks too idealistic, with the accuracy of a surrealist painting. It's quite an interesting social commentary of Singapore. What about? I'll leave that to you when you see the painting.

Also particularly disturbing was Entang Wiharso's mega painting, Tanpa Narasi (without narration). The entire canvas was packed with neon images of demonlike women, cultural motifs, grafitti, and lace. The juxtaposition of all the elements was intoxicating, especially with the distended faces looking up at you. But I liked it anyhow. It reminded me of contemporary graphic arts and its wild jumble of random images. Yet, it contained that bit of cultural context to tie it down and create a focus.

The exhibition was very visually stimulating, with lots of intriguing images. They've proven it to me, size does matter!


Widayat Between Worlds: A Retrospective


The Retrospective covered a huge area of the ground floor of SAM. As Widayat was a prolific artist throughout his career, the range of works exhibited was diverse and large. I was impressed by the huge range of styles and mediums Widayat dappled with in his lifetime. It is almost comparable to Picasso.

Widayat's wood scultures, paintings and even ceramic pieces were some of the many mediums exhibited. The artwork exhibited a consistent and distinct Widayat flavour. Arranged according to the phases of his creative work, moving through the gallery is like walking down Widayat's life road. We can see the different influences on his shifting techniques and styles, but we can only guess what some of his personal motivations might be.

A common sight were oil paintings with almost entirely 2-dimensional objects that bear semblance to batik painting.

Haji Widayat
Queen of the Jungle
Oil on canvas

Paintings in this style also sometimes contain egyptian influences. The human and animal figures are often angular and stiff, only showing a flat side profile. Paintings in this style included Masses and Birds in the Trees, Adam and Eve in Paradise and White Forest.

Widayat also seemed to have a cubism phase. Most notable to me, was Mount Merapi Erupts, a huge painting that was heavily textured and contained explosive brushstrokes. The painting was mostly dark but had undertones of pastels very skillfully used. The planes of colour were overlapping and looked like shards of coloured glass erupting. The image stuck itself in my mind.

In a separate section of the exhibition were Widayat's ventures into alternative medium. Here, we get to see his courage in experimentation. His sculptures are experimental, unconventional and in some cases, a little raw.

Haji Widayat
Ancient Fish
Ceramic

I personally preferred the carved wooden sculptures as I felt there was more control of the medium as well as a rustic charm to them.

All in all, the exhibition is an interesting insight to the life and works of Widayat. However, if you are a viewer who is unacquainted with him, the slew of visual images might be too much for you. It is quite menacing to see such a huge collection at once. Still, I'd encourage you to see this one.

Gallery Hopping: Part 1

First stop: Singapore Art Museum (SAM)

71 Bras Basah Road, S(189555)

Mon - Sun, 10am - 7pm

Fri, 10am - 9pm (free admission 6pm - 9pm)

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Art During the Emergency

The Art During The Emergency exhibition centers around the local art scene during the Malyan Emergency between 1948 and 1960. It is also meant as an evaluation of whether the environment of the time affected art making.

The first section of the exhibit was rather much like a history museum exhibit. There were old film reels playing black and white feature films, while the wall was lined with preserved manuals and journals in English, Chinese and Malay. Not exactly what I'd have loved to see, but it provided some context for the artwork that I was about to see.

In the second gallery, there were the paintings and prints made by the local artists. They were mostly muddy brown oil paintings with human figures as the subject matter. Besides the odd odour that greeted me upon entering the gallery, what was immediately apparent was the European influence on the works. There were a few woodcuts that showed influence of Die Brucke, Cheong Soo Pieng's Indian Man with Two Cows which resembled Franz Marc's Deer In the Woods II, and Tay Boon Pin's Workers Resting which reflected a semi-expressionist-realist approach.

Chua Mia Tee

Epic Poem of Malaya

There were also many works that showed the strong influence of communism at that time. Chua Mia Tee's large scale painting is an example, making use of the Communist's proudest tactic of melodrama in paintings to carry propaganda. Tay Boon Pin's painting, Workers Resting, also reflects on the social conditions of the time in a rather oppressive and matter-of-fact matter.

In a separate corner was a collection of smaller portraits by artists like Lee Boon Wang and Tay Boon Pin. They reflected a different slice of life with their realistic renditions of people of different races in posed pictures. Though they were posed, a certain sense of realism still oozed from the eys of the subjects, especially the portrait of the Indian man.

Overall, the exhibition was an interesting reflection of those by-gone days. It is more interesting and accurate in a sense, seeing history first-hand through the perspective of these artists. However, the art styles and techniques are not particularly useful. Though lacking in excitement, I enjoyed this exhibition for it nostalgic flash of the past.

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Art of Our Time

Teo Eng Seng

We're Happy. Are you Happy?

