| 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.

I spent some time in my undergraduate days studying art in Japan and ukiyo-e prints (and the topic of Japanese art was definitely very popular among Hong Kong students), but never had the chance to see them in person before. So Life in Edo was a real treat for me being able to view so many of them at one go, and by many masters of the genre too!

My favourite artwork is probably this opening print from the first rotation, which seems to encapsulate the best of ukiyo-e prints: a picture of Mount Fuji and beautiful women.

While this exhibition has closed in October, I still wanted to share my highlights from the two rotations! This (very long) post is split into two parts with images from the first and second rotations respectively. For easier reference, the images are also sectioned according to Travel, Beauty, Pets, Food, Gardens, Seasonal Festivals, and Paintings (roughly following the curatorial direction of the exhibition).

My main impression coming out of this exhibition is that I was quite surprised by how modern Edo life was! Although Edo Japan (also known as the Tokugawa period) is thought of as belonging to a traditional, feudal Japan before the modernisation of the succeeding Meiji period, I feel that these images show a developed society steeped in its own culture and customs — which is so fascinating. While Edo period (1603–1868) ran for a pretty long time, all of the prints and paintings shown below come from the 19th century. I’m sure that I’ve mentioned this on the blog before, but the 19th century remains my favourite period to look at in art history, and it’s very interesting to me to see how people from different cultures lived life then!

Part I: Travel

What a way to travel — A daimyo (feudal lord) sits safely inside his palanquin in the distance, though the women also get impeccable service with bearers literally ferrying them across the river.

Part I: Beauty

This part is really interesting, showing women making themselves up. There were also a few surprising standards of beauty, for example, according to the exhibition didactic, women blackened their teeth to indicate she was an adult or married, and women shaved their eyebrows after giving birth to her first child. You can see both examples in the prints above!

Part I: Pets (Lots of cats!)

So the Japanese love for cats goes way back! I love this print by Hiroshige showing a cat in a brothel (belonging to a courtesan) staring out the window at the festivities outside.

I should also mention here that I loved seeing all the intricate designs of the kimonos and clothing in Edo Japan — so gorgeous and creative! Some of the prints belong to a series, and this one comes from a series titled ‘Fabrics to Order in Current Taste’, which clearly shows the importance of being fashionable at the time.

I wasn’t expecting that dogs were popular among the Japanese, but the Japanese Chin was a popular pet! The two prints above Woman holding a Japanese Chin and Hydrangeas show a woman similarly posed with her pet dog in hand.

Goldfish were yet another popular pet to keep and admire in their glass containers, as seen here.

This giant Indian elephant was placed on show for many of the Japanese public to see for the first time, and which must been very fascinating for them at the point of time to see an ‘exotic’ animal. I’m assuming that the printmaker Yoshitoyo must have actually seen this elephant for himself, since the didactic states that he made a few prints of the elephant… See Dürer’s Rhinoceros (1515) for an alternative case in point!

Part I: Food

I love this picture of the first snowfall, where women gather at this soba peddler’s stall for a bowl of cosy hot soba. I also love the detail of the women’s dainty umbrellas / parasols — I’m sure there’s a correct term for this but I’ve no idea…

Part I: Gardens & Seasonal Festivals

The Doll Festival (Hinamatsuri) was celebrated for the young girls in the household when the peach trees were in bloom! As the name suggests, dolls were displayed in the home as part of the festival, which you can also see in this print.

Part I: Paintings

These ink paintings almost seem overlooked compared to the popular woodblock prints, but they are also made so gorgeously! They share similar subject matter with the prints — like images of women with their cats and dogs — but are much larger in scale, and the ink and colour are more finely rendered.

Part II: Travel

I would say that Hiroshige is simply masterful at depicting rain in prints. I don’t think that my camera very clearly captures the rain effect in this print, but even so, you can see those drifts of rain layered over the scenery.

Another famous, classic rainy work by Hiroshige is Sudden Shower over Shin-Ōhashi Bridge and Atake (1857), also from the series ‘One Hundred Famous Views of Edo’, view it here at the Met Museum. Another favourite artist of mine, Vincent van Gogh, was so inspired by Hiroshige’s print he made his own copy Bridge in the Rain (after Hiroshige) (1887), on view at the Van Gogh Museum. Actually, I must visit both the Met and the Van Gogh Museum! I just wonder when…

Part II: Beauty

Part II: Women and Pets

I wonder about the choice of depicting these women In front of the bathhouse (the didactic didn’t explain this point), but this is yet another lovely image of women in their patterned kinomos carrying their umbrellas / parasols on a snowy day.

