I suspect with the Labour Day long weekend ahead, most galleries aren't doing anything new this weekend. But the two things to watch for next week would be
1. Curator's Cut by Yeo Workshop
2. Mode Change - Jeremy Sharma at Galerie Michael Janssen
Looking forward to these.
Any art suggestions this weekend? Please comment. Maybe I might head over to the
1. MFA grad show at Lasalle
2 City Stories at Fullerton Hotel - Quek Kiat Sing and Ron Wong presented by Asia Art Collective.
3. Convergence at Ion Art Gallery - Fan Chang Tien, Lim Leong Seng, Liu Guo, Fan Shao Hua, Gui Zhao Hai and Aaron Gan also presented by Asia Art Collective. (3/5 to 11/5)
Or maybe I should just go gallery hopping or to LiFine Art to congratulate Ng Woon Lam on his 2nd AWS Bronze Medal and his Dolphin Fellowship.
Interesting exhibitions which we attend. Mainly paintings but everything Art in Singapore with hot collector tips.
Sunday 27 April 2014
Saturday 26 April 2014
Medium at Large - Singapore Art Museum
Medium at Large was a good exhibition, the best one in a while., but still not perfect. Would agree with the rating of 4/5 given by Mayo Martin's review in TodayOnline.
The theme was easily understood, but would have been interesting if we could know who was the curator or curatorial team. (Maybe I missed it but I couldn't dig out the information or the entire SAM curatorial team?) The presentation of the works was ordered very well, but I disagree with certain aspects in which the works are presented and laid out. And as usual for most art things, the exhibition was not that well organised and the way to view the works wasn't easily apparent, especially if we want to appreciate the curatorial take on the exhibition. To quote a phrase from Mayo Martin's article, "Many of the works on display will be familiar to regular museum-goers, but combined, you get a fresh perspective." So it's important to get hold of the exhibition guide, either in print at the museum or download it from the museum website, here.
First you start at the entrance, where we see... Heman Chong's Forer Effect! Next you move to the lobby area to view the Honey Sticks by Ye ShuFang, that's if you aren't distracted and drawn away by Twardzik Ching Chor Leng's Real Estate and miss it completely. Hate these exhibitions where a little bit is here and a little bit is there and you aren't too sure to which exhibition the works in the common areas belong. The learning galleries and Koh Seow Chuan Gallery had their own exhibitions too, although these were self contained in the galleries, but some of the works of this exhibition (ie the The Artist Village, Gary Ross Pastrana, Nipan Oranniwesna and Torlarp Larpjareonsook) was in a small level 2 exhibition room on the left of the chapel, whereas most works were nicely signposted to go to the special exhibitions gallery. So leaving you to think of the Forer effect, the honey sticks, the level 2 room and Ho Tzu Nyen's Cloud of Unknowing in the Chapel aren't part of the exhibition.
Next you move on to the first level of the special exhibitions gallery. The most interesting works would be Ian's Woo's drawing/painting of Lot. Not truly a drawing, as he painted with graphite pigment mixed in water. Great selection of this piece into the exhibition, seen alone these won't be some of his best works though.
On the second level, the meat seems to be here, spend some time here to enjoy the art works. The better ones, would be without having to say Jane Lee's Status. An impressive 4.2m x5.37m x1.44m work which was a site specific installation and I guess they tore down and reinstalled the wall ala Banksy works. Impressed by the art work and impressed by the art movers having to store and move the work. One problem was that the art work was too big for the room, it was on the length-wise wall and had the breadth-wise depth to look at the art which I felt was too near. But I guess this was the best place to put it in this old building which wasn't purpose built as an art museum, rather my dad's old school. Must talk about the lighting, the lightning systems in the entire exhibition was perfect. The lightning was brilliant, not only the spot lights on the art but the overall ambient lighting to the room. The lighting was 'sick'.
Also on Level 2 were other good works like Alan Oei's Huang Wei's pieces. The picture of the girl with pearl earrings and the ghostly ones where the paintings were 'varnished' with resin. Really nice and an unusual take on paintings. But more importantly is the concept behind it. (Huang wei -The end of history).
Natee Utarit's the Birth of Tragedy, a large 2mx7.2m Triptych. Love his painting which was done in the old western / renaissance / allegorical style.
