Singapore art: From Monet to Condo & more

This show by Opera Gallery in Ion Orchard condenses 20th- and 21st-century Western art history into a capsule exhibition tightly packed with masterpieces at every turn.

Arguably Singapore’s most beloved artists, Colombian Fernando Botero – his corpulent figures always easy on the eye – and Japanese Yayoi Kusama, of polka-dotted pumpkin fame, make for kid-friendly starting points.

But stop also before the canvases of quieter painters such as American Alex Katz and German-French Hans Hartung. Close up, their abstract daubs and scratches assert a dignified grace as culminations of life-long experimentation and control.

The highlight for many, however, will be a carpeted cocoon deeper in the gallery, where paintings by French art royalty Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Edouard Manet hang.

These give a little teaser of the enduring allure of impressionists ahead of National Gallery Singapore’s bigger show in November – no photo will do the luminosity of Renoir’s white justice.

And lest these leave you with a too-cloying sweetness, American artist George Condo and Spanish artist Manolo Valdes’ deconstructed faces supply a raw vulnerability and brutish edge. Valdes’ sculpture wears a headgear of wires and saw blades bundled together, recalling Jesus and his crown of thorns.

Where: Opera Gallery, 02-16 Ion Orchard, 2 Orchard Turn
MRT: Orchard
When: 11am to 8pm daily
Admission: Free
Info: 

In a mammoth private initiative, 76 creatives from 14 countries have been paired up to create eclectic works ranging from speculative letter correspondence to linen scrolls to a 3D-printed rock.

The project is by not-for-profit arts organisation Global Cultural Alliance (GCA), which also runs Battlebox at Fort Canning. Artists involved in the project come from Singapore and 13 other countries that recognised Singapore as a nation in 1965, including Malaysia, as well as India, Germany, New Zealand and the Netherlands.

Head of GCA Nicolas Tee says his team reached out to Singapore creatives spanning playwrights, visual artists and therapists, who were then paired with a creative partner overseas and given an open brief.

A small-scale exhibition at Orchard Central showcases some of the more materially striking combinations. They include Singapore woodcut artist Zhang Fuming and Indian printmaker Sangita Maity’s centring of migrant workers; and a comic strip spin on Ferris wheels by Singapore playwright Myle Yan Tay and British comic artist Tyrell Osborne; as well as the larger-than-life insect model by Singapore watercolourist Wendy Zhang and Canadian crocheter Alexandria Masse.

The commemorative publication, The More We Get Together ($60), is a gem that is both catalogue and zine.

Apart from conversations between the artists and beautiful process photos, buyers will also be able to read textual works such as couple Teo Xiao Ting and Milton Lim’s imagined letter correspondence between their grandmothers, and the heartfelt visual essay on development and loss by Cambodian artist Choulay Mech and Singapore journalist Toh Ee Ming.

Where: 10 Square@Orchard Central, 10-01 Orchard Central, 181 Orchard Road
MRT: Somerset
When: Till Oct 25, 10am to 7pm (Mondays to Saturdays)
Admission: Free

Six UOB Painting of the Year winners are given a chance to showcase their works at Tanjong Pagar Distripark, for a taster of how to pitch their works to commercial galleries and collectors.

The gentler pen-and-paper contouring of Afiqah Suhaimi – derived from slow observations of nature in New Zealand – meets the angular penknife scratches and frustrated brick-and-rust rubbings of William Goh. The latter’s paintings, which he calls “found objects”, rail against the loss of places he loves.

There is similar personal connection in the works of Stephy Chien, the youngest at 22, who has made a career out of painting the huddle of motorcycles along the Causeway. Born in Malaysia and now Singaporean, the student uses these to speak of her “confused” identity, recently pushing these two-wheelers towards greater abstraction on Chinese rice paper.

In another room, Yong Wee Loon’s scenes of Penang and Om Mee Ai’s geometric abstractions are the most mature, while Chan Miki, a marketing manager by day, is inspired by Spain painter Joaquin Sorolla and plays with light.

All About Art Gallery founder Jonathan Toh says prices have been kept reasonable so artists can gain confidence through sales. More than a couple were already reserved on opening night on Oct 15.

Where: All About Art Gallery, 02-01E Tanjong Pagar Distripark, 39 Keppel Road
MRT: Tanjong Pagar
When: Till Nov 30, noon to 6pm (Wednesdays to Saturdays), by appointment only (Mondays and Tuesdays). Closed on Sundays
Admission: Free
Info: 

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