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People’s Biennale

20 December, 2017 by Chloe

A wave of people hit you in the face in Jakarta. The busy Soekarno-Hatta International Airport features throngs of them. The city’s infamous traffic jams begin the moment the taxi hits the highway and continues on and on until the vehicle arrives at the hotel. If lucky, the driver would expertly manoeuvre his way through the numerous vehicles that endlessly join the road from little nooks and crannies (that might also be roads) off the side and you will arrive at your hotel in slightly more than an hour. Catch Jakarta at the wrong hour, however, and you should be prepared to stay on the car for about three hours. Don’t worry, though, you will be well attended to by the five security guards, three bellboys, three porters and three receptionists once you arrive.

Fatahillah Square, Jakarta.   

Jakarta is a city filled up to its ears with people. It is a city made for people: mysteriously tiny ‘sidewalks’ make sense when its residents use it as hangout areas or resting spots. The disproportionately large market square at Fatahillah comfortably accommodates families who are out to explore its old town. Chairs and tables appear regularly at irrational public spaces, like on the middle of the road. Most importantly, the residents are actually using this infrastructure all the time. This is a city whose people want to be out and about.

Hito Steyerl at Museum Sejarah Jakarta.

Indonesians’ sociability is keenly felt when visiting Museum Sejarah Jakarta and Museum Seni Rupa & Keramik, two of the venues for Jiwa, Jakarta Biennale 2017. Works at these venues intervene in the permanent exhibition of the museums, which charges a nominal entry fee. At both museums in early December, the crowd is comparable to those we might experience at the Tate or MoMA and a visitor has to follow a strict pathway in its rooms in order not to obstruct the flow of human traffic. Yet they were not there to see Jiwa, which opened on 4 November and whose symposium ended on 14 November. Most of them did not seem to know that the Biennale was happening at all. They were just there to be out of the house, see and do things and hang out in the inner courtyards with other people. They were there to be at the museum, and incidentally encounter some art.

Siti Adiyati at Gudang Sarinah Ekosistem.

The perpetual crush was, surprisingly, also present at Gudang Sarinah Ekosistem (GSE), a warehouse space in South Jakarta. There is no other excuse for the substantial crowd of people at GSE, since there were no other attractions nearby. This was a test of the Biennale’s true mettle: were they able to retain a crowd one month in? Indeed, there were enough people to persuasively believe there was a quiet opening reception going on.

Shamow’el Rama Surya at Gudang Sarah Ekosistem.

What is the point, in a summary of the Jakarta Biennale 2017, of spending so much time talking about the country or its people? More space should be given to the artwork or the curatorial concept, a critic might remark. But do we then neglect the certain point of such large-scale festivals, which is to reach out to people both in the art scene and outside of it? While other biennales have found it difficult to maintain visitorship after the opening weekend without performances/ conferences/ workshops/ other events, Jiwa has quietly managed to be a success. And they have done this not by mimicking others, through flashy gimmicks or getting an international inflow of people but by successfully reaching out to the locals, integrating art into their daily lives without compromising on either quality or content.

Jason Lim at Gudang Sarah Ekosistem.

At Jiwa, the works remains integrated into the honesty and closeness of communal life. This metaphor is sometimes unpleasantly literal: I Wayan Sadra’s recordings at GSE, right next to the booming sound system for David Gheron Tretiakoff’s Ceremony, was disappointingly impossible to listen to. But most of the time, Jiwa presents itself as satisfyingly full of spirit, or the soul. The remnants, or performance installation, of Jason Lim’s Under the Shadow of the Banyan Tree at GSE calls out to one we lost at The Substation. The memory and the wound of its loss break through the terracotta while an inexplicable presence is simultaneously made whole.

Dana Awartani at Museum Sejarah Jakarta.

As a final note, Dana Awartani’s I went away and forgot you. A while ago I remembered. I remembered I’d forgotten you. I was dreaming. at Museum Sejarah Jakarta was a notable work. A video projection shows the artists sweeping up coloured sand off the floor, destroying the exact and intricate tiling pattern created in the sand. This pattern is echoed in the real floor of Sejarah’s room, where Awartani had re-created the tiles with coloured sand. Some time during the presentation, an excited child had ran through the sand, a Duchampian crack that completed the work in an unexpected way. Perhaps, even flavoured it with a little bit of Indonesian jiwa.

Detail of Ratu’s work.