The Art of Our Time exhibition showcases modern and contemporary works by South East Asian artists like Affandi, Tang Da Wu, Le Pho and Zulkifli Yusoff.

This exhibition is really quite massive and spread over a few galleries. It even managed to make Bong and I feel quite lost! We viewed the wide range of Affandi works first, absorbing his thick and disturbing strokes of paint while the sometimes erotic subject matter (The Moment of Beginning) left us jaws hanging. Objects he depicted were usually tra

ditional asian ones, including Cock fights, wild boars and some sort of dragon boats.

Works were further divided according to the nationality of the artist. Artists within a single classification still showed quite a diversity of styles and subject matters. In general, the style was not very unified.

Here are some of my favourite works.

Anthony Poon

Breeze

The curved shapes on this painting are actually 3D reliefs made by stretching the canvas over the curved form (I think). It is an optical illusion as it looks perfectly flat from the front but inspection from the side will reveal it's true form. I think it's smart, and demonstrates the artist's technical mastery with his control over the form of the shape as well as the almost graphic like blending of colours! We were shocked to learn that Poon used acrylics, which dries very quickly and does not facilitate blending. Interesting work!

Tang Da Wu
Dances with Turtles

Made with graphite on paper, Dances with Turtles is part of a series by Tang Da Wu that speaks of foreign subjects. I love the fluidity of the forms and how the woman is so well merged into the composition with the turtles. The sketchy textures created gives the drawing a sense of movement and dynamism which blends well with the uplifting composition.

Fauzan B. Haji Omar
Stratification I

Fauzan's work is made up of coloured panels of different widths. Each is plastered with a collage of strips of torn cloth. The low relief creates a weathered texture that resembles rock from a distance. I liked the subtle juxtaposition of widths and colours, and also the fact that the piece was so long it took up an entire stretch of wall by itself.

There were so many more works worth mentioning! Since it is quite impossible for me to list all these works one by one, I suggest you go down to take a look at it yourself! You won't regret it, I promise. Subjects of the works are mostly quite close to the heart since they have South East Asian influences. No worries about not being able to relate to them. This exhibition's also quite large, so even if you don't like some of the works you will see, there will definitely be something that will please your eye.

If you want to hear more about the other exhibitions at SAM, come back again for the next part of my Gallery Hopping experience!

Gallery Hopping!

I went gallery hopping with my art bud, Bong on Friday. I shall bring our findings to you in 3 installments. Watch this space!Here he is, standing in front of the Singapore Art Museum (SAM). We visited the SAM, the NAFA gallery again (for his benefit), Laselle, and finally the Sculpture Square.

Closed? Not again!

This is the second time an exhibition was close when I went all the way down to visit it! I was standing outside the gallery at 5.30 on Friday and the doors were locked though it was supposed to close only at 6. I might go back again, though I don't feel inspired enough as yet!


Anyhow, I explored Laselle a little as I attempted to find the restroom. The glassy faceted look
of the exterior was surprisingly soothing to the eyes. Hmm, the building did look like it was about to cave in but it made the place all the more exciting.


There was even a pretty little grass patio in the middle. I caught some students lounging around on it. It's some sort of plush plastic grass. You'd feel like playing golf on it.

Oh well, Laselle, I'll be back again I hope..

Visiting soon..

I received an email about the happenings at Laselle! I shall make a trip down to the exhibition and check out the sleek new campus at the same time.

Here's some details..

Gradually Naturally - Drawings about momentum and all things organic
25 Sept - 9 Oct
11am - 6pm
Praxis Space, Block H, Level 1

Not open on Sundays!

And here's how to get to Laselle..

1 McNally Street
Singapore 187940

Art Space Germany

Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts
13 September to 27 October 2007

Another exhibition in which photography was prohibited. I tried looking for the works online but I couldn't find any images!

Containing works that were made by artists practicing in Germany, this exhibition brings together pieces that speaks in a unified global language through the primeval language of art. Why Germany then? Because 'Germany can lay claim to a thousand years of pluralism', division and reunification, which makes it the perfect melting pot of expression.
In Candle TV by Nam June Paik, a sole white candle is placed within the empty frame of an empty television box. The candle is lit and burns steadily. The juxtaposition of a primitive lighting method with a common tool of modern technology was quite interesting. At the heart of it all, the TV is a lighted box after all.

Another of Paik's work exhibited, Internet Dwellers: yswg.dreizehn.xulf, is a sculpture made of a microscope, television boxes and video cameras. The screens play life images of numbers, cards and currency shuffling in gaudy scintillating colours. It seems to point towards globalisation and our conglomeration of technology.

Sitting in the middle of the gallery was Tony Cragg's Flotsam (bottom right corner of picture). The sculpture was an odd limestone like texture with an organic form. On closer look, I discovered that the windblown texture was created by multi-coloured lines on some sort of plastic material. I really liked the unique effect created, and also the dense, substantial feel of the forms. It felt natural yet synthetic at the same time.