This scene comes from ‘False Murasaki’s Rural Genji’, which was a parody of the Japanese classic ‘Tale of Genji’. To briefly summarise from the didactic, Prince Genji at the centre of the print is seen participating in a cherry blossom viewing festival (I like how there were whole festivals for this), while the Third Princess, later to be given in marriage to Genji, appears on her verandah on the right of the image with her cat on a leash. It’s all a parody — so some details have been altered from the original Tale.

I really like this print of a girl getting up close to her cat, because which pet owner hasn’t been crouched over playing with your pet before?

This print has an interesting perspective of a mother carrying her son on her back (if you zoom in to see it in more detail).

It’s so interesting how sometimes, these ukiyo-e prints don’t have a sense of ‘background’ with figures and objects appearing out of ‘nowhere’ on the print. This is a triptych that shows women in front of glass artworks at a handicraft show in Ryōgoku, Edo City, in 1819. From left, there is a glass model of a large hanging lantern, a display of live exotic birds, and on the most right — the most impressive to me — a glass model of a Dutch trading ship.

These two prints of foreigners in interior spaces were included near the Food/Gastronomy section of the second rotation. Although seemingly a bit random, these images of foreigners — specifically white foreigners — was of interest to the Japanese, especially as the Edo period was marked by 200 years of isolation from the rest of the world and the arrival of such foreigners was to lead to major changes ahead, i.e. the decline of the Tokugawa shogunate and the Meiji Restoration of 1868.

But before all that, artists like Yoshikazu made such “Yokohama prints”, so named as foreigners were restricted to living in the port city of Yokohama at the time. Foreigners’ residence in Yokohama depicts an imaginary scene; I’m not sure if Foreigners enjoying a party was taken from an actual scene. In any case, it’s interesting how the Japanese style of depicting people was applied to these Westerners!

Part II: Gardens

Part II: Seasonal Festivals

I didn’t know that the Japanese also celebrated this, but the Tanabata Festival is the celebration of the reuniting of the Cowherd and Weaver Girl once a year on the Magpie Bridge based on Chinese folklore. It’s also the basis of the Chinese Qixi Festival, colloquially known as the Chinese Valentine’s Day. In Tanabata Festival, the figures write their wishes on paper strips to be hung on bamboo branches, which is still practiced today.

Making rice dumplings here is actually the making of mochi! Mochi is made in preparation for the (Japanese) New Year.

According to the didactic, viewing cherry blossoms and gathering shellfish were two popular activities for the Edo people in spring. I love how Edo people also appreciated their cherry blossoms even then!

Part II: Paintings

I love these two ink paintings in particular! The second painting Parody of Onna San no Miya seems quite sensual, but I love the detail of the clear screen in front of the woman, which the cat at her feet is playing with. The translucency of the screen is so well-painted — I always seem to have a thing for well-painted translucent layers of curtains / clothing / screens, which I have definitely mentioned in other exhibition reviews!

Ending off this exhibition review with these test prints of Hokusai’s all-too-familiar South Wind, Clear Sky, also known as Red Fuji, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, c. 1830–32. See here the ‘completed’ version at the Met Museum.

Overall, I preferred the artworks in the first rotation to those in the second rotation. Either way, it was wonderful to see so many amazing works in one place. I’d recommend opening up these images and zooming in on the many details — especially the spectacular patterns of the clothing!

Life in Edo actually formed one half of the exhibition, the other half being Russel Wong in Kyoto featuring contemporary photographs of geiko in Kyoto — which I will also be sharing about separately!

If you would like to see more of the exhibition, check out ACM’s virtual gallery of the exhibition as well as a super cool digital experience of Utagawa Hiroshige’s Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō Road.

Find the links to the virtual gallery and the digital experience below:

Life in Edo | Russel Wong in Kyoto, available until the end of the year, 31 December 2021.

