| Cover picture: Hiromi Tango, Dr Emma Burrows and Dr Tilman Dingler, Wheel, 2021, at ArtScience Museum’s MENTAL: Colours of Wellbeing |

Asian Civilisations Museum – Russel Wong in Kyoto

Russel Wong in Kyoto was first shown alongside Life in Edo in 2021, and then it was extended into 2022! Additional photographs by Wong were added, keeping the focus on an inside look of geikos in Kyoto, but I also really liked the atmosphere of showing Kyoto in flowering season.

National Gallery Singapore – Chua Mia Tee: Directing the Real

I was able to visit this exhibition twice because it went on for about a year — early on in January and one more time on its last day! This is a solo exhibition dedicated to Singaporean artist Chua Mia Tee, and I enjoyed seeing his views of Singapore back in the old days…

Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall (shown on right of painting) is missing its crown at the top of its dome! I found this missing detail so funny, because I only learned a while back too about the building’s crown! Also my favourite work of architecture in Singapore.

Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre – Life is Sweet: Ang Ku Kueh Girl Exhibition

Found this a sweet exhibition and I loved these uplifting messages along with these cute Ang Ku Kueh Girl illustrations!

Han Sai Por’s Microorganisms Landscape

The use of the Jendela art space at the Esplanade for Han Sai Por’s mixed-media Microorganisms Landscape was pretty good! I also liked seeing a different side to Han’s work, who is well-known for her sculptures which are easily found across Singapore.

Hong Kong: Through the Looking Glass miniature exhibition《細看香港》

Take me back to Hong Kong!!! Here’s to me doing that in 2023!!! In the meantime, I loved seeing these miniatures of everyday Hong Kong scenes — and there were so many other people viewing this exhibition too!

200 TRUNKS, 200 VISIONARIES: THE EXHIBITION

In celebration of the 200th anniversary of Louis Vuitton’s birth, LV launched this exhibition that invited 200 artists, creatives, and some celebrities to reinterpret the classic LV trunk. Singapore was the second stop for this travelling exhibition, which is really cool! Loved the ideas and creativity that was abounding here.

National Museum of Singapore – OFF / ON: Everyday Technology that Changed our Lives, 1970s – 2000s

More throwbacks to an older Singapore, I really liked these room set-ups like the barber salon and the photographer’s studio!

i Light Singapore

i Light finally returned after its last showing in 2019! It was really nice walking around the Marina Bay area again at night to see all the lights.

My favourite from i Light this year was Firefly Field! They are electronically controlled but appear to sway naturally in the wind.

Botanic Gardens Gallop Extension

I finally visited the new(-ish) Gallop Extension at Botanic Gardens, and I definitely want to visit again! There are two black and white houses named Inverturret and Atbara, and you can explore their interiors, learn more about the colonial era architecture, and see exhibitions and highlights from the Singapore Botanic Gardens collection.

Asian Civilisations Museum – Batik Kita: Dressing in Port Cities

Popped by ACM again to see the exhibition Batik Kita, that featured batik in textiles in both its traditional and contemporary forms.

Malay Heritage Centre – Cerita

I visited the Malay Heritage Centre before it closed for renovation, and its last exhibition was Cerita (Stories). The highlight piece for me was this stunning painting by Raden Saleh!

Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum

Finally visited the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum for the first time ever — after so long! It’s situated within the campus of National University of Singapore, and the museum exhibits are set across two stories. I thought it was really well done; it’s cool to see Singapore’s very own dinosaur exhibits, and I was also particularly taken by the molluscs section!

National Gallery Singapore – Wu Guanzhong: Travelling with the Master

I still think that the best Wu Guanzhong exhibition at National Gallery Singapore was Wu Guanzhong: Beauty Beyond Form in 2016. The latest showing Wu Guanzhong: Travelling with the Master was a little cobbled together, but it was still nice to see some really great works by Wu.

National Gallery Singapore – Nothing is Forever: Rethinking Sculpture in Singapore

Running from 29 July 2022 to 5 February 2023

Haha, I couldn’t help myself! It doesn’t matter when one doesn’t ‘get’ the art, just pose with it and have fun…!

House of Dreams

I loved this display of Barbie dolls at House of Dreams hosted at the Ion Orchard art gallery space, it was so pink, bright and fabulous! Loved the vintage looks to the contemporary ones, with my favourites below!

Asian Civilisations Museum – ACM and Anima Mundi: Chinese Christian art from the Vatican Museums 

Currently showing

This exhibition of loans from the Anima Mundi (Soul of the World), Vatican Museums at ACM featuring Chinese Christian art seems to be getting little traction, but it’s a really nice display of works incorporated within ACM’s Christian art gallery! The works of Chinese Christian art makes for both a strange and interesting combination that I’ve never really encountered before.

ArtScience Museum – MENTAL: Colours of Wellbeing 

Running from 3 September 2022 – 26 February 2023

I thought that MENTAL was both fun and a little quirky! The exhibition’s take on mental health and wellbeing was not exactly what I was expecting (I thought I should come out of it feeling nice and cosy or something like that??), but there was a good variety of responses and artworks that related to the theme.

Even in Fear by Zhou definitely made me feel a little more anxious than I should have! The white balloon in the bright pink container keeps expanding and filling up the space until it looks like it’s going to explode — and then it deflates, and the cycle repeats again.

I thought this work Hello Human, Hello Machine was really fun because you could pick up the payphone and it connects you to someone and start a conversation! But, spoiler alert, I am convinced that the person on the line is pre-recorded……

In Mirror Ritual, you look into the mirror and the AI machine presents you with a poem based on the emotions on your face. I gave it my best neutral expression and this is what I got, which cracked me up!!

I thought this was the perfect note to end this post with. Thank you 2022, you’ve been a ride — and of course, one of my ultimate highlights of the year was visiting London, and I should do another highlight post of that! I hope the new year 2023 treats you well, and that you be kind on yourself too! Let’s see what it will bring…

The post Art of 2022 appeared first on Wording Art.

The opening space shows a preclude of what’s to come, with a display of cheongsams and Shanghai-nese advertisements and posters.