Jakarta Biennale 2017: Jiwa
5 November – 10 December 2017

jakartabiennale.net

Art Exhibitions Events this month Installation Mixed media modern & contemporary art Museums Painting Recently concluded events Indonesia

LS James at the Visual Arts Centre

19 December, 2017 by Tim McIntyre


Last chance to catch self-taught multidisciplinary artist LS James at his solo exhibition titled The Apocalyptic Ark – Christ of God and other Eschatological Motifs. James boasts an engaging and still evolving style that spans impressionism to pop art and covers themes close to the artist’s heart, such as music and religion. The exhibition is happening now until this Thursday, 21st December at the Visual Arts Centre at Dhoby Ghaut. Operating hours are from 11am to 8pm daily.

Art Exhibitions Art in Singapore Events this week modern & contemporary art Painting Singapore Art

Across gallery lines – Fiction of Precision

9 November, 2017 by Chloe

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(Left to right) Hong Sek Chern, Sam Leach, Jeremy Sharma.

Fiction of Precision is a group show in two ways. One, it is an exhibition of works by different artists. Two, it is an exhibition of works held by seventeen different galleries. This remarkable exhibition is the result of the Art Galleries Association Singapore (AGAS), a non-profit organisation founded in 1996. AGAS has been successfully bringing galleries together since then. The society had also spearheaded ArtSingapore, the art fair that preceded Art Stage Singapore.

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(Left to right) Sebastian Mary Tay, Speak Cryptic.

Not all of AGAS members are represented in this show. The participants are: Art Seasons Gallery, Art-2 Gallery, Chan+Hori Contemporary, Element Art Space, FOST Gallery, Gajah Gallery, Intersections Gallery, Mizuma Gallery, Ota Fine Arts, Pearl Lam Galleries, STPI, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Tokyo Gallery, Wetterling Teo Gallery, Yavuz Gallery and Yeo Workshop. They have brought with them a total of 29 artists, namely: Agan Harahap, Matthew Allen, Laila Azra, Rina Banerjee, Hélène de Chatelier, Golnaz Fathi, Kayleigh Goh, Masanori Handa, David Stanley Hewitt, Hong Sek Chern, Ichi, Indieguerillas, Khai Rahim, Sam Leach, Loke Hong Seng, Kenny Low, Firoz Mahmud, Nhawfal Juma’at, Alvin Ong, PHUNK, Antonio Puri, Qamarul Asyraf, Ren Ri, Taishin Saigawa, Jeremy Sharma, Speak Cryptic, Sinta Tantra, Komkrit Tepthian, and Suzann Victor.

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(Left to right) Suzann Victor, Antonio Puri, Firoz Mahmud, Masanori Handa, Rina Banerjee.

According to the press release, “the exhibition showcases artists who have a profound mastery of their chosen mediums beyond the orthodox.” Each work shown in this exhibition is an example of the artists’ skill and ability to manipulate the material. Komkrit Tepthian completes antique sculptures with lego blocks, Agan Harahap presents photographic proof of scenes that have never existed outside of Photoshop while Ren Ri works with bees to create wax forms of countries around the world. The multiplicity of scales a viewer needs to wield in order to measure each artist’s merits gives a sense of contemporaneity. Many artists today take on the persona of another, be it conservator, designer, beekeeper or something else and dip into the skill set of their chosen alternatives. Superficially speaking, appropriation may seem like a lazy act. However, technical skill and visual impact can easily overcome this perspective and challenge the precise measurement of skill we used to use for art before the contemporary.

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(Left to right) Laila Azra, Agan Harahap, Kenny Low, PHUNK, Komkrit Tepthian.

Unlike a fair, there are no huge name signs built into the partition walls. It is unclear which artist is represented by which gallery from afar unless the visitor is already familiar with the gallery’s portfolio. This is a strength, for galleries have a chance to make a second first impression upon their potential clients: By carefully selecting only a few artwork by two or three artists in their portfolio, they can define themselves differently from what they are commonly thought to be, perhaps reaching out to a new clientele. This is in line with AGAS’s desire to increase the appreciation of art in Singapore.

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(Left to right) Taishin Saigawa, David Hewitt, Ichin.

Beyond the exhibition itself, Fiction of Precision is a quietly significant exhibition because it has successfully brought private galleries together. In today’s society, where we are often only concerned about ourselves and our own businesses, it is a political feat, and a sign of camaraderie among the galleries, for AGAS to have gotten seventeen galleries to come together for a one-month show. Its last joint exhibition happened in 2014. Hopefully, we would not have to wait another three years for the next joint show.

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(Left to right) Alvin Ong, Khairullah Rahim.