The post Life in Edo | Japanese Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints at ACM appeared first on Wording Art.

| Cover picture: Cao Fei, 浮槎 Fú Chá, 2020 |

Singapore Flyer – Whimsical Reality

2020 started with a trip to the Singapore Flyer to see the exhibition ‘Whimsical Reality’ featuring watercolour works by Ah Guo Illustration 阿果绘本. I’ve been following Ah Guo’s work for quite a long time, and I love his childlike, light-hearted illustrations of various Singapore scenes!

National Gallery Singapore – Chua Soo Bin: Truths & Legends

Spent a day out visiting National Gallery Singapore and went to see the understated exhibition of Chua Soo Bin’s portrait photography. I especially liked these photos of Wu Guanzhong sketching in the streets of London, Bangkok’s floating markets and at Singapore’s Bird Park (this should be Jurong Bird Park surely!) Click here to also see my review of the exhibition ‘Wu Guanzhong: Beauty Beyond Form’ at National Gallery Singapore from 2016.

National Gallery Singapore – Light to Night Festival: Invisible Cities

The Light to Night festival was also happening in January, and as always, it delivered a fun lineup of light installations and art skin projections. I also found it hilarious that one of Twardzik-Ching Chor Leng’s Five Stones was propped up above the bus stop outside Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall!

I’m not sure why this was here, but this setup of LINE’s Brown in a Merlion costume at Funan mall was so cute!!

Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre – Huat Huat Land

A display of giant pineapples, mahjong tiles and murals on the rooftop of Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre for Chinese New Year! Huat Ah!

Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre – SINGAPO人

SINGAPO人 is a permanent exhibition at SCCC that looks to discover Chinese Singapore culture. I really enjoyed visiting this and playing with all the interactive sections. There’s this game of ‘Would You Rather’, for example have Coffee or Tea, Eat Out or Eat at Home (as seen above) and after making your choice, it shows the poll percentage for each option!

Peeking into a small hole in a display to see a camera staring back at me!

Had to capture this drip tile from the old Nanyang University’s Administrative Building — especially as I’m studying at Nanyang Technological University now!

CB Summer

And then we hit pause — circuit breaker began in early April, classes went online, and it took a lot of effort to continue to study / work from home.

Over these few months, I also started to tune into art online (here are some of my recommendations!). Although there were also sadly a slew of exhibition cancellations, like the i Light festival, the Picasso and Matisse exhibition at National Gallery Singapore and the ‘Angelica Kauffman’ exhibition in London’s Royal Academy of Arts…

I’m currently researching Kauffman’s self-portraits and so I’d made travel plans to visit London and to see this exhibition — all cancelled! Ah well, so I made do with buying the exhibition catalogue. Here’s an image of Kauffman’s Self-Portrait with Stylus from the catalogue (excuse the colouring!), which is my favourite of all of her self-portraits! It belongs in a private collection so I really hope to have a chance to see it in an exhibition in future…

Asian Civilisations Museum – Fashion and Textiles Gallery

Ventured back out to see exhibitions again in August, and it felt like a grand affair! Dressed up again to view the new Fashion and Textiles, as well as Jewellery, galleries at Asian Civilisations Museum. The galleries will have a rotating display, and the Fashion and Textiles gallery currently features Chinese dress from the Qing (imperial wear) and modern periods (cheongsams). I thought the Fashion and Textiles gallery was surprisingly small!

National Museum of Singapore – Music For Everyone: Variations on a Theme

This solo exhibition of Song-Ming Ang’s work was first presented in the Singapore Pavilion of 2019’s Venice Biennale and had a re-showing at National Museum of Singapore. The title Music for Everyone ‘references a series of concerts organised by the then Singapore’s Ministry of Culture from 1971 to 1985’, and the exhibition overall also looks at music education in Singapore, like all those recorder music classes (so not for me)…

I especially liked Ang’s Manifesto for Bad Music, as I got quite into twentieth-century art manifestoes in class last semester!

Singapore Art Museum – Time Passes

Since Singapore Art Museum is currently under renovation, their exhibition ‘Time Passes’ is currently held at National Gallery Singapore. I thought the highlight work was Ashley Yeo’s intricate work of paper, which she makes using 3D printing.

In the gallery next door, ‘An Exercise of Meaning in a Glitch Season’ is also showing at National Gallery Singapore. Both exhibitions are part of ‘Proposals for Novel Ways of Being’, a series of exhibitions and programmes made in response to COVID-19. Both exhibitions run until 21 February 2021.