The above two exhibits are examples of women’s dress from the late Qing dynasty, featuring traditional floral motifs. I also found the “boys-at-play” motif and the embroidered scene of literati gatherings in each of the respective pieces quite unexpected and very interesting!

We now come to the Republican period in China (1912–1949). After the 1911 Revolution, Chinese women’s dress changed to embrace a new “liberalisation” of fashion. According to the exhibition didactic, women wore more fitted and tailored styles that were influenced by Western dressing.

The print of this blue blouse is apparently influenced by the Art Deco movement of the 1920s! I’m a huge fan of Art Deco, by the way!

The term “civilised new outfits” references the changes in China post-1911 Revolution, when women wore a simple outfit of a blouse and skirt. These outfits were less “fussy”, didn’t have the elaborate patterns and motifs of yore, and offered more mobility. Women in Singapore also picked up on the style as a fashion trend, embodying the image of “modern women” in this period.

I was so amazed to see the woman riding a horse in the studio photograph on the right! On closer look now, I realise it’s a fake horse prop, but it’s still so cool to see how fun and relaxed these women looked, unlike in typical stiff studio photographs.

That’s the old National Gallery (former Supreme Court)! I love the woman’s outfit and the fact that she’s driving!

These studio photographs were my favourite part of the exhibition. The fashions show a nice mix of Chinese and Western styles popular in the 1920s era, but what struck me the most was the way these women were just having fun! Look at those relaxed poses and hand gestures — it feels so modern somehow.

The ren-front refers to the Chinese character 人 (ren), meaning people, person, etc., as it resembles the two strokes of the character by extending diagonally across both sides of the cheongsam.

These cheongsams from the 1950s and 1960s were supposedly worn to work — how fashion-forward!

The term samfoo is Cantonese, literally to mean shirt and pants, and were usually worn as casual wear or as simple work wear. This sleeveless samfoo puts a modern spin on it — and honestly, I love the print of this!

I found one more exhibit on the second storey of the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall, where their permanent galleries are located. This example of a two-piece qi pao ma jia with a robe and vest was apparently one of the earliest forms of cheongsam.

There was one more cheongsam right at the entrance of the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall, and it’s yet another beautiful piece.

To end off here, I wanted to say that this exhibition also finally cleared up my confusion about the history / etymology of the qipao / cheongsam! One of the exhibition panels describes “the awakening of women’s gender consciousness”, when some women in the early 20th century protested via dress (!) by wearing men’s clothes like the changpao (long robe).

And that’s how the qipao (manchu robe) came about, when fitted versions of the changpao, made for women instead, became popular among Chinese women in the 1930s. In Singapore, the Cantonese term cheongsam (long shirt or dress) is more commonly used to refer to this form of dress. And there we have it!

The post The Modern Woman | 20th Century Singapore and China appeared first on Wording Art.

I chose this cover picture above of Roses (1893) by Peder Severin Krøyer, which I discovered from reading Women Who Read Are Dangerous, as I thought it’s a great illustration of the home-ly, sheltered lives we have been living in now — lucky for you if you have a gorgeous rose garden like the one pictured! I’ve had this image as my desktop wallpaper since I got my new computer last August, and I love it for its calm peacefulness. In the same way, I wanted to share some art content that I have been checking out recently that has brought both entertainment and reprieve during these times!

One great thing that has emerged during the global slowdown / lockdown has been seeing how art continues to engage and uplift people. I’m very appreciative of all the museums and their staff that have been working hard to deliver more digital content online, which has been great in allowing me to access more exhibitions and content which I might not been able to before. Also a big thank you to all readers who have been visiting Wording Art here for a dose of art! :)

Here goes a list of exhibition tours, films and talks that I have been enjoying lately. You may notice that many are from British institutions, but they have been my interest lately…

1. Royal Academy of Arts & Exhibition On Screen

Royal Academy of Arts has very generously released three Exhibition On Screen films on their Youtube channel and Facebook page featuring their previous exhibitions. Exhibition On Screen specialises in making films focusing on artists or exhibitions, and you can buy, download, or stream their great number of art films at their website (linked here)!

The three films featuring the Royal Academy of Arts’ exhibitions are:

David Hockney at the Royal Academy of Arts: A Bigger Picture 2012 & 82 Portraits and One Still Life 2016

Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse

Manet: Portraying Life

I will link to the RA’s Youtube and Facebook here (as they have disallowed playback on other websites), but be sure to click over to view these films featuring these great exhibitions! I think it’s such a great way to (re)discover exhibitions, and they’re also done in a documentary style, so you get further insights from the curators and art experts on the works.

2. Picasso on Paper at the Royal Academy of Arts

The RA also shared a virtual tour of their most recent exhibition Picasso on Paper, which had to close when the UK went into lockdown. A super interesting exhibition featuring an aspect of Picasso’s work that is not often discussed: his work with paper, in the form of sketches, prints, collages and even three-dimensional pieces.

I liked how the virtual tour zoomed in close on the details of the individual works and even spanned across the didactics and wall panels at a slower pace to allow you to read them! All set to the tune of peaceful music, no voices this time. :) Again, here are the links to the RA’s Youtube and Facebook, where you can check out the tour.

3. Titian: Love, Desire, Death at The National Gallery

Here is a brilliant curator tour of the exhibition Titian: Love, Desire, Death at The National Gallery, London that was also cut short thanks to the lockdown. It seems like this exhibition will be extended, but that’s really depending on when museums in the UK can reopen.

This exhibition features Titian’s six paintings depicting mythological scenes from the Roman poet Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Though it’s a small one, the exhibition is hugely remarkable as it marks the first time the series of paintings was brought together in one space in over four centuries! Here is also a link to a post on The National Gallery’s website explaining and describing each of the six paintings in more detail.

4. Young Rembrandt at the Ashmolean Museum

Young Rembrandt is yet another exhibition that was abruptly closed, but has now gone online! Young Rembrandt tracks the artistic development of Rembrandt, and the virtual exhibition follows the same pattern with its neat sectioning into five parts.

