Wording Art

i Light 2018 | Singapore at Night

May 8, 2018

First off, how is it already May?? 2018 has been so packed and such a whirlwind for me, it feels good to take some time now to sit down and write this post. On the art front, I haven’t been seeing much exhibitions or related showings in Singapore lately, and i Light Marina Bay 2018 is probably the first art event of the year that I saw here.

The annual light festival has apparently been here for six years already, but it’s only my first time catching it! I think such a light festival is perfect for a place like Singapore, where digital installations and light shows always seem to be very popular. I also really liked that it made me go on a nighttime walking tour of the Marina Bay area, which I would always want to do but not actually not do it because of excuses like humidity, heat, so on… ;)

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Colours of Impressionism | Curating Colour?

December 28, 2017

/ Review

The news of National Gallery Singapore’s latest collaboration with Musée d’Orsay was a big deal for me, especially owing to the fact – like my sister likes to joke to me about – that this exhibition basically sums up my degree. Or at least, my favourite style and period in art history, which is 19th century French art.

So you can most probably tell how excited I was to see it, and what made it even better was that I got to see a preview of it before it opened, and I could take all the photos I wanted without the swarms of people that I’m sure the Gallery is seeing right now.

With a popular theme like Impressionism (although what could beat Yayoi Kusama’s polka dotted works in popularity?), I feel like this exhibition is easily appealable to many people, though I have a few misgivings about the way the artworks were grouped by… colour.

| Cover Picture: Claude Monet, Champs de tulipes en Hollande (Tulip Field in Holland), 1886, oil on canvas |

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Precious Eggs | Miniature Works of Art

October 31, 2017

/ Crossover, Review

I’m actually a fan of eggs myself and that was probably my biggest reason for wanting to check out this exhibition Precious Eggs: Of Art, Beauty and Culture at Singapore Philatelic Museum – what can you do with eggs to make them look beautiful, and what do they have to do with stamps?

The exhibits pretty much speak for themselves, I love so many of them with their various materials and designs. Turns out that these eggs were featured on stamps too! In collaboration with Liechtenstein National Museum, many of these eggs were shown outside of Europe for the first time.

These precious eggs are one of a kind and I’m so glad I got to see them! If you missed the exhibition, keep reading to see more of the eggs!

| Cover picture: St. George and the Dragon, Russia |

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Creativity in Pulses 新‧创艺 | Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre

September 22, 2017

/ Review

I was introduced to the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre that recently opened in May this year just last week. Its opening exhibition Creativity in Pulses 新‧创艺, running till 30th September 2017, talks about what it means to identify as a Singaporean Chinese through the perspectives of a group of Singaporean artists in their twenties and thirties. I found it a refreshing idea to think about, especially after living in Hong Kong for a few years, where the question of Hong Kong identity has been prevalent these days.

The common idea that appears to run through the exhibition is the way tradition and modernity intermix in Singapore, so there’s quite a lot of references to traditional Chinese culture presented in new formats of installations and design. Personally, I also think that Singaporean identity carries a lot of Western influence, which I also picked up in some of the artworks on display, although I’m not sure if it was intentional on the part of the artists.

Sharing my favourite artworks from the exhibition, keep reading to see more!

| Cover picture: 《新‧山水》 by Edwin Low 刘志雄, Image courtesy of Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre |

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Joseon Korea | Royalty and High Culture

July 19, 2017

/ Review

Managed to come back to Singapore in time to see Asian Civilizations Museum’s special exhibition Joseon Korea: Court Treasures and City Life! I think anyone interested in anything Korea probably got their start from Korean pop culture: either Kpop or Kdramas. For me, it was kdramas that did me in. ;) Many Korean historical dramas are set in the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910), which was Korea’s longest and most prosperous dynasty. The exhibition features artifacts from the Joseon court and others used by the upper class people ranging from paintings, clothing, furniture, letters, and other forms of decorative arts.

| Cover picture: The Sun, Moon, And Five Peaks, 19th or early 20th century, six-fold screen; colour on silk |

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