Annie Cabigting's On the shelf, on the shelf ( after Michael Craig-Martin) was excellent, because it was an oil painting which looked like a drawing but is a painting of Michael Craig-Martin's on the shelf which was an installation which is a 3-D, structural / spatial object. And further it is placed on a similar shelf and draws the observer deeper into the question.
The third floor, I finally managed to view Ang Song Ming's 'You and I'. It was an interesting body of work that ran from 2009 -2012, where he asked people to send him a letter about themselves and he would send them back a mixtape of songs which he thought represented them. (you should check out his Backwards Bach and Be true to your school, which weren't at this exhibition though).
Anyway if you missed the small level 2 room, no big deal, maybe that's why they put it there.
If you have time you can always check out Ho Tzu Nyen's Cloud of Unknowing which shows in the Chapel. Runs from 12pm - 6pm, last show 5.30pm. (Passed the video art 1 minute test - a test where you give the video art 1 minute, amd if it can't hold your attention after 1 minute you can sort of give up). Watched it in its entirety because the young enthusiastic volunteers / docents were raving about the smoke.
So please do catch this show. You have no excuse to say no time because the exhibition runs till April 2015 (1 year!).
Now that the Singapore Art Museum is a company limited under the visual arts cluster and no longer under National Heritage Board, they really need to perform and good luck to Susie Lingham. But if this exhibition is a beacon of things to come, then we and those interested in contemporary and emerging artists will been having a lot of fun!
Points for collectors: Good works. Get to see what the Museum thinks and likes. Get to see better works, many of which never see light of day from their temperature and humidity controlled vaults. Good guide if you're new to collecting and unsure how to select emerging artists.
The theme was easily understood, but would have been interesting if we could know who was the curator or curatorial team. (Maybe I missed it but I couldn't dig out the information or the entire SAM curatorial team?) The presentation of the works was ordered very well, but I disagree with certain aspects in which the works are presented and laid out. And as usual for most art things, the exhibition was not that well organised and the way to view the works wasn't easily apparent, especially if we want to appreciate the curatorial take on the exhibition. To quote a phrase from Mayo Martin's article, "Many of the works on display will be familiar to regular museum-goers, but combined, you get a fresh perspective." So it's important to get hold of the exhibition guide, either in print at the museum or download it from the museum website, here.
First you start at the entrance, where we see... Heman Chong's Forer Effect! Next you move to the lobby area to view the Honey Sticks by Ye ShuFang, that's if you aren't distracted and drawn away by Twardzik Ching Chor Leng's Real Estate and miss it completely. Hate these exhibitions where a little bit is here and a little bit is there and you aren't too sure to which exhibition the works in the common areas belong. The learning galleries and Koh Seow Chuan Gallery had their own exhibitions too, although these were self contained in the galleries, but some of the works of this exhibition (ie the The Artist Village, Gary Ross Pastrana, Nipan Oranniwesna and Torlarp Larpjareonsook) was in a small level 2 exhibition room on the left of the chapel, whereas most works were nicely signposted to go to the special exhibitions gallery. So leaving you to think of the Forer effect, the honey sticks, the level 2 room and Ho Tzu Nyen's Cloud of Unknowing in the Chapel aren't part of the exhibition.
Next you move on to the first level of the special exhibitions gallery. The most interesting works would be Ian's Woo's drawing/painting of Lot. Not truly a drawing, as he painted with graphite pigment mixed in water. Great selection of this piece into the exhibition, seen alone these won't be some of his best works though.
Ian Woo's Lot Paintings
On the second level, the meat seems to be here, spend some time here to enjoy the art works. The better ones, would be without having to say Jane Lee's Status. An impressive 4.2m x5.37m x1.44m work which was a site specific installation and I guess they tore down and reinstalled the wall ala Banksy works. Impressed by the art work and impressed by the art movers having to store and move the work. One problem was that the art work was too big for the room, it was on the length-wise wall and had the breadth-wise depth to look at the art which I felt was too near. But I guess this was the best place to put it in this old building which wasn't purpose built as an art museum, rather my dad's old school. Must talk about the lighting, the lightning systems in the entire exhibition was perfect. The lightning was brilliant, not only the spot lights on the art but the overall ambient lighting to the room. The lighting was 'sick'.
Jane Lee's Status
Also on Level 2 were other good works like Alan Oei's Huang Wei's pieces. The picture of the girl with pearl earrings and the ghostly ones where the paintings were 'varnished' with resin. Really nice and an unusual take on paintings. But more importantly is the concept behind it. (Huang wei -The end of history).