Unlike the other exhibition formats share above, Young Rembrandt is being shared on Ashmolean’s website linked here through the ‘old-school’ way of text and images, coupled with some supplementary videos along the way.

5. Open Courtauld Hour with the Courtauld Institute

While the arts content I’ve shared above are on exhibitions, I’ve also been enjoying listening to talks on art history online. Art history seminars used to be only presented and heard in-person, and it’s very interesting how going online means that they are made free and accessible despite distance and time difference!

The Courtauld Institute has recently concluded their Open Courtauld Hour event, a series of four talks that focused on the themes of (in the following order): Art in Isolation, Art and Wellbeing, The Future of Art History and Women Artists. Each talk invites a few speakers to present on the set topic, and ends with a reading by a poet every time.

All of the talks are available to watch on their Youtube channel (linked here). Out of all the talks, I have yet to complete watching the final one of Women Artists, which I have linked below:

I’m sure that the topic of Women Artists is probably going to be the most popular, and I’m also really interested in this one because this is what my research is about! More on that later…

6. Talks at the Asia Society Hong Kong Center

Final recommendation: The art history seminar Rome and her Legacy: Classical Art in the 21st Century presented by Susanna McFadden from the Fine Arts Department of the University of Hong Kong, organised by the Asia Society Hong Kong Center. Here is the link to watch the seminar on Asia Society Hong Kong Center’s Facebook page!

I pretty much like learning about any aspects of Western / European art, and this was a really interesting talk about classical Roman wall paintings. I also loved having this chance to connect with my alma mater!

And that’s a wrap! I hope you will enjoy checking out these talks, tours, videos, and films — if you hadn’t seen them yet! Of course, if you also have any recommendations to share, please let me know too!

The post Turning to (More) Art Online appeared first on Wording Art.

2018 has been my full year back in Singapore since moving back, and at first, I thought there was less happenings in art here. After a while, things have picked up, but there have been many exhibitions and events that I didn’t choose to post in detail on this blog – lack of time is always a major reason for my lack of updates! So, I thought it would be nice to look back at all of the art exhibitions and events I went to this year!

Asian Civilisations Museum – Permanent Galleries

I started off 2018 with a visit to ACM to see their permanent galleries. I really loved seeing Tang Shipwreck with all of those painted bowls and those acorn-shaped game pieces (for gambling)!

ACM has just opened their new Christian and Islamic art galleries this month, so that’s something I’m definitely going to check out in 2019.

ArtScience Museum – Treasures of the Natural World

I went to see both ‘Treasures of the Natural World’ and ‘Art from the Streets’ at ArtScience Museum on the same day (double exhibition tickets are so worth it!). ArtScience Museum continues to be my favourite museum in Singapore as they have the best exhibitions.

I was surprised to find out that I really enjoyed seeing exhibits of preserved stuffed animals that look so life-like! All of the exhibits were on loan from Natural History Museum in London, which of course, I’m now planning to visit when I get myself to London!

National Museum of Singapore – The More We Get Together: Singapore’s Playgrounds 1930 – 2030

Peranakan Museum – Amek Gambar: Peranakans and Photography

There was then ‘The More We Get Together: Singapore’s Playgrounds 1930 – 2030’ at National Museum of Singapore, a simple exhibition talking about styles and models of playgrounds in Singapore. Basically, Singapore wins at urban planning, I have to say!

I also revisited Peranakan Museum for the first time in probably 10 years to see ‘Amek Gambar: Peranakans and Photography’. Sticking to the museum’s specialised theme of Peranakan culture, the Amek Gambar – meaning to take pictures – exhibition shows a range of black and white photographs of Peranakans and old cameras. The exhibition is on till February 3rd, 2019.

National Gallery Singapore – Rirkrit Tiravanija

I always visit National Gallery Singapore for exhibitions or events or just to bum at their Gallery & Co cafe. My first visit of the year was to see the new site-specific commissioned work of Rirkrit Tiravanija at NGS’ rooftop. It’s a large-scale bamboo structure with a pathway that you can walk through from one end to the other, and there’s also a Japanese teahouse in the centre, though it was too hot that day for me to join in in the tea ceremony events they were holding at the time.

Singapore Philatelic Museum – The Little Prince: Behind the Story

I like to visit Singapore Philatelic Museum (or the “Stamp Museum”) every once in a while to see their exhibitions that somehow always manage to incorporate stamps! It was nice to re-see Arnaud Nazare-Aga’s Little Prince sculptures at the ‘The Little Prince: Behind the Story’ exhibition. I had first seen them in Hong Kong in 2015 during the Christmas and New Year season – see the post here!

National Gallery Singapore – Children’s Festival

It’s always so fun at Children’s Festival at National Gallery Singapore seeing everyone, kids and adults, having fun playing with the artworks! The first one pictured is all kitchen sponges and for the second artwork, you could throw those triangle-shaped pieces and they would stick on the patterned wall.

I’m also very proud to say that I managed to speed-walk across Justiniani’s bridge in one piece this time round, HAHAHA! For last year’s edition, I was so scared of the never-ending depths of the illusionistic effect of the bridge that I actually paused while walking across it. I’m still kinda terrified of this kind of things, but clearly it’s only me, since all of the other kids were happily examining the details in the bridge.

National Library Singapore (Central) – Selling Dreams: Early Advertising in Singapore

‘Selling Dreams: Early Advertising in Singapore’ is a very well-researched and very big exhibition on advertisements in Singapore from the 1830s to the 1960s. I really recommend reading all of the details in the didactics for the exhibits, as they are all so interesting! This was probably the longest time I spent at an exhibition though, about 2 hours? The exhibition is on till 24th February 2019.

National Gallery Singapore – (Re)collect

I shared a mini review of ‘(Re)collect’ at National Gallery Singapore on my Instastories, now saved in my highlights, to try out a new format of sharing about exhibitions! That was really fun, but I also wanted to share Lee Lim’s composite photographs on a bigger screen, so that it would be clearer to see. His photographs appear like Chinese ink paintings, especially with their Chinese inscriptions and his seal on the sides of the paintings. It’s fascinating to see how photographs can also look like paintings in a way.