Esplanade Tunnel – Combing for Ice and Jade

This is a solo exhibition of Kurt Tong’s work as part of the 7th Singapore International Photography Festival (SIPF). ‘Combing for Ice and Jade’ tells the life story of Tong’s nanny (or majie) who became a ‘Comb Sister’ — ‘a community of women in Southern China who took a vow of chastity’ and left their hometowns to work and be financially independent. I liked the quiet, understated way of showing her life through various photographs, but I especially liked the video at the beginning of exhibition in which Tong discusses this seven-year project.

‘Combing for Ice and Jade’ is ongoing till 10 Jan 2021.

National Gallery Singapore – Georgette Chen: At Home in the World

The long awaited Georgette Chen retrospective is here! I enjoyed visiting this exhibition, and I will post about it in more detail in a separate post. In the meantime, I wanted to highlight this photograph of Chen painting Lotus Symphony en plein air (outdoors) in her friend’s garden full of lotuses. It’s nice to see a glimpse of the process and the final result situated next to the other.

‘Georgette Chen: At Home in the World’ is running for a long time until 26 September 2021.

ArtScience Museum – Margins: drawing pictures of home 

‘Margins: drawing pictures of home’ is also included in SIPF this year, and it’s a small exhibition featuring works by 15 contemporary photographers centred around Singapore as home.

My sister reminded me that we first saw this work in Hong Kong’s PMQ as part of detour 2015! While there were 1600 photographs there, the 12 photographs included here depicting the daily food choices for those living at the poverty line in different Asian countries still remains as poignant.

I liked the light humour of Hu’s People Mountain People Sea, a literal translation of 人山人海, which means a huge crowd in Chinese. Hu juxtaposes scenes of Singapore with ‘cutouts’ of the Old Master Q comic character, and I thought it was pretty fun!

My favourite from ‘Margins’ is Soh’s photographs of the last SS24 train to depart from Tanjong Pagar Railway Station (see my photos of the station at this link) before the railway line was officially removed.

‘Margins: drawing pictures of home’ is showing until 28 February 2021.

Gardens by the Bay: Christmas Wonderland’s Walk of Lights

Ending off 2020 with some festive cheer! I wanted to do another re-visit of Christmas Wonderland since this year’s Walk of Lights featured some new light attractions that have not been shown before! Loved all the lights and as always, the luminarie light installations (made all the way from Italy) are so gorgeous and impressive! Here’s to a brilliant 2021!

The post Art of 2020 appeared first on Wording Art.

Before I get into these events, I have to first say that the pre-opening act of Singapore Art Week (SAW) 2019 was the sudden cancellation of Art Stage Singapore. I’d always missed going to Art Stage – especially during my uni years when I would be in Hong Kong in January – but I’d intended to visit for the first time this year. Well, that didn’t happen, and the news of their cancellation caused such a big hoo-ha!

S.E.A. Focus

At least, there was the new boutique art fair S.E.A. Focus, which I was pretty interested in checking out. As the name suggests, the fair focuses on showing art from Southeast Asian artists – and it’s also nice to see stronger representation of Singaporean artists. I’ve heard so many Singaporeans complain that Singaporean artists aren’t more visible in Singapore itself, so it’s good to see more focus placed on them, too.

Of course, this gold coated Singapore-style dustbin was the first thing that caught my eye! For context, they’re usually green in colour and placed along the streets. I wish I knew the artist who made this, but there were no wall labels in this gallery’s booth. In fact, many booths didn’t have wall labels, some just hand-wrote the artists’ names on the wall – why, I wonder?

My favourites from STPI’s showing of Cheong Soo Pieng’s artworks. Not sure if these are part of STPI’s current exhibition on Cheong, but I must make the time to visit soon!

Light to Night Festival

Moving on to Light to Night Festival – there were two editions this year, firstly for Singapore Art Week with the theme ‘Traces and Echoes’ and the second for the Bicentennial (which ends tonight!).

I’m actually glad there were two versions of the festival, extending it from just a week to a whole month! I’d been so busy for the whole of January with work and life and yada yada, so I decided to check out the Bicentennial edition in February, which I thought would be more interesting.

Sticks is a light installation that keeps changing colours, and it’s inspired by the childhood game “pick-up sticks” and bakau piling, an old technique for constructing scaffolding. My sister tells me that she had played the sticks game during her primary school years, but I don’t seem to remember playing it too? Ah, a few years can already mean generation differences.