One of my favourites in the exhibition was Joseph Kosuth's One and Three Pans. Kosuth is famous for works similar to this where he explores art and the interpretations of words. In this work, he made a large print of the dictionary definition of a pan, and places it beside a real pan and a picture of that pan. The question is, which is considered a pan then? Is the word 'pan' a pan since we attribute the image of a pan to it? Then is the photograph of a pan a pan since the image of it exists. He deliberately displaces the meaning of words and images!

Also particularly outstanding was Magdalena Jetelova's Atlantic Wall (first picture). Her work consisted of black-and-white photographs of concrete bunkers on the Jutland coast - relics of Germany's defence strategy of the second world war. Phrases like 'A rupture between violence and human territory' and 'Absolute ware becomes theatrality' shine, as if emblazoned on the rocks. These are 'short textual phrases, descriptions of their significance, quoted from French philosopher Paul Virilio's book Bunker Archaeology.' - Colin Darke

The overall atmosphere is dark and oppressive while the phrases seem to shine with hope. It looked like a desolate field of war ruins to me, till I realised the dark silhouettes were actually rocks. The entire pieces feels like a quiet protest against war, almost as if the land itself is protesting. I've found a good art critique of her artwork when it was exhibited in 1998. It's quite interesting, with lots of background. Do read it! http://www.source.ie/issues/issues0120/issue15/is15revatlwal.html

Other artists featured include Per Kirkeby, Ayse Erkmen, Simone Mangos, Herman de Vries, Christine Hill and more. I won't tell you about every single work in the exhibition. It's huge! So do go down and take a look at this exhibition. It has some interactive elements too. It was quite a feast to my eyes.

Hopscotched

by Song Yue, Hazel Lim, Om Mee Ai and Tok Wei Yuan
JENDELA (Visual Arts Space), Esplanade

Jendela is one of my favourite galleries. It's long and narrow, and almost always quiet. The cement finish gives the place a nice echo, especially when there's videos running.

This is what I heard: Jendela was originally meant as a bar, hence the narrowness. That was until the committee realised that Esplanade had no visual arts space.

I was held up outside the gallery when I arrived because the gallery assistant was in the washroom. From the entrance, I saw enough to arouse my curiosity- enigmatic, shadowy shapes and strange textures.

The exhibition was strictly no cameras, so here's some scans of the postcards I got.


01. This artist took photos of textures created with paint, then cropped them in different proportions to resemble canvases. I found it an interesting play of the eye. Had a hard time deciding if they were real paintings or photographs of real textures. Confusing indeed!

02. These haunting pictures of city images were hanging near the entrance. It made me feel quite uneasy, as a citizen of an urban city, to see familiar sights totally devoid of human life. The paintings were realistic, with an icy coldness. His style reminds me of Edward Hopper and his still urban images. Not a very new idea, but pleasant nonetheless.

03. Up close, this series of paintings looked like layer over layer of paint squares on a grey background. It didn't make sense till I took a few steps back and discovered the metallic lattice, which even had a sort of sheen to it. I wouldn't have thought that such a repetitive and dull coloured painting would be so visually exciting.

04. The sculpture series features several odd shaped rocks lined up on the ground. The natural light coming through the large glass windows cast interesting shadows across the floor which interacted with the forms of the rocks. Sad to say though, I don't quite know how to interpret it. Would anyone like to help me out on this one?

Another one of the works that was rooted in my mind was the perspex boxes filled with paper cutouts. Silhouettes of trees, birds, cats, chairs, tables, anything you'd find in a house were placed in boxes with attached locks. The furniture sometimes hung from the 'ceiling' of the box while other items stuck out from odd points of the boxes. The boxes seemed to suggest a room or a house, where the lock was representative of modern living and its security issues. The irony though, was that locks are meant to keep people out, but as a viewer, I could see everything that was happening in the little houses, with a 3D view. I could even see all the oddities that happened in these private spaces.

The theme, 'the urban landscape (as) an intricate and complex organic entity that shifts and shapes itself over time', runs strongly through the works. Each artist seems to bring a new perspective based on their backgrounds to the theme.

Mistake!

I dropped by Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) to visit 'Art Space Germany' today, only to find that the exhibition was closed!! I thought I didn't check the exhibition timings properly, but I discovered that the website doesn't mention that the exhibitions are all closed on Sunday. Yep so one thing for everyone to note, don't go down on Sundays!

I'm a little disappointed since the exhibition includes the work of late Nam June Paik, a name that only existed in my textbook till today, when I was separated from his work by a thin sheet of glass. Anyway, I'll definitely be back again.

Anyhow, here's how to get to NAFA gallery 1 and 2


The Gallery is near the spot marked 'B3'. I usually take a bus from Orchard (14, 16, 106 ... many more) and alight at Hotel Rendezvous. From that bus stop, it's just a 5 minute walk down Bencoolen Street. You can't miss it!