The Cathay – Whatshisname x Mighty Jaxx

The first time I saw these dogs, I was walking towards The Cathay from YMCA. From afar, I thought could this possibly be Jeff Koons’ Balloon Dog I’m about to see?? Well, turns out these weren’t Koons’ sculptures, but Whatshisname’s pooping dogs are humorous in their own way, yes? A total of 4 dogs were commissioned for The Cathay, and they are still on show!

Singapore Night Festival 2018

For this year’s Singapore Night Festival, I was excited to see FierS à Cheval by Compagnie des Quidams after seeing photos of their performance at the opening of Tai Kwun in Hong Kong (which I must visit!). Horses are my favourite animals, and the performers really captured the elegant movements of horses. Funnily enough, this performance was made for the Year of the Horse in 2014, but it’s been so popular that the company has continued to perform this show until now!

I also went to see the dress exhibits from World of WearableArt (WOW), which holds an annual award competition for fashion designers from all over the world to present their avant-garde designs. These two dresses were my favourite!

STPI – Handmade Readymades

These two prints by Lichtenstein were shown at STPI’s exhibition ‘Handmade Readymades’. The exhibition featured the prints of four 20th century American artists, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist and Roy Lichtenstein, but I only took a liking to Lichtenstein’s prints. The first time I visited STPI in 2015, I think, I also remember seeing and liking Lichtenstein’s prints. That aside, STPI always has top-notch exhibitions so I always like to visit. I’m looking forward to their Cheong Soo Pieng exhibition opening in January 2019!

Gardens by the Bay – Mid-autumn Celebrations

Gardens by the Bay had such a lovely display for the Mid-Autumn celebrations! The giant lanterns also gave me Story of Yanxi Palace vibes, which was everyone’s favourite drama of the year, right?? YASSS.

National Museum of Singapore – In an Instant: Polaroid at the Intersection of Art and Technology

‘In an Instant: Polaroid at the Intersection of Art and Technology’, a travelling exhibition that has made its stop at the National Museum of Singapore, was not what I was expecting at all!

The beginning of the exhibition charts out the history of the Polaroid, starting from its invention by Edwin Land, who was inspired by his daughter when she questioned on a holiday trip, why can’t we have our photographs printed out instantaneously, instead of going through the long process of developing film.

Most of the exhibition features artistic Polaroids following a few themes, but my favourites are these more contemporary shots captured on Polaroids. I didn’t realise that so many prominent artists and photographers had worked with Polaroid! The exhibition is on till 31st March 2019.

Affordable Art Fair Singapore 2018

I went for a quick walk through Affordable Art Fair in November, and all of my photos can be seen in my Instastories highlights! It was my first time attending it in Singapore and I found it much livelier that my experience at AAF in Hong Kong in 2015.

I found the paintings of those curly haired little, hmm, midgets by a Japanese artist (in the first two photos) really cute! There were also many South Korean galleries at the fair, and I really liked the style of these works by Korean artists (latter two photos).

ArtScience Museum – Future World (Revamped!)

This year was really the year of teamLab for me, seeing their works across ArtScience Museum, National Gallery Singapore and Marina Bay Sands. See my posts on teamLab – Part I and Part II!

I’d shared about ‘Future World’ at ArtScience Museum before it closed for revamp, and I was debating if I should visit the revamped exhibition… Guess what, I did! I bought a bundle ticket to see the new Future World and the Minimalism exhibition across ArtScience Museum and National Gallery Singapore, and I’m glad I did because I like the revamped exhibition even more! Also, I’m definitely going to do up posts on the ‘Minimalism: Space. Light. Object.’ exhibition(s) because I have so much opinions on it, so I would leave my comments for those upcoming posts.

Christmas!

We have reached Christmastime, the best time of the year!! This year’s theme of Disney Magical Moments for the Orchard Road Christmas decorations were so fun! I grew up on Disney, so this is definitely a special year!

Ion Art Gallery – Virtually Versailles

My last exhibition of the year was ‘Virtually Versailles’ at the Ion Art Gallery and Ion Sky, all the way up on the 55th floor of Ion Orchard. I already know that Versailles is on my travel wishlist, and this exhibition gave a taste of the Palace of Versailles’s architecture, decor and extensive art collection.

It’s mostly made up of a lot of videos, so I didn’t really capture many good photos of it. There are many interactive elements though, like biking around different parts of the palace (actual biking, virtual tour of palace), and having your face superimposed on royal portraits, which was really fun!! This free exhibition is on till 6th January 2019.

The last photo was a candid shot of me taken by my sister looking at the collection in the Palace, and it just seems like such a nice reminder to keep looking at all the art around us! Here’s to 2019!

The post Art of 2018 appeared first on Wording Art.

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 |

Flow 《川流不息》 by Ong Kian Peng 王建斌 (Supported by Modular Unit)

Image courtesy of Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre

Flow 《川流不息》 by Ong Kian Peng 王建斌 (Supported by Modular Unit)

Image courtesy of Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre

Flow makes use of a computerized system that operates an inkbrush to create a 山水画, a traditional Chinese landscape painting, of its own making.

Sadly, when I went to see it, the computer had hanged and wasn’t working. It would have been such a treat to see it in action! Oh, when technology fails.

Waiting for the Elevator《等待电梯》 by Sarah Choo Jing 朱婧

Image courtesy of Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre

Waiting for the Elevator is an expansive moving image that shows ordinary people at HDB void decks. The continuation of the image makes it appear as if it was taken in one single stretch, but it’s apparently taken from different spots and combined together!

I also wondered if the people were actors, but turns out they were actually people spending time at the void decks, with their actions now immortalized in this moving image to repeat infinitely.

Sink 《潮》 by Kirsten Tan 陈敬音

Image courtesy of Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre

The first thing about Sink that struck me was that the said sink was located right in the middle of the sea. The film shows a boy who through the years grows up to be a young man, and then an old man, and constantly comes back to the sink again and again.

