Wording Art

Artist and Empire | Looking at Colonialism

July 8, 2017

National Gallery Singapore’s latest retrospective of Yayoi Kusama’s works is super popular now, but I’m going to take the time to catch up with their previous special exhibition! The first exhibition that I saw this year was National Gallery Singapore’s second special exhibition ‘Artist and Empire: (En)countering Colonial Legacies’ in collaboration with Tate Britain.

The showing of ‘Artist and Empire’ at the Tate – not exactly the same as this one in NGS – was apparently the first of its kind in tackling issues of British colonialism on its own shores. I was quite surprised to learn that, but it also tells of the sensitivity of colonialism and its effect even today.

| Cover picture: Thomas Jones Barker, ‘The Secret of United Kingdom’s Greatness’ (Queen Victoria Presenting A Bible in the Audience Chamber at Windsor), c. 1863, oil on canvas |

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March Art Events | Hong Kong & Singapore

March 21, 2017

/ Art on the Go

“I think there should be no end to experimentation.” – Zaha Hadid

Spring is here! And along with that is a range of art events in Hong Kong for its Art Month in March. This year, the range of art fairs is happening in the later part of the month starting this week, and there’s a number of “satellite” exhibitions ongoing now which I’m interested to see!

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M. C. Escher | Journey to Infinity

February 23, 2017

/ Review

One of the exhibitions I would highly recommend to see in Singapore right now would be Journey to Infinity: Escher’s World of Wonder at ArtScience Museum. I wasn’t familiar with Escher before, beyond his Drawing Hands that I’ve seen everywhere but never attributed to an artist. This exhibition was bigger than I expected it to be and it’s really comprehensive! I was glad to view so many of Escher’s works and learn more about what he did.

| Cover picture: M. C. Escher, Drawing Hands, 1948, lithograph |

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Chinese New Year Greetings

January 29, 2017

/ Art on the Go

Happy Chinese New Year! 新年快樂, 恭喜發財!

I always love seeing the different CNY decorations and exhibits up and around Hong Kong every year, and this one at Cityplaza in Taikoo is one of my favorites so far! It’s called ‘Blossom and Blessings’ (幸福盛放) with fabric displays featuring Chinese New Year greetings and related emojis, which I found so cute. It’s running until 14th February 2017.

I actually found it a great way to learn a few greetings that I wasn’t familiar with before, so I have a few more greetings in my arsenal to wish people now, HAHAHA. Have a prosperous year of the Rooster!

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January Art Events | Singapore and Hong Kong

January 14, 2017

/ Art on the Go

I’m feeling so refreshed after my trip back to Singapore! I have to say, everything in Singapore looks technicolored while Hong Kong just looks… gray.

I got to see the Artist and Empire: (En)countering Colonial Legacies at National Gallery Singapore and Journey to Infinity: Escher’s World of Wonder at ArtScience Museum, and they are both great exhibitions to see! So excited to see how Singapore is growing its arts and culture scene. I’m going to have miss the January lineup in Singapore, but I’m back in Hong Kong to view other exhibitions!

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