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Hindustan Times

Singapore Art Week: Wild and wonderful

Large art events are often overwhelming. There's so much to soak in that it is difficult to articulate which works were particularly interesting. This was true too of Art SG, a part of the Singapore Art Week, an annual, 10-day arts festival organised by the National Arts Council (NAC) and supported by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB). In this, its 13th edition, held from January 16 to 26, it featured 130 events across various venues. The participating galleries included Gagosian, Switzerland, White Cube, London, Thaddaeus Ropac, Austria, Yeo Workshop, Singapore, and galleries such as DAG, Anant Art and Gallerie Nvya from India. Singaporean artist Jahan Loh's Postcards from Space (Riddhi Doshi) Part of Vietnamese-born artist Tuan Vu's large diptych The Rite to Spring (Riddhi Doshi) The brain always needs time to process the sensory overload of these spectacular events. The paintings, sculptures or installations that stay with the viewer for many days afterwards are the ones that have clearly made an impression. Art SG had many such works. One that particularly stood out was Vietnamese-born artist Tuan Vu's large diptych The Rite to Spring that takes you into an enchanted dream world where women in kimonos sit by a serene water body in a lush green landscape abloom with colourful flowers. Crafted using oil, oil stick, and gold leaf on linen, the work blended Eastern and Western artistic traditions by combining elements from the tropical landscapes of his native country with the colours of the South of France and with Japanese prints. Reflected in the pond are the women in robes with intricate designs. But their faces have no features, no eyes, nose or lips. 'That makes it possible for anyone to see themselves in the painting,' says Vu. There is also a cat in there and birds in cages and flowers that have little musical notations. 'I leave the reading of the work to the viewers' interpretation,' adds the artist who currently lives in Quebec. Vu grew up with six sisters so women have always been the focus of his works. Usually, they are painted nude, like in his work inspired by Édouard Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe (Luncheon on the Grass, 1863). Vu's version however replaces the two fully dressed men facing a nude woman of the original with two elegantly dressed women. One of them wears traditional Chinese attire and the other is dressed in a Japanese kimono. The three are engaged in a peaceful conversation, as if they've forgotten their countries' conflicted pasts, says Vu, adding that the question to ask really is who is the nude woman and where is she from? The inquiry into womanhood continues in Ravinder Reddy's newest works. His huge heads are on display at Gallerie Nvya's space. The focus of these sculptures is on elaborate hairstyles. One depicts a bun held together with a thick, blue band and decorated with a ring of crystals, followed by a string of orange and white flowers. That's the gajra, that many south Indian women particularly enjoy wearing. There is also a high-relief sculpture version featuring an oval bun held together with a clip and strings of pearls and golden diamonds. 'We have a long tradition of high relief sculptures in India. In our temples and caves,' says Reddy. 'But hardly anyone creates them now. So, I thought why not make them,' he adds. In these new works, Reddy continues his exploration of the female form, celebrating everyday women, their confidence and resilience, and questions traditional beauty standards, cultural pride and identity. The ordinary was also the highlight of Paris-based Shourouk Rhaiem's works. Her series titled Memory and Metamorphosis comprises sculptural replicas of the packaging of everyday products such as soaps, detergents, cola drinks, chips and chocolates encrusted with semi-precious stones and diamonds. It looks very pop art but shinier. Rhaiem's work plays with personal history and collective memory and highlights how ordinary objects can hold profound emotional and cultural significance in the contemporary world. Ravinder Reddy's sculptures focussed on elaborate hairstyles (Riddhi Doshi) It's but a short leap from thinking about the present to imagining the future and Singaporean artist Jahan Loh's Postcards from Space takes precisely that leap. His multimedia and video projection works, paintings and sculptures on space exploration and environmentalism present what it would be like to live in space, to be extraterrestrial bodies, and to ensure that the human species survives. A particularly large video work, that delves into ideas of the interplanetary diaspora and space migration, has two humans in pink space suits somewhere in space interacting with viewers. The Singapore Art Week also featured the Light to Night Festival, whose theme this year was 'Do you see me?' 'As Singapore celebrates its 60th independence anniversary this year, we wanted the theme to be identity driven. We are all always trying to figure out who we are. Do we know who others are? And where they come from? Also, do we really see them? So, this felt like the best theme,' said Vygesh Mohan, director of Light to Night. Also quite fascinating were projections onto the façade of the National Gallery Singapore of the work of artists like Chng Seok Tin, Jaafar Latiff, and Goh Beng Kwan, winners of the Cultural Medallion, the country's award for excellence in arts. Multimedia studio ARAFURA further added to the show by interpreting the theme. Tin's The Spirit of Resilience's projection celebrated the artist's dedication to her art. She continued illustrating despite losing her vision. Imprinted Memory by Kwan traced the artist's evolving practice and self-discovery through his works. The Perception of Beauty by Jaafar Latiff, which used traditional Singaporean batik art to tackle modern subjects, showcased his works from the 1970s to the 1990s. Sculptor Han Sai Por's Traveling through the Tropical Forest featured six large inflatable sculptures resembling tropical ferns at the Padang, an open field in Singapore's Civic District. The work highlighted the often-overlooked natural elements within Singapore's urban landscape such as corals and sea shells. The work of Kenyan artist Thandiwe Muriu (Riddhi Doshi) Singaporean street artist TraseOne transformed the façade of The Arts House into a colourful, multimedia projection, which traced the evolution of Singapore's graffiti scene in a work entitled Now You See Us? Apparently, graffiti which was once underground is now widely accepted. However, the street art scene in Singapore is still heavily regulated by the government. Visually-impaired artist Claire Teo's moving installation Through the Looking Glass inside the National Gallery Singapore put a spotlight on the complexities of human perception. Inspired by Teo's personal journey and the voices of underserved communities, it encouraged viewers to look through narrow openings of different windows to see people from different backgrounds, talking to them. In contrast to all that serious contemporary art, the vibe at the Art Box screamed 'Gen-Z' with displays on space mission-led AI art and pop-art nails, tattoos and sneakers, among other wild and wonderful things. While thought-provoking contemporary works from across the world that discussed things that matter resonated with this viewer, it wouldn't be off the mark to say that the Singapore Art Week had something for everyone. Riddhi Doshi is an independent journalist.