I really liked the feel of the film, and here I would like to quote the artwork description because I thought it summed it up really well:

With the knowledge we hold in our hands in this current day and age, how do we see our position in relation to the larger world? How do we open up narratives and reflect on our ethnic heritage? How should we relook ourselves and our environs while acknowledging those who have gone before us?

《新‧山水》 by Edwin Low 刘志雄

Image courtesy of Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre

新‧山水, literally new shanshui painting, is again another contemporary remake of 山水画. Low’s version of it is comprised of Singapore’s landscape of HDB flats, trees, along with key landmarks like the Singapore Flyer and the Cloud Dome at Gardens by the Bay.

It’s shown alongside Low’s plates with designs that make me think of Ming dynasty blue and white porcelain!

Bambook – Negotiating Symbols Across Time and Place 《竹书 – 建筑装饰与符号》by Jesvin Yeo 杨佩华

Image courtesy of Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre

Bambook – Negotiating Symbols Across Time and Place makes use of bamboo scrolls that is pretty much unused these days, and in a bid to bring back this medium, Yeo illustrates the images and symbolisms of three Hokkien architectural style temples in Singapore in the Bambook.

I found it funny that the text is entirely in English, reversing the way these bamboo scrolls would have typically contained Chinese characters.

In The Space Between Categories 《分类·空间》by Clara Yee 余欣穎

In The Space Between Categories makes me think of having an identity that is between places, something that I can absolutely relate to myself. The overlapping of different patterns one in front of another form a whole that is at once difficult to decipher but also layered in understanding.

Journey 《旅程》 by Lee Xin Li 李欣立

Image courtesy of Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre

Lee traces the Journey of Singapore through pop culture, and I like the mix of Asian and Western influences! There’s Totoro next to a Mary Poppins in Chinese dress…

Wu Ngia Boh 《有影无》 by Vertical Submarine 垂直潜水艇

Image courtesy of Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre

Wu Ngia Boh, meaning “Is there a shadow?” in Hokkien, was a huge surprise for me! I thought there was a long mirror in the room but I couldn’t see myself reflected in it, only the room… Turns out it was a hole in the wall! Vertical Submarine had set up two separate rooms within the installation that directly “reflected” each other.

I also want to share the exhibition design of a Ming dynasty moon gate that I felt captured the essence of the exhibition so well. So pretty and fun!

Head down to the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre to see Creativity on Pulses before it ends on 30 September.

SCCC Gallery (Level 2)
Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre, 1 Straits Boulevard
Exhibition hours: 10AM – 8PM daily
Free admission
Weekend tours: 2PM (English) and 2:30PM (Mandarin)

View more details at their website here.

Thank you SCCC for the invite!

The post Creativity in Pulses 新‧创艺 | Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre appeared first on Wording Art.

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!

HONG KONG

Art Fairs

• Asia Contemporary Art Show

I didn’t realize that this art fair opened a few days before the others! In case you missed it like I did, there’s also a Fall edition that will be held in September.

17 – 20 March 2017, Conrad Hong Kong— Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Hong Kong, more info here.

• Art Central

Art Central tends to show more edgy and provocative contemporary artworks in its giant marquee! To see more from the past two years of the fair on the blog, go here.

21 – 25 March 2017, Central Harbourfront Hong Kong, ticketing info here.

• Art Basel Hong Kong

Art Basel shows a vast mix of contemporary and modern artworks that takes hours to trek through. I recommend checking out the magazines booths after you are all done looking at the art, I tend to bring home a number of free art magazines! To see more from the past two years of the fair on the blog, go here.

23 – 25 March 2017, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Wanchai, ticketing info here.

• Kingsley Ng’s Twenty Five Minutes Older

There are events part of Art Basel happening outside the HKCEC as well! One of it is local artist Kingsley Ng’s Twenty Five Minutes Older that is happening in trams going between Wanchai and Sheung Wan! I’m so excited because I love love love trams and it’s so fun to have them incorporated into an art piece. The trams will become moving camera obscuras (first form of cameras), displaying images of Hong Kong streets. It sounds like a great way to experience Hong Kong in a new way – in a tram, through art.

20 – 28 March 2017, aboard trams going from Wanchai to Sheung Wan, free admission but requires tickets, limited tickets still available – go here, more info here.

• Sir Michael Craig-Martin’s Bright Idea, 2016 for ‘Love Art at The Peninsula’

Photograph of Bright Idea 2016 at the evening discussion with Sir Michael Craig-Martin (right) and Tim Marlow (left) at HKU last night

I don’t know why I’d missed The Peninsula Hong Kong’s collaborations with Art Basel every year since they started their ‘Love Art’ series with Tracey Emin’s My Heart Is With You Always displayed on the facade of the hotel in 2014 (which I very unfortunately had to miss). So I am determined to catch Michael Craig-Martin’s Bright Idea 2016 at The Peninsula this time!

Bright Idea 2016 continues in Martin’s style of taking mundane objects in daily life, producing them in much-larger-than-life forms and placing them in unexpected sites, like The Peninsula’s fountain for one.

20 March – 31 May 2017, The Peninsula Hong Kong, more info here.

Exhibitions

• Picasso and Jacqueline

I wished I had known about this earlier, so I would have more time to go check it out! The exhibition centres around 13 artworks of Picasso’s that were dedicated to his last wife Jacqueline.

Some points to note: It’s free admission, but you have to queue outdoors for quite a long time, I heard. And no photography is allowed, sadly.

26 February – 21 March 2017, Times Square Living Room Museum, more info here.

• The Legend of Hong Kong Toys

This is such a great exhibition that I recommend for all kids and adults alike! It gives a look into Hong Kong history through the toys people played with over the last century. I will be sharing more photos from the exhibition on the blog soon!

2 March –  15 May 2017, Hong Kong Museum of History (closed on Tuesdays), 100 Chatham Road South, Tsim Sha Tsui East, Kowloon, HKD10 standard tickets, HKD5 concession tickets, more info here.

