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Straits Times

Arts Picks: Ursula Palla and Wifredo Lam solos, Mr Lim's Shop Of Visual Treasures exhibition

Thousands 2 by Ursula Palla documents the eating of money notes by a colony of ants. PHOTO: TANG CONTEMPORARY ART Threshold Lives: On Presence Without Recognition Swiss artist Ursula Palla has an eclectic solo at Tang Contemporary Art, inserting scenes of nature into the Delfi Orchard gallery more accustomed to showing commercial paintings. In overseas shows, she incorporated unconventional materials such as moulded sugar, coal dust and snow, but the ones chosen for this tropical clime are decidedly more durable. In the show curated by Sue Oh, gun metal is melted down and sculpted into tall stalks of fireweed. Some 3,200 fish hooks are painstakingly cleaned and hung from the ceiling to evoke an undulating landscape. This rehabilitation of man-made materials extends to found natural objects. Branches from the Singapore Botanic Gardens have been rustled together to create nests for digitally projected owls, in a floor-level installation that recalls Singapore Venice Biennale representative Robert Zhao's oeuvre. Palla, who grew up in the Swiss mountains, says her recontextualisation of nature in art is driven by her concerns of bio-extinction. Sculpting natural objects with materials such as bronze is her way of problematising what people see as valuable. On 12 monitors on the floor, this tension is given literal representation as a colony of ants gobbles up currency, a work inspired by a Japanese woman who stored her money under her eventually bug-ridden bed. Palla says her next obsession is water – and dragonflies. 'This is one of the biggest problems we have on earth – fresh and clean water. If you see dragonflies, you know there's clean water around because they are so sensitive.' On how she searches for new ideas, she adds: 'I work with a lot of scientists. My husband studied agriculture and my son does geography. I'm surrounded by experts.' Remains – Nested, featuring branches from the Singapore Botanic Gardens. PHOTO: TANG CONTEMPORARY ART Where: Tang Contemporary Art, 06-01/02 Delfi Orchard, 402 Orchard Road MRT: Orchard/Orchard Boulevard When: Till May 31, 11am to 7pm (Tuesday to Sunday); closed on Monday Admission: Free Info: Wifredo Lam: Outside In Wifredo Lam's paper works continue the hybrid imagination of his paintings. PHOTO: STPI Singapore will host the late Cuban artist Wifredo Lam's first solo exhibition in South-east Asia, before the modernist painter's major retrospective at New York's Museum of Modern Art in November. Known primarily for his surrealist Afro-Cuban paintings closely associated with the innovations of Spanish maestro Pablo Picasso, Lam's presentation at print and paper gallery STPI focuses on his printmaking practice. More than 60 of his paper works , many developed in his later years from 1963 to 1982, have been gathered, consistent with his fascination with hybrid figures that are part animal, part human and even part vegetal – fecund in their humour, perversity and gothic imagination. The title refers to Lam's outsider status as an artist of Chinese descent who spent most of his years in Europe. Sidelined in art history, he has in recent years been rehabilitated to become one of the most important figures of 20th-century art. Some selected works are prints drawn from his livres d'artiste, or artist books, that he collaborated on with poets such as Aime Cesaire and Gherasim Luca, telling of a precocious interest in juxtaposing image and the written word. There are also special treats from what is called Lam's Centennial Edition that were published posthumously between 1997 and 2002. These are drawn from unpublished plates he had worked on during his lifetime. Wifredo Lam's half-animal, half-human figures are fecund in their gothic imagination. PHOTO: STPI Where: STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery, 41 Robertson Quay MRT: Fort Canning When: May 24 to July 13, 10am to 7pm (Mondays to Saturdays), 11am to 5pm (Sundays) Admission: Free Info: Over The Top Over The Top at Mr Lim's Shop Of Visual Treasures is gloriously haphazard. PHOTO: LIM CHIAO WOON This 'gloriously haphazard, ever evolving' sprawl of works cramped into Mr Lim's Shop Of Visual Treasures is part of an exhibition officially opens only on June 3, but is already open for early-bird visitors to peruse. With loose coordination by gallery founder Lim Chiao Woon, it places art by new artists and icons including Ai Weiwei and Shepard Fairey in horizontal conversation. The eventual configuration will feature 50 works, with 30 already in place. Later additions will include works by regional veterans such as Singapore's Tang Da Wu and Jeremy Hiah, Thailand's Vasan Sitthiket and Indonesia's Melati Suryodarmo. Mr Lim says there will also be a surprise offering by Singapore's pioneer conceptual artist Cheo Chai-Hiang. The exhibition shares its title with Cheo's latest work, the form of which remains a mystery even to Mr Lim. Where: Mr Lim's Shop Of Visual Treasures, 02-01, 8 Haji Lane MRT: Bugis/Nicoll Highway When: Till June 30, 12.30 to 7pm (Tuesdays to Saturdays); closed on Sundays and Mondays Admission: Free Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.