I'm excited! This exhibition looks interesting even from the outside.

P.L.A.Y. in Progress

Set in the tunnel that leads to the Esplanade, the length of the exhibition venue serves to emphasize 'progress' or rather, the process of art-making. 'As an artist breathes life into an artwork through experimentation and the exploration of limits, new discoveries are achieved and the path to further progress is paved.' The chain of works by the 4 artist-printmakers map the organic nature of creation.


01. The long narrow tunnel seems to make some kind of transition of each piece. Walking down this stretch reveals the exhibition's surprises bit by bit. It was quite enjoyable!

02. This artist created different textures with paint (I think) and made cut-outs of what looks like buildings. I was particularly attracted by the strange scribbles that accompanied the window-like cut-outs. Resembling smoke, I thought they made a nice contrast against the structured forms.

03. I was intrigued by the chandelier of puppets hanging from the ceiling. I thought it looked quite ominous, even though they were innocently pastel coloured. I kept thinking that there was something very odd and dark about the work although on surface level, it had a happy vibe to it.

What interested me most though, was the raindrop prints on the wall. From a distance, they all looked quite similar, but as I took a closer look, some drops were made of fabrics and were 3D. I liked the quiet surprises in the work.

04. There were a series of boxes that housed dolls and children play items. The items in the boxes were common enough, but not things that I could relate to. There was a sense of alienation in how the items were too Utopian. May be that was to reinforce the sinister mood of the piece. Then again, that's just my interpretation. It gives me the shivers..


I particularly liked the innovative use of the space available. Items that could not be removed from the venue were not ignored, but worked around and integrated into the piece. 'Play' really is an integral part of this exhibition.

Overall, I thought the exhibition was quite innovative. It was more spontaneous than polished.

Tickleart

Long Kang
by Kai Qun

Nestled between the Esplanade and Citylink Shopping Center, the artist's realistic rendition of the local drainage seems more quaint than out of place. The 'Long Kang' or drain, is housed in a narrow glass case as part of the Tickleart series sponsored by the National Art Council.

'Long Kang highlights the capacity of buildings to disorientate an individual's relationship with his/her reality in totality.' writes local artist Kai Qun. The piece demonstrates this with its rather unconventional placement within a large shopping area, walled off from our exterior environment.

The work is warmly lit, even giving off that strange familiar vibe we get on a hot Singapore day. Dressed with dried leaves and a selection of local weeds, the work bears an uncanny resemblance to reality. I'd have walked right past in comfort if I hadn't already known art pieces were exhibited there.

The piece is very nostalgic to me. It brings me back to the days when I walked to my kindergarten everyday from my grandma's house. I used to fall into those things and scrape my shins! Since the house was sold and I started to grow up, it's been all cars and buses when traveling. Little have I had the time to stop by these ditches and realise how integral a part of the local scenery they are.

I'm reminded of Pop Artist Claes Oldenburg. He said, 'Ordinary objects contain a functional contemporary magic.' Then again, it's one of those pieces that makes me wonder what exactly I can consider art. If I took a section of a street lamp and put it into a glass case and added an artist statement, would that be art? Well, I like this piece and the thoughts it puts in my head, so I have no qualms calling it art.

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Project: Eden (II)
by Donna Ong

Honestly, 'Project: Eden(II)' was not very visually pleasing, especially when placed next to 'Long Kang', a soothing natural scape. This work looked to me like a dystopian version of a very plastic, manufactured world in year 3000. But I'm glad to say that I can relate well to the motives behind this creation, which then helped me translate it into a very desirable scene.

As a kid, I used to take anything I'd find around the house with me into fantasy land. I could build an intricate dream with anything from erasers to blankets. I'm sure most of us are familiar with this too. 'Project: Eden(II)' is a visualization of these day dreams and elaborate childhood fantasies we all had. Toilet brushes, balloon sticks, hair clips and pom poms form the dreamscape of the unattainable.

I'm impressed by the motivations of this piece. But I think there would have been a greater impact if this 'dream' had a little more space for expansion. The impact of the piece would probably have been stronger if the showcase was larger, and perhaps some sort of surreal background to round off the look.

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Ring Master and the Magical Cloak
by Joo Choon Lin

'Ring Master and the Magical Cloak' is the literal representation of when the local artist weaved a fairy tale in her childhood. The sketches hanging on the wall narrate the story as she recalled it. The work was borne from her 'desire of not wanting to forget the things or events that have an impact on (her) life.'

Like Donna Ong, Joo Choon Lin relates to the intrinsic ability of children to transform any household object into a integral part of their fantasy land. These are the objects found in her artwork.

I found the artist's style appealing, but not particularly unconventional. My only wish was if the work was a little more thought provoking.