• Zaha Hadid: There Should Be No End to Experimentation

Zaha Hadid’s architecture is so iconic and creative, and I’m waiting for the day when I can finally visit one of her creations Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul! In the meantime, I’m so glad that an exhibition of her paintings and drawings is now in Hong Kong! The exhibition also includes a few virtual reality experiences, which should be interesting.

17 March – 6 April 2017 (17-21 March: 10:00-18:00; 22 March – 6 April: 10:00-21:00), ArtisTree, 1/F Cornwall House, Taikoo Place, 979 King’s Road, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong, more info on Taikoo Place’s site and on Serpentine Galleries’ site.

• It Speaks to Me

Ng Lung Wai’s exhibition ‘It Speaks to Me’ features mixed media paintings that uses objects such as shirts and architectural models to create large-scale pieces, which sounds like a fun way to make artworks! To see more of Ng’s previous exhibition ‘1960s Big Era’ which featured portraits of historical figures made out of pins, badges, and other collectibles on the blog, go here.

21 March – 3 April 2017, G/F, Open Space, Central Plaza, Wanchai, more info here.

SINGAPORE

• i Light Marina Bay

Singapore’s also having some really cool stuff going on with its fifth edition of i Light Marina Bay, a sustainable light festival. Wish I could be there to see it! Check out the video above to see more.

3 – 26 March 2017, Marina Bay Waterfront, more info here.

• Shakespeare In Print:  The First Folio

Something a little different from the other exhibitions above – an exhibition that displays Shakespeare’s plays in their first printed form. I can’t say that I am the biggest fan of Shakespeare, but his works are so influential and I think it’s good to have an understanding of them. For all fans of the Bard and literature fanatics, I think this should be fun to check out!

11 March – 23 April 2017, Level 10, Gallery, National Library Building, more info here.

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This year’s theme is Connection, about the connection of artists and designers from different cultures and various creative media connecting together on one site. First up is Urban Symphony on the Courtyard, an installation of entangled tubes that brings me back to my band days in secondary school (I was a saxophonist!). I think you can talk into some of the bells and hear an echoing on the other end, but it didn’t really work for me, haha!

| Cover picture: Urban Symphony, Alen Ng, Courtyard, G/F |

Cotton Run, LAAB
Courtyard, G/F

I was hoping to see some real action going on, and dramatic smoke effects in the air… but it was really all kids and parents queuing up to go on the “exercise” wheel! Running on the wheel generates the cotton candy maker, and staff work on making cotton candy while people go on the wheel. It’s so cute to see kids receiving small blobs of pink cotton candy for their efforts! :D Basically, run harder for more cotton candy!!

The Poverty Line, Stefen Chow & Hui-Yi Lin
5/F Verandah

The Poverty Line is a great thought-provoking photography project by Stefen Chow and Hui-Yi Lin who work together and bring awareness to what people living at the poverty line in different countries are able to afford in food everyday. Each country is represented by the newspaper in the background and there is also a local touch to the food items for each country. On one level, it’s fun to identify the food products and to guess the country represented in the more than 1600 photographs showcased in this exhibition. On a more serious note, it makes you reflect on what the urban poor are merely able to afford everyday.

The Poverty Line website | Facebook

Do check out The Poverty Line’s website for more photos! I was so fascinated looking at the photos for Singapore and Hong Kong. Stefen Chow well captures the local flavor for these two places.

I’ve been a fan of Lego exhibits ever since I visited Legoland in Johor, Malaysia. So much good stuff there. deTour also features a Lego pop-up exhibition by Andy Hung with a variety of Lego exhibits. Look at this traditional Chinese street with the traditional style of buildings complete with roof decorations and a rickshaw on the street, love it!

Colorful stretch of Amsterdam buildings and yes, Florentijn Hofman’s Rubber Duck!

There’s also a Make Your Own Mosaic wall in the space for kids to make their own Lego mosaics. The two different Marilyn Monroes caught my eye, haha! ;)

A touch of The Little Prince here too!

The LEGO Builder, Andy Hung
H307 (Hollywood)

Landscape of Cloud, Keith Lam
Qube (2/F)

More exhibitions on the Qube, PMQ’s exhibition space on the second space. I’d like to highlight Keith Lam’s new media installation Landscape of Cloud! It’s a circle of projectors connected to large clouds above. You can put anything on the projector, right on that small square of light, and it will detect the color of the object. The connecting tube and cloud then changes colors accordingly. It really works, I assure you. I was curious and put my hand on the projector, and it turned pink!

One of my favorite parts of the deTour tour was getting a screen printed tote bag! There’s a 4-step process to redeem the tote bag, but I won’t go into details here. I was excited to see the screen printing process, since I’d heard about it but never had the chance to see it before!

Screen printing is a printing technique by which ink is transferred onto a surface via a mesh screen. You can choose from either a blue or red design, so there are two different screens with the blue and red design on it.

I was surprised to see that you can wash these screens, but apparently, it’s part of the process. I was worried that the ink will get on my hands but it doesn’t! I ain’t no science person to know why.

A cardboard is first placed inside the tote bag. Ink (or what looks to me like paint) is then dabbed across the top of the design on the screen. Next, you can slide this giant brush across the design on the screen to get it onto the tote bag below. It’s good to put a bit of weight into the sliding to get the ink transferred well, unless you like a fading color look. ;) You can position the screen any way you like on top of the tote bag to make the design yours!

I went with the blue design for my tote bag. I was kind of a little surprised to see the design printed on my bag when I lifted the screen up. Like, it worked!!

Visiting deTour made for a fun afternoon, and I’m glad I could make the time to go! I realize that my highlights only consist of exhibitions and installations, but there are a lot more other pop-up stores, workshops and other activities to check out! deTour is on till 6th December, so be sure to take a trip there! You could go around to check out HKwalls after that, too. :)

Go to deTour’s and PMQ’s website and social media to find out more:

deTour website | Facebook | Instagram

PMQ website | Facebook | Instagram

Now, I’ll need to hunker down on my final essays and prep for upcoming exams… Wish me luck!!

The post deTour 2015 | Connection appeared first on Wording Art.

I’ve always loved artworks that are put together with many details, so when you zoom in, you see all the different pieces that make up the artwork. Ng does just that by using his very well-stocked collection of pins, badges, stamps and other collectibles to create large portraits of iconic figures in the 1960s. Quotes by each figure add a nice touch to the artworks.

It had just rained when I arrived and this exhibition was actually held at Comix Home Base’s Outdoor Open Space. All the artworks had a little shelter so they wouldn’t get wet except for the giant Elvis Presley portrait set out on the ground. The descriptions on the ground in front of the works had small puddles on them, and cleaners were walking around mopping the rainwater away. Definitely a new experience of viewing artworks, haha!

The Elvis Presley piece is made up of metal mosaics though, and I wonder if they had to be wiped dry later to prevent rusting or whatever…

Ng Lung Wai, The portrait of Mao Zedong, 2013, vintage European stickpin badges on canvas

We are not only good at destroying the old world, we are also good at building the new!

Ng Lung Wai, The portrait of Audrey Hepburn, 2012, vintage European stickpin badges on canvas

Nothing is impossible, the word says ‘I’m possible’!

I love how the colors of the portraits of Mao Zedong and Audrey Hepburn really pop with Ng’s use of vintage European badges. When seen close up, it’s hard to tell which part of the portrait you’re looking at (the closeups shown are the side of Mao’s face and Audrey’s eye) but I found it fun to see what the words and pictures on the individual badges were. When seen farther away, the colors blend together and you will only see the portrait itself!

Ng Lung Wai, The portrait of John F. Kennedy, 2014, wooden tokens on frame

Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.

The portrait of John F. Kennedy is pretty much entirely brown and is a little dark, but the shift in color tones is done so well.

Ng Lung Wai, The portrait of Che Guevara, 2012, wooden clothespins on frame

Many will call me an adventurer – and that I am, only one of a different sort: one of those who risks his skin to prove his platitudes.

I love this! A large part due to the fact that this portrait is made up of clothespins, it’s ingenious.

Ng Lung Wai, The portrait of John Lennon, 2014, Hong Kong generic stamps on frame

As usual, there is a great woman behind every idiot.

The portrait of John Lennon has a bit of Hong Kong in it, being made up of old Hong Kong stamps with portraits of Queen Elizabeth II. I didn’t like this much as much as the rest because it felt a little flat and the colors didn’t pop very well, but I liked the meta with portraits within a portrait.

Ng Lung Wai, The portrait of Elvis Presley, 2015, metal mosaics of Marilyn Monroe on wood board

The image is one thing and the human being is another. It’s very hard to live up to an image, put it that way.

Ng continues with the meta but does it to a more effective scale with The portrait of Elvis Presley. I was so surprised when I went up close to this giant portrait and saw the many faces of Marilyn Monroe! It’s even better when seen from three floors above (in the cover picture).

Ng Lung Wai, The portrait of Marilyn Monroe, 2015, oil on canvas

Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.

Speaking of Marilyn Monroe, here she is! I was wondering what this portrait was made of, until I read the description and it wrote oil on canvas! Absolutely stunning.

The portrait of Audrey Hepburn was Ng’s first piece in this 1960s series, so the series is still relatively new. I would love to see more, these pieces are so fun! These days, you can find so much fan art and celebrity portraits online but it’s always hard to get the look perfectly right, and even then, capture the essence of the person in a drawing. Ng manages to do so with his collectibles and with such large-scale portraits, which I find really impressive and refreshing.

Learn more about Ng’s work in his interview with China Daily Asia Pacific:

To find out more about Ng and this exhibition, check out the exhibition’s website here.

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Stage of Mind seems to be a play on the phrase “state of mind,” and it’s a great title that both expresses how JeeYoung Lee’s artworks are centered around her life experiences, memories and the things that happen around her, and at the same time alludes to the stage-like sets that she creates. Lee works on one set at a time in her studio, freezes the moment in a photograph, before taking it all down. She treats the experience like she’s reliving a memory before deinstalling the sets and in a sense, moving on. I would just wish I could keep all of the pretty sets!

| Cover picture: JeeYoung Lee, Resurrection, 2011, pigment print |

The exhibition revolves around the theme of love and Lee’s experiences with it. It journeys from a bitter beginning to a hopeful end, and I like how the “cover” artwork for Stage of Mind is Resurrection. The artwork references to a traditional Korean folktale Shimcheongga (심청가). In short, the story is about  a girl named Shim Cheong who offered herself as a sacrifice to the sea god/king to help restore her blind father’s eyesight. The sea king was moved by her actions and returned her to land in a lotus flower and her dad’s eyesight is later restored and everyone’s happy.

It is a great visual, and one that brings a message of hope to the exhibition. The artist often puts herself in her photography, though her face is often turned away from the camera. In Resurrection, she is the one who emerges from the lotus blossom.

The exhibition doesn’t start off so pretty and happy though! The first piece in the exhibition is My Chemical Romance, one of my favourites. It features a tangle of yellow and black pipes with ominous smoke coming out in places. To be honest, when I first saw it, I felt confused. Pipes? What’s that about?

JeeYoung Lee, My Chemical Romance, 2013, pigment print.

Lee later explained that My Chemical Romance was meant to illustrate her relationship with an ex-boyfriend. Yellow and black are warning colors, signifying danger ahead. It sounds like a sad story there but I love the idea that you can say to an ex-bf: All you amount to is a bunch of black and yellow pipes. Best line ever? HAHAHA.

Another interesting piece is Gamer, a set overrun with Lego blocks, mostly blue with some yellow, green, pink and red blocks. The first thing I thought of was actually the game Tetris. Back when smartphones didn’t exist and my flip phone was the best thing in my life (I still think my flip phone is my prettiest phone so far) and Tetris was the only game available on my phone, I played Tetris quite a bit, always neatly stacking my Tetris blocks and clearing the rows before the rows inevitably accumulated and the game was over.

JeeYoung Lee, Gamer, 2011, pigment print.