Alan Oei's Huang Wei Series
Natee Utarit's the Birth of Tragedy, a large 2mx7.2m Triptych. Love his painting which was done in the old western / renaissance / allegorical style.
Annie Cabigting's On the shelf, on the shelf ( after Michael Craig-Martin) was excellent, because it was an oil painting which looked like a drawing but is a painting of Michael Craig-Martin's on the shelf which was an installation which is a 3-D, structural / spatial object. And further it is placed on a similar shelf and draws the observer deeper into the question.
The third floor, I finally managed to view Ang Song Ming's 'You and I'. It was an interesting body of work that ran from 2009 -2012, where he asked people to send him a letter about themselves and he would send them back a mixtape of songs which he thought represented them. (you should check out his Backwards Bach and Be true to your school, which weren't at this exhibition though).
Ang Song Ming's You & I
Anyway if you missed the small level 2 room, no big deal, maybe that's why they put it there.
If you have time you can always check out Ho Tzu Nyen's Cloud of Unknowing which shows in the Chapel. Runs from 12pm - 6pm, last show 5.30pm. (Passed the video art 1 minute test - a test where you give the video art 1 minute, amd if it can't hold your attention after 1 minute you can sort of give up). Watched it in its entirety because the young enthusiastic volunteers / docents were raving about the smoke.
So please do catch this show. You have no excuse to say no time because the exhibition runs till April 2015 (1 year!).
Now that the Singapore Art Museum is a company limited under the visual arts cluster and no longer under National Heritage Board, they really need to perform and good luck to Susie Lingham. But if this exhibition is a beacon of things to come, then we and those interested in contemporary and emerging artists will been having a lot of fun!
Points for collectors: Good works. Get to see what the Museum thinks and likes. Get to see better works, many of which never see light of day from their temperature and humidity controlled vaults. Good guide if you're new to collecting and unsure how to select emerging artists.
Friday 25 April 2014
Heman Chong - Of Indeterminate Time or Occurence
This exhibition is held at FOST Gallery at Gillmann Barracks. It runs from 08/3/14 to 04/05/14.
This exhibition features more of the book covers from his series which he started his 2009 called Covers (version), the earlier works of these series had been shown at other galleries like Rossi & Rossi London/Hk and the Motive Gallery Amsterdam.
Besides the book covers, there was also the Neon sign Never Again (2014) and the wall text called the The Forer effect (2008).
From good old Wikipedia: "The Forer effect (also called the Barnum effect after P.T. Barnum's observation that "we've got something for everyone") is the observation that individuals will give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their personality that supposedly are tailored specifically for them, but are in fact vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people. This effect can provide a partial explanation for the widespread acceptance of some beliefs and practices, such as astrology, fortune telling, graphology and some types of personality test."
Heman Chong is a conceptual artist and I won't go into an in-depth analysis of the concept behind the works. Read the following articles at the end of the post and make your own conclusion. But it definitely is an interesting concept and different people would have different intepretations or revelations (Art vs Design).
Anyway my focus here would be more on his painting. His earlier works in the series are more design based not surprising since his background/ education is Master of Art (Communication Art and Design) and Diploma in Visual Communication. But with progression of time and place, one notices his works have more of an 'Art' painting feel rather then graphic design. And over the years he has improved as a painter; the strokes, colours and overall result of the work. Excellent multi-disciplinary artist.
Good write-ups here, so that I don't need to say too much.
Michael Lee's on Art Agenda
Bruce Quek's on Randian online
Heman Chong's Interview with Blouin Art
Points for collectors: Good works. Price point is still ok.
He is an artist that the Local Art Museums and their people like at the moment and given good exposure. He is progressing as an artist and is pro-active.
- Buy rating
This exhibition features more of the book covers from his series which he started his 2009 called Covers (version), the earlier works of these series had been shown at other galleries like Rossi & Rossi London/Hk and the Motive Gallery Amsterdam.
Besides the book covers, there was also the Neon sign Never Again (2014) and the wall text called the The Forer effect (2008).
From good old Wikipedia: "The Forer effect (also called the Barnum effect after P.T. Barnum's observation that "we've got something for everyone") is the observation that individuals will give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their personality that supposedly are tailored specifically for them, but are in fact vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people. This effect can provide a partial explanation for the widespread acceptance of some beliefs and practices, such as astrology, fortune telling, graphology and some types of personality test."