My favourite art skin was the one projected on the facade of The Arts House, about stories of the people who worked along the Singapore River. I like how the illustrations of the people projected on the columns remind me of Classical Greco-Roman sculptures!

There’s also this cute Alice in Wonderland-inspired installation, Open Books, situated outside The Arts House!

I really liked this quote! There were a few of these neon signs as part of the food bazaar outside National Gallery Singapore.

Yet another emphasis on Singapore Art… Though there’s still a ways to go.

I always love to capture National Gallery Singapore – the Supreme Court wing from this angle, and this is the most colourful I’ve seen it!

National Gallery Singapore’s art skin recounted the story of Singapore’s former Supreme Court and Civic District. I especially liked the bright colours projected on the Supreme Court wing, talking about how the building has been repurposed into an art museum, and the photographs of modern-day Singapore projected across the long stretch of the City Hall wing.

On the Bicentennial…

I had opted to only see the Bicentennial edition of Light to Night, due to lack of time and to see some light projections and installations that featured different narratives from the usual fare. As you can tell, the themes celebrate Singapore’s history and how far we have come.

While I did enjoy seeing these narratives, I’m not sure how the Bicentennial holds much significance in these festivals. The Bicentennial marks the 200th anniversary of Sir Stamford Raffles’ founding of modern Singapore in 1819. While this fact has never, in my opinion, held much negative connotation in the public eye, the focus on the Bicentennial this year seems to have tapped into issues of colonialism and post-colonialism vs. nationalism and nation-building that I feel has not been much discussed in Singapore before.

I think the problem here is: Should we celebrate a colonial past, for all its good and bad, or should we be celebrating Singapore’s own history since 1819? Or even pre-1819? Note that 7 Stories from 700 Years talks about a longer history of Singapore beyond the supposed Bicentennial mark.

Some say this uncovering of a longer history is a move to ‘decolonise’ Singapore, but I’m don’t think that’s effective when the Bicentennial term is used everywhere. It appears that the creation of a special Bicentennial that doesn’t even seem to be too sure of what it’s celebrating / commemorating has led to confusion and some ruffled feathers.

I feel that the public stir has also been triggered by the Raffles in Southeast Asia: Revisiting the Scholar and Statesman exhibition currently ongoing at Asian Civilisations Museum, in collaboration with the British Museum. I wasn’t initially all that interested to visit – I was put off by the steep price! But after reading news about visitors’ disgruntled comments about it, I want to see it for myself now… Probably on ACM’s programme days when tickets to the exhibition are at a $5 discounted rate.

In any case, I find ACM’s exhibitions hit and miss, and Raffles in Southeast Asia is probably going to be a miss. If you’ll like to see an exhibition on colonialism that is more sensitively done, check out my review of Artist and Empire at National Gallery Singapore in collaboration with Tate Britain here.

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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!

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

The cover picture of this post is my favourite exhibit, located right at the opening of the exhibition. The motif of the sun, moon, and five peaks was specific to the Joseon court, and a screen with this design was always installed behind the king wherever he went. The various elements of the motif have different symbolism: the moon and sun being yin and yang, the five peaks representing the five elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water, the water waves as a smooth circulation of the five elements, and finally the pine trees to represent the longevity of the king and the long reign of the Joseon dynasty.

Reproduction of jeogui, queen’s ceremonial robe, early 20th century, silk

Accessory case and hairpins

This elaborate and gorgeous robe was reserved for the queen to wear on the most formal occasions including her wedding, the wedding of the crown princess, and other state events. The hairpins accompany the look and were used to hold elaborate hairpieces. Confucianism formed the dominant ideology in Joseon Korea, and the designs of some of the hairpins are imbued with Confucian virtues. In fact, Confucianism discouraged material excessiveness and women didn’t accessorize much, apart from hairpins and rings.

Celebrating the Birth of Crown Prince Yi Cheok, 1874, ten-fold screen; ink and colour on silk

Reception of Japanese Envoys, 18th century, ten-fold screen; ink and colour on paper

I really liked looking at these screens! They are much bigger in real life than they appear in these pictures. It’s really nice tracking the narrative from one end to the other and seeing all that detail that spans the screen.