The man in the piece, who is manually stacking the giant Lego blocks, is one horrible gamer. The blocks are messy with many gaps in between, with no one almost-completed row. Lee mentioned that the piece represented the walls of her heart. It sure doesn’t seem like a game anyone would win, if it’s a Tetris game, the blocks would hit the ceiling in no time.

JeeYoung Lee, Anxiety, 2013, pigment print.

Anxiety seems to show the peak of Lee’s bad experiences in love. A large diptych (which is used to mean that there are two panels), eerily all-white, shows a room covered in bumps, like a skin disease. On the right panel, there is a person lying on the ground (it’s a body cast, not a model, thank goodness), covered by a cloth and more bumps. Lee summed up the idea as “no pain, no gain” but gosh, that’s too painful for me.

Although I have to say, I love the pink wall the artwork was displayed on. The entire space had white walls, but I figure this piece was intentionally set against a pink wall to highlight the white of the piece. I found out that the colors of the walls in an exhibition space was actually a curatorial consideration in a recent curatorial school project, but I will save that story for another time.

Here is my favourite piece in the exhibition, Reaching for the Stars! The title suggests a simple yearning, and although Lee explained that the piece is not as inspiring as it seems, I choose to take it the other way. ;)

JeeYoung Lee, Reaching for the Stars, 2009, pigment print.

The photo shows Babylonian towers in the making, based on the biblical story wherein the building of the Tower of Babel was disrupted when the workers could not understand the different languages that everyone was speaking. The piece conveys that sense of confusion, especially with the marbles on the ground meant to make you trip and fall. (Seriously, how did Lee work with all those marbles? What a feat!) The person shown in the image counters all that by climbing a ladder to reach for the things he/she wants.

I love that detail of that lone star at the top of the image, so close yet just slightly out of reach. Wouldn’t that be the easiest star to grab? But the person is instead facing the opposite direction and seems to be reaching for even better, brilliant stars that are not seen but we hope to see.

JeeYoung Lee, Broken Heart, 2011, pigment print.

Using eggs to hit rocks is very much an act of desperation, and is perhaps the perfect way to illustrate the feeling of having a Broken Heart. Large black rocks have emerged out of the ground and walls and sit unmoved, while a lady in orange takes yet another large egg to hit the rocks. Broken eggshells and egg yolk are scattered across the room and I love how two rocks are seen with egg yolk spilled across their surfaces.

It’s an interesting detail that both the rocks and the eggs are about the same large size. Unfortunately, the eggs are still too weak to take a crack in the rocks.

It’s a great feat that the scene looks so real when you see the image at a distance, as if those are real cracked eggs scattered across a gorgeous blue colored set. It’s only when you go up close that the egg shells and yolk look a little synthetic.

Foodchain is an interesting work that seems to oppose the meaning of the title, with a pregnant woman shown sitting in the midst of encroaching veins/vessels. It is easy to think that the setting is the inside of a womb, and if it is, it sure is a pretty clean version of it. Lee is very open to people’s interpretations of her work though, and welcomed our opinions of her various photos.

JeeYoung Lee, Foodchain, 2008, pigment print.

Relating the work to biological elements was my first response too, but I didn’t like the idea of that, so I was a little turned off by the work at first. After thinking about it, I realized I didn’t have to see it that way.

There’s always this Asian thing, I would say, to get married and have a family. When you reach the appropriate age, people around you start pushing you to start dating, and on and on. Once you inform someone of your relationship status, it’s guaranteed that everyone else around you, whether young or old, will find out in an instant. You don’t even need Facebook for that.

This artwork seems to address that kind of societal pressure. I like to think the veins are like gossip vines, slowly creeping up around you, intent to be privy on your private details and you’re stuck in the center of it all, obligated to listen to everyone’s judgments.

JeeYoung Lee, Treasure Hunt, 2010, pigment print.

I find Treasure Hunt cutely whimsical, and the moon and lucious grass shown in the photo makes me think of quiet nights of star-gazing. Instead, the girl in the photo is searching for treasures in the grass, maybe one of those bright dots scattered in the grass. Lee mentioned that it was like searching for a needle in a haystack, so maybe I will just settle for lying back and basking in the moonlight.

JeeYoung Lee, Nightmare, 2010, pigment print.

On the opposite wall, Nightmare gives a startlingly different visual, with a flurry of paperclips chasing after a woman. Nightmare was actually inspired by a dream (or nightmare) Lee had. Sure doesn’t sound nice, and I will probably be running away in a blind panic like in the woman in the image.

JeeYoung Lee, LoveSeek, 2014, installation.

The highlight of the exhibition is definitely the installation Loveseek that Lee built right in K11 art space. It’s fascinating to see how the set looks like in real life, with tons of wires strung from the ceiling so that every branch and leaf is positioned exactly and have a windswept effect.

We were also allowed to step into the installation and sit at the table, though we were warned not to knock over any leaves or whatever. ;) Lee also very graciously took photos with those of us in the tour!

Viewing Loveseek as an installation and as a photo is very different though. With the installation, I was excited to see how Lee’s set looked, and I loved the wooden table and chair and the giant opened book, and the individual pink and green leaves that were half-dangling in the air.

Photography instead allows for an atmospheric effect to be created, and there is a sense of serenity in the image of LoveSeek. It’s definitely different when I took a picture in the set for fun but looked somewhat out of place.

JeeYoung Lee, LoveSeek, 2014, pigment print.

Lee emphasized the open window in the set, and thought that the act of looking out a window gave a sense of hope. It’s a great piece to end the exhibition, with a feeling of contentment and calm to round out her experiences with love.

Looking at the artworks again, I really like how Lee paints the walls of her sets, especially in Broken Heart, Foodchain, Treasure Hunt and Loveseek. The colors are gorgeous and they add to the setting and the eventual photo.

To see Lee work on the installation of Loveseek and talk about her work, check out this video:

Going to the Stage of Mind exhibition and tour was a fun experience, and it’s cool how K11 art space looks out into the Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station. Be sure to keep a look out for the art space when you’re walking by!

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JeeYoung Lee is represented by OPIOM Gallery. See more of her artworks at their website.

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