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Business Times
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Business Times
Inside Singapore Gallery Month: Private tours, studio visits and art perks
[SINGAPORE] Singapore Gallery Month (SGM) returns on Aug 15 with scale, sophistication and a dash of insider glamour. Now in its fifth edition, the annual celebration stretches until Sep 14, and brings together over 30 art galleries showcasing 120 artists – up from 99 last year. But this edition marks a critical shift: For the first time, SGM is fully community-led, curated by the Art Galleries Association Singapore (AGAS) and its member galleries, making it a love letter to the city's art ecosystem – by galleries, for galleries. AGAS president Audrey Yeo said: 'We're celebrating what we can achieve when we come together – not just as gallerists, but as storytellers, connectors and advocates for the regional art community.' Suzann Victor's gorgeous installations at Gajah Gallery probe the theme of colonialism in Singapore. PHOTO: GAJAH GALLERY Marking Singapore's 60th year of independence, several shows take a reflective tone. At STPI, four Cultural Medallion recipients – Han Sai Por, Goh Beng Kwan, Ong Kim Seng and the late Chua Ek Kay – offer tactile works in print and paper. At Gajah Gallery, Suzann Victor refracts Singapore's colonial memory with luminous installations. For something grittier and younger, Haridas Contemporary brings together emerging and mid-career artists like Melissa Tan, Esmond Loh and Jeremy Sharma in a dynamic group show. A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Friday, 2 pm Lifestyle Our picks of the latest dining, travel and leisure options to treat yourself. Sign Up Sign Up But perhaps the most intriguing is JW Projects' The Other Singaporeans, a provocative display featuring naturalised citizens, expats and former Singaporeans pushing against the boundaries of belonging and national identity. Esmond Loh's painting, Between Spaces (2024) at Haridas Contemporary. PHOTO: HARIDAS CONTEMPORARY Golden ticket However, the biggest attraction this year may be the newly upgraded Patron's Pass. For a cool S$1,000, it grants its holder artist studio visits, private previews, guided walkthroughs and intimate home tours with some of Singapore's most discerning collectors. The artists involved include Wei Leng Tay, Yen Phang, Yanyun Chen, Tiffany Loy, Mike HJ Chang, Dylan Chan, Marion Abraham and Emi Avora. The home tours are conducted in spaces ranging from a 1930s Peranakan terrace house in East Coast and a black-and-white bungalow in Bukit Timah to a Bugis loft-turned-art sanctuary. Pass holders also get S$500 in gallery credits to purchase artworks priced S$1,000 and above, an invitation to the swish SGM launch party on Aug 15 at Prestige Gallery, as well as VIP access to future events like the Affordable Art Fair (November 2025) and ART SG Vernissage (January 2026). Desmond Mah's Still Living Rent-Free (2025) is part of JW Projects' exhibition on identity and belonging in Singapore. PHOTO: JW PROJECTS Also on the menu: A sake-and-art pairing tour at Gillman Barracks, brunches with Cultural Medallion winners Han and Goh, a complimentary luxury facial from Cle de Peau Beaute, and a masterclass on art law and succession planning – because real collectors know it is not just about acquiring, it is also about protecting and passing it on. For more information, visit
Straits Times
31-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Arts Picks: Haridas Contemporary's reopening show, Apad's 63rd anniversary, Roots & Resonance
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Small Things Brought Together Art gallery Haridas Contemporary is ready to cut the ribbon after its move from Lavender Street to art cluster Tanjong Pagar Distripark. Small Things Brought Together is the inaugural exhibition at this new white cube space, with Singapore artist Melissa Tan's suspended stainless steel sculpture as the centrepiece. The group show features nine emerging and mid-career artists – mostly from Singapore, as well as some from Malaysia and the Philippines. Tan's eye-catching irregular forms, determined by asteroid s' t rajectories, are joined by the paintings of Esmond Loh, Lucas Tan, Jeremy Sharma and Minstrel Kuik, among others. Filipino artist Lyle Buencamino has two paintings from his Completely Agreeable series, after his successful No Fighting In The Museum series (2009 to 2010) that critiqued austere behaviour in museums with stills of 1950s fist fights drawn from film archives in the Philippine s. The exhibition doubles as a preview of the gallery's programming for the next 12 months , which consists of solos of some participants. Where: Haridas Contemporary, 04-01F Tanjong Pagar Distripark, 37 Keppel Road MRT: Tanjong Pagar When: Aug 2 to 31; noon to 7pm (Thursdays to Saturdays), noon to 5pm (Sundays), by appointment only on Wednesdays, closed on Mondays and Tuesdays Admission: Free Info: Cipta – Art Through Time Iskandar Jalil's Stoneware. PHOTO: MAYA GALLERY Malay art association Angkatan Pelukis Aneka Daya (Apad), or Association of Artists of Various Resources, is turning 63. This special five-day exhibition at the School of the Arts is titled Cipta, meaning 'to create' in Malay, and works by 33 artists from Apad and other art societies will be on show. Most of the more than 50 works spanning sculpture, ceramics, painting, video, installation and mixed media are for sale, with 30 per cent of proceeds going to Apad. They include the stoneware of Cultural Medallion recipient Iskandar Jalil and the lucid watercolours of Idris Ali. There are also works by late Malay art pioneers Abdul Ghani Hamid, S. Mohdir, Sulaiman Suhaimi and Sarkasi Said, to whom the show pays special tribute. Apad president and Maya Gallery co-founder Masturah Sha'ari says: 'The 26 Apad members are between the ages of 22 and 85. This ensures the association's continuity and renewal.' Idris Ali's Hock Lam Street. PHOTO: MAYA GALLERY Where: School of the Arts Gallery, 1 Zubir Said Drive MRT: Dhoby Ghaut/Rochor When: Aug 1 to 4, noon to 8pm; Aug 5, 9am to 5pm Admission: Free Info: Roots & Resonance Koeh Sia Yong's Lunch Break, Samsui Women (2024). PHOTO: ARTCOMMUNE GALLERY In addition to collector Chong Huai Seng's major show at Tanjong Pagar Distripark, this is yet another collector who has brought out his private acquisitions to honour Singapore's 60th birthday. Financial adviser Stephen Teo has selected 25 works from hi s co llection of more than 100 works for a show at Carlton Hotel Singapore, opening on Aug 2. They span oil, watercolour, acrylic, ink and woodcut, and are by familiar names including second-generation oil painter Koeh Sia Yong, watercolourist Ong Kim Seng and the late maestro Lim Tze Peng. Expect nostalgic scenes of tranquil kampung, bustling riverside and market trades, as well as heritage architecture of temples and shophouses. For those who have not had enough of the Samsui woman mural controversy, look out for Koeh's more traditional rendition of Samsui women squatting for a lunch break, painted in 2024. The exhibition is presented by gallery artcommune.