Fiction of Precision
1 – 30 November 2017

Millenia Walk
#02-57, 9 Raffles Boulevard
Singapore 039596

Open daily, 11.30am-8.30pm
agas.org.sg
info@agas.org.sg

Art Exhibitions Art for Sale Art Gallery Art in Singapore Events this month Mixed media modern & contemporary art Painting Photography Sculpture Singapore Art

Sticker Lady takes on Melbourne

2 October, 2017 by Chloe

SKLO, Stand Proud, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and One East Asia.

SKLO, Stand Proud, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and One East Asia.

We remember Sam Lo, who placed stickers like “PRESS TO STOP TIME” and “PRESS FOR GOOD LUCK” at pedestrian crossings. And, undeterred by the government’s persecution in 2012, Sam came back with stickers that warns you “DON’T ANYHOW STICK OK” and “ANYHOW PASTE KENA FINE”. It comes as no surprise that this witty urban interventionist has caught the attention of the residents of Melbourne, one of the world’s best place for the street artist. Her solo exhibition will be opening on 3 October at Besser Space in the Collingwood area.

SKLO, With You With Love, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and One East Asia.

SKLO, With You With Love, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and One East Asia.

Slightly lesser known are Sam’s interventions in places like buses, where she tells commuters that there is “NO NEED TO PAT SEAT BEFORE SITTING” and her re-appropriation of garbage chutes in the HDBs as “SUGGESTION BOX”. These slightly less politically charged works, which were not mentioned by sensationalist press, gives us a more comprehensive idea of her wit. Taken together, stickers, cards and all, Sam demonstrates her sharp observations on Singapore’s society. Our habits of pressing the button repeatedly when waiting for the green man, or patting the seat before sitting down in the bus are so ingrained, everyday and insignificant that we do not realise their absurdity. In pointing them out, Sam encourages us to laugh while not passing judgement on the correctness of these actions – surely that is the best kind of lighthearted humour.

SKLO, Showing off since 1965, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and One East Asia.

SKLO, Showing off since 1965, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and One East Asia.

While Sam had made her fame through site-specific interventions, her also includes canvas based wall work. A recent painting, which will be presented in Melbourne, is her 2017 Self Portrait. A grey mouse runs on an exercise wheel. The wheel is lit from the back in shades of orange, reminiscent of the flames in an oven or mine. The idea of a rat race comes into mind here: we are constantly racing to keep up, exercising to remain competitive (fit), but the restrictions of the wheel keeps us stationary. We are still exactly where we started no matter how fast we run.

SKLO, Self Portrait, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and One East Asia.

SKLO, Self Portrait, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and One East Asia.

The mouse’s every action merely keeps the larger machine running. The wheel is connected to other wheels, shaped like gears around it. Its every stride forward clinks and moves the other wheels. While it furiously strides forward in vain, its kinetic force is being stolen by the wheel itself, affixed with spikes that engage with other wheels.

While the gears may look solid, their shape suggests that there may be other mice running within. So we gain another layer of understanding for this grey mouse – perhaps it is not really moving of its own volition. If it stops moving in a moving wheel, the mouse will be propelled forward by sheer velocity, possibly injuring itself. So it continues to run, so that it will not be tripped up by the gear-wheel it is trapped in.

SKLO, Young Hearts, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and One East Asia.

SKLO, Young Hearts, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and One East Asia.

This metaphor of ‘corporate’ Singapore is not new. Many of us have casually commented on Singapore working like clockwork with friends and family, or on the brutal systems that we navigate for our daily lives, issues that are inexplicable to the foreigner. As part of her ‘condemnation’ for ‘mischief’ with her stickers in 2012, Sam had to complete 240 hours of community service – a mind numbing procedure that drives home to the people that they were mere cogs in the larger machine.

With Self Portrait, Sam is picking up on what she has done best thus far, the tenor of the Singaporean consciousness, and translating it in lighthearted visual form. While the story of the little grey mouse is industrial, brutal and dehumanising, its romantic colouration, dark red, tonal greys and orange-yellows, reminds us of the colour palette in game fantasy worlds, a make believe space where dreams could come true and your character never actually dies (you just respawn and try again). Sam’s world is part reality and part fantastical, a world that is full of hope that you find, rather than hope that is given.

SKLO, Big Brother, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and One East Asia.

SKLO, Big Brother, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and One East Asia.

For Better, For Worse is Sam Lo’s third solo exhibition to date and her first showing in Australia. In addition to a plethora of photographs that we know her for, including Our Grandfather Road, seven new paintings, including Self Portrait, will be included in the 11-day show. If in Australia, this is an exhibition not to be missed.