Heman Chong is a conceptual artist and I won't go into an in-depth analysis of the concept behind the works. Read the following articles at the end of the post and make your own conclusion. But it definitely is an interesting concept and different people would have different intepretations or revelations (Art vs Design).
Anyway my focus here would be more on his painting. His earlier works in the series are more design based not surprising since his background/ education is Master of Art (Communication Art and Design) and Diploma in Visual Communication. But with progression of time and place, one notices his works have more of an 'Art' painting feel rather then graphic design. And over the years he has improved as a painter; the strokes, colours and overall result of the work. Excellent multi-disciplinary artist.
Earlier Works
Current Exhibition
Think you have about a week more to catch it before it ends.
Good write-ups here, so that I don't need to say too much.
Michael Lee's on Art Agenda
Bruce Quek's on Randian online
Heman Chong's Interview with Blouin Art
Points for collectors: Good works. Price point is still ok.
He is an artist that the Local Art Museums and their people like at the moment and given good exposure. He is progressing as an artist and is pro-active.
- Buy rating
Monday 21 April 2014
Goh Chai Seng: Some Truth
Tomio Koyama is back! Really happy they are back and Gillman Barracks have not lost any tenants. Tomio Koyama Gallery was supposed to pull out in Feb 2014. However, they are back! And according to them, they will be focusing on South East Asian Artists. Happy happy!
The current exhibition is Goh Chai Seng : Some Truth, running from 19/4/14 till 18/5/14.
Anyway Goh Chai Seng (Malaysian artist) is a good artist. His works are very nice and powerful. The paintings presented are mainly two styles. Abstract raw style which was nice and powerful. As usual, 2D flatten images doesn't do justice to the painting, you really have to view it in person. His understanding of colour, depth and balance are excellent. The symbolism is really up to the observer to understand it. Also he presented some drawings a bit like Chinese art style but with an Indonesian feel. Think one of the drawings was called Taoism or something like that.
Fish Becomes Hill
The other style would be large oil works painted with many symbols and filled to the brim. The oil paintings reminded me of Batuan Art. The work that was hanging in the office room, with the female body and the crocodile amongst other things was a bit disturbing, but that's how the artist flows and doesn't really say much about his works. But the wild tribal art style was heavy with symbolism and we also felt that there was some Indonesian feel to the art.He is definitely technically excellent.
Funny Believer
If you notice the bowl says Bak Kut Teh, so his symbolism is an important part of his art and that one has to figure out for oneself.
Batuan Art for comparison
Anyway Mr Tomio Koyama has a great eye, so it's good to go and check out the things the gallery presents.
Please do check the exhibition out!
Points for collectors : Good artist. Great artworks. Nicely priced.
This paintings are a mixture of recent to older works. The content is not easily relatable but great for the serious collector.
- Buy rating
Points for collectors : Good artist. Great artworks. Nicely priced.
This paintings are a mixture of recent to older works. The content is not easily relatable but great for the serious collector.
- Buy rating
Sunday 20 April 2014
Hello! Starting off today!
Realised after attending many art exhibitions especially with the commercial galleries and indie art groups, there is hardly any good publicity before the event nor any good reviews of the event unless the gallery is Savvy and know how to push themselves. In which case you miss a few good exhibitions.
Only a few good interesting reads/guides that keeps one updated here. Singapore Art Gallery Guide, Artitute, Blouinartinfo (SEA), Arts Republic to name few. Best is to get on the mailing list or be a Facebook Lurker.
Hope to list and review interesting shows, exhibitions, galleries and artworks for the viewers here.
Will build it up slowly and add interesting pics and stuff!
Loads of things to update!
Anyway currently the interested things on as of now are:
Nothing in Common by Artist Alliance and Utterly Art at Ion Orchard ending today
Do you believe in Angels? at Equator Art Projects, ending next weekend
Of indeterminate time and occurrence - Heman Chong at FOST gallery
Goh Chai Seng - Some Truth - Tomio Koyama Gallery
Lee Young Rim - Cutting into Space - Space CottonSeed
Lee Young Rim - Cutting into Space - Space CottonSeed
Opening this Friday would be the LaSalle MFA grad show.
Just a quick update before everything gets up!
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