8 minute read
Special Exhibitions
Opens 7 May | City Hall Wing, Level 3, Singtel Special Exhibition Gallery
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Something New Must Turn Up: Six Singaporean Artists After 1965 is a joint exhibition of six solo presentations that explore and compare the artistic practices of Singaporean artists Chng Seok Tin (莊心珍), Goh Beng Kwan (吴珉权), Jaafar Latiff, Lin Hsin Hsin (林欣欣), Mohammad Din Mohammad ( ) and Eng Tow (杜瑛). Each of them actively expanded the boundaries of art in post-independence Singapore by striving to be continuously new. They all undertook explorations in diverse media, ranging from collage, printmaking and installation to batik, textiles and digital art.
Chng Seok Tin. Variations on I-Ching. 1982–1992. Twine, stones, wire and paint fixed on card and mounted on canvas. 174 × 174 cm. Goh Beng Kwan. Urban Renewal (Sun and Moon)《市区重建: 太阳与月亮》 ,
c. 1970s. Acrylic on canvas. 103 × 103 cm. Collection of the artist. Jaafar Latiff. Batik 17 - 87/ 88. 1987. Batik. 81 × 81 cm. Image courtesy of Jaafar Latiff family.
CHNG SEOK TIN: Drawn Through a Press
Chng Seok Tin (1946–2019) was extremely prolific over the last six decades, and has become synonymous with printmaking in Singapore, in spite of the loss of clear vision due to an accident in 1988. She lived in various cities across Europe and North America, before returning back to Singapore and was involved in numerous group exhibitions both abroad and at home. GOH BENG KWAN: Nervous City
Goh Beng Kwan (1937–) was one of the earliest post-war artists in Singapore to travel to the United States to pursue an art education at the Art Students League of New York. Today, Goh is recognised for his contributions in collage, particularly for his incorporation of a wide range of cultural materials and motifs used to explore issues around cultural representation, urbanism, and identity. JAAFAR LATIFF: In the Time of Textile
Jaafar Latiff (1937–2007) was an abstract artist known for his trailblazing approach in renewing the batik medium. A self-taught artist, he was also a lifelong art educator teaching in institutions such as Baharuddin Vocational Institute, LASALLE College of the Arts and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. He integrated the conventional techniques of batik with his abstract style, invigorating the medium for a contemporary audience.
NEW
Lin Hsin Hsin. Ahead of Time. Time Series. 1991. Oil on canvas, 138 × 178 cm. Collection of Singapore Art Museum.
LIN HSIN HSIN @speed of thought
Lin Hsin Hsin is an awardwinning interdisciplinary artist, IT visionary and inventor who worked across a wide range of media and made early groundbreaking forays into digital techniques for visual and performing art. Deeply rooted in mathematics and computer science, she is also a poet and composer. Ahead of her own time, she launched the first virtual museum in the world in 1994 and made the decisive move to discard traditional ways of painting by creating new technological paradigms since 1994.
Mohammad Din Mohammad. Talking About Birds. 2000. Acrylic on canvas. 90 × 90 cm. Collection of the Estate of Mohammad Din Mohammad.
MOHAMMAD DIN MOHAMMAD: The Mistaken Ancestor
Mohammad Din Mohammad (1955–2007) studied at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. He was an artist, traditional healer, guru silat (Malay martial arts master), writer and collector of Southeast Asian objects. Above all he was a Sufi mystic. This mystical form of Islam deeply informed all aspects of his life and art. His artworks harnessed the different facets of Sufi mysticism for the rejuvenation of the human body and spirit in contemporary Singapore.
Eng Tow. Images of Bali. 1982. Acrylic ink on stitched cloth relief. 63 x 79 cm. Collection of United Overseas Bank.
ENG TOW: the sixth sense
Eng Tow (1947–) is an interdisciplinary artist whose works span diverse media from cloth, paper to bronze. Her knowledge and dexterity with these materials stems from the experiences she has accumulated through a life of extensive travel–from her studies in the United Kingdom where she gained a firm grounding in the Bauhaus praxis, to her overseas residencies. Drawn to the ever-changing character of nature, many of her works manifest and channel the metaphysical beauty and inexplicable forces around us.
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SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS
WU GUANZHONG: LEARNING FROM THE MASTER
Ongoing | City Hall Wing, Level 4, Wu Guanzhong Gallery
Wu Guanzhong with students from the Central Academy of Art and Design’s Department of Graphic Design 1977 class, on one of their outdoor drawing trips to Shanhai Pass, October 1978. Image courtesy of Zhang Peng.
Wu Guanzhong (1919–2010) is one of the most significant Chinese painters of the 20th century, renowned for his innovative fusion of Chinese aesthetic elements with Western modernism. He is also acclaimed as an educator, sharing his artistic practices and philosophies with students at leading art educational institutions in China over a teaching career that spanned more than 40 years.
Wu Guanzhong: Learning from the Master invites you into the intimate dialogues held between Wu and his students at the Central Academy of Art and Design on their creative journeys, as they explored techniques, aesthetic sensibilities and more. The exhibition investigates for the first time Wu’s philosophies of art and pedagogy through manuscripts, art journals, sketchbooks, photographs and drawings by the master and his students.
This is the fifth exhibition in the Wu Guanzhong series, launched in 2015. It continues the explorations into Wu’s life and practice undertaken in the previous exhibitions Beauty Beyond Form (2015), A Walk through Nature (2017), Expressions of Pen & Palette (2018), and Art Nurtures Life (2019).
Wu Guanzhong with students from the Central Academy of Art and Design’s Department of Ceramics 1977 class, on one of their outdoor drawing trips to Juyong Pass and Badaling, September 1978. Digital Collection of National Gallery Singapore, with kind permission from Wu Keyu. RC-CH1-WGZ1-121.
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SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS
GEORGETTE CHEN: AT HOME IN THE WORLD
Ongoing | City Hall Wing, Level 4 Gallery and Wu Guanzhong