Sam Lo: Ai Wu Ji Wu 爱屋及乌, For Better, For Worse
3-14 October 2017

Besser Space
15-25 Keele Street
Collingwood VIC 3066
Australia
Tuesdays to Fridays, 10am-5pm
Saturdays, 12noon-5pm

Meet the artist: 7 Oct, 1-5pm @ Besser Space

Organised by One East Asia and Pegasos5.

Sales enquiries should be directed to One East Asia or Pegasos5.

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Stories about People

28 September, 2017 by Chloe

Opening tomorrow at the Visual Arts Centre is Inwards vs Outwards, a two-woman show featuring works by Michella Ma and Nicole Fabry. Both artists have taken on the theme of portraiture for this show, creating a dialogue between their differing artistic concerns.

Michelle Ma, 'Eileen Cheung'.

Michelle Ma, ‘Eileen Cheung’.

Michelle’s practice reflects her biography as well as the larger story of women from modern China. Growing up, she was acutely aware of her ‘failing’ as the only child in a Chinese family. She is not able to carry on the family name, which is a matter of familial importance and pride to most Chinese families, even today. In her older adulthood and significantly different cultural context of Singapore, however, Michelle has risen above this baggage and learnt to embrace her womanhood. This svelte Chinese woman is now married with two small children and a successful portrait artist to boot. Her works hang in homes around the world and has been collected by Shell Corporation in Singapore.

Michelle Ma, 'Zhen Fei'.

Michelle Ma, ‘Zhen Fei’.

Michelle’s works in this show celebrate that personal growth. Taking on the tropes of second wave feminism, she asserts her identity as a woman through the valorization of notable females in history. Unlike the theatrical photographs of Cindy Sherman, where Sherman dressed up to assume societal roles of a woman, Michelle is not producing self-portraits. Instead, she lovingly describes figures like Zhen Fei, one of the favoured concubines of Qing dynasty emperor Guang Xu. A film of red tints the whole canvas, a nod toward Zhen Fei’s vivacity. Concubine Zhen’s short 24-year-life was full of drama, jealousy and intrigue, and it almost seems like her story comes out of an episode of Scarlet Heart (步步惊心). Rough patches of blue and orange, applied with a palette knife, ruptures her porcelain skin, Michelle’s meditation on the tribulations of Zhen Fei’s life.

Nicole Fabry, 'Girl in Silver'.

Nicole Fabry, ‘Girl in Silver’.

Nicole’s practice similarly reflects upon the triumph of the individual. Her empathy toward others comes from real experiences living around the globe. From her interactions with people from all walks of life, she has come to believe that we are all different and with our own unique stories. As she explains, “nothing is strictly black and white.” While she did not go through a sustained art school programme, Nicole has been at the Dupage Art League in Chicago, a Habitué at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris and a student the Ateliers Beaux-Arts in Paris. She is currently an active member of My Art Space.

Nicole Fabry, 'Cheerful Sisters'.

Nicole Fabry, ‘Cheerful Sisters’.

Included in this show are Nicole’s portraits of the people around her and those that she has met over the years working and living around the world. To Nicole, a portrait is more than just a likeness but a window into the subject’s world, an evocative snippet of their story, hopes and dreams. Like the Cheerful Sisters, whose toothy smiles express childhood innocence. Their dark hair and sun-kissed skin indicate that they are probably from tropical Southeast Asia. An uncertain light is beginning to grow brighter in the eyes of the older sister, who is on the left, as she sees more of the strange world that we all live in. The streaks of grey that lance through her hair may be the result of a reflection of light, but it also suggests the process of aging and the disillusionment which happens when a child grows up.

Michelle Ma, ‘Wan Rong’
Nicole Fabry, ‘Wrapped in a Blanket’.

This very short 4-day exhibition brings together different kinds of stories and expresses the different ways that these two artists are interacting with the world. Both already privately successful, this exhibition is not just a way for them to reach out to a larger audience but also their way of giving back. 10 percent of any sales made during the exhibition will be donated to Red Pencil, a non-profit organisation dedicated to helping children, adults and families through arts therapy. For both artists, art had given them a chance to connect with others, and they hope that their exhibition and the sale of their work can help others to find the same kind of relationship with art.

Inwards vs Outwards
Nicole Fabry & Michelle Ma
29 September – 3 October 2017

Visual Arts Centre Singapore
10 Penang Road, #01-02
Dhoby Ghaut Green
Singapore 238469

Open daily, 11am-8pm

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