Rank badges: Crane and Tiger-Leopard, 19th century, silk on damask

Rank badges were worn on the front of court officials’ robes. Civil officials wore rank badges with birds that were associated with literary elegance, while military officials had rank badges with tigers or leopards that represented courage. I just really like how people back in the day incorporated these somewhat-subtle and intricate designs in their culture to communicate their taste and refinement.

Gathering of Literati with Deep Friendship, 1857, album; ink and colour on paper

Jeongnija type blocks, 1796 and 1858, bronze

The Hangul Edition of Minor Learning, printed in 1875, woodblock-printed book

Writing is of course a crucial component of a country’s history, and the invention of hangeul by the beloved King Sejong remains as Korea’s pride and joy. Back then, only the highly educated could learn to read and write in classical Chinese. The invention of hangeul allowed the vernacular language to be produced in a written script that people of all social classes could easily pick up.

That is a point that still remains today – the Korean language is considered an “easy” language to learn because learning the alphabet means that you can read and pronounce any Korean character (compared to say, Chinese characters). Although in my experience, learning any language also requires you to tackle grammar and vocabulary which didn’t make my Korean learning all that easy after all, LOL.

Mountain-shaped brush holder, 19th century, porcelain

I’d never expected brush holders to be so fancy! These kinds of brush holders were found on the desks of Joseon scholar-officials, essentially a highly educated man of the highest societal class, the yangban. The house on the mountain would have been seen as an existence away from worldly concerns which many literati desired and strived for.

Bookshelves, 19th or early 20th century, ten-fold screen; colour on silk

I need this in my future home next to a reading area or home library! (Yes, I like to dream big.) This great idea of having screens depicting bookshelves, called chaekgado, is believed to have been initiated by King Jeongjo known for his love of books and scholarship.

Im Huiji, Orchids, late 18th or 19th century, album leaf; ink on paper

I always love an ink painting simply created with a few strokes. Looks so carefree and easy, but probably very hard to execute in reality.

Bridal robe, late Joseon dynasty, embroidery on silk; Two wedding geese, early 20th century, wood

This hwarot (flower robe) is one that was worn by commoners on their wedding day, following the style of the embroidered overcoat usually worn by princesses. It’s definitely not as grand as the jeogui seen earlier, but still very pretty!

Norigae, early 20th century, embroidered silk

The norigae is an essential part of Joseon women’s dress. The hanbok originated in the Joseon dynasty and is now considered the traditional Korean costume. The women’s hanbok is made up of the top (jeogori) and skirt (chima) and the norigae is worn at the top of the chima along the side.

Norigae originally referred to “pretty and playful objects” but the term came to be used for these tasselled accessories. The norigae on the far left is probably the most standard form, while the one in the middle has an attached tiger claw design that is meant to drive away evil and protect the wearer from dangerous animals. The one on the far right has a pendant that is used as a perfume case!

Three-part norigae, early 20th century, silk with metal, jade, coral, amber, and malachite

This three-part norigae is the most elaborate form of norigae, with the three components representing harmony between heaven, earth, and man. While the ones above could be worn for everyday use, this three-part norigae was likely used for special occasions.

Child’s jacket, early 20th century; Headdress for first birthday, late 19th century, both embroidered silk

I love the cute jacket! The jacket was worn by children for traditional holidays and on their first birthday. The first birthday is an important occasion in Korean culture, with the highlight of the doljabi during which the kid chooses an item out of a range of objects (e.g. money, pencil, stethoscope) and this choice of item is meant to predict their future careers. I find this idea really fun and cute actually!

The rainbow-coloured (saekdong) sleeves also symbolize harmony and protection for the child to have a long, healthy, and prosperous life.

Ran Hwang, Becoming Again; Coming Together, 2017

After you’re done at the main exhibition hall on the second floor, you can head over to see Ran Hwang’s special installation held in conjunction with Joseon Korea located on the first floor. A video projection shows a couple in the middle of a marriage ceremony, and motifs of flowers, phoenixes, and more are auspicious symbols that indicate a happy marriage. Watch the video to see more!

This special installation by Ran Hwang is free for all museum visitors, while the main exhibition has paid entry. They are both showing till 23rd July 2017. Head over to their website to find out more details. In any case, most of the exhibits are on loan from the National Palace Museum of Korea and the National Museum of Korea, both located in Seoul. So you know where to go if you want to see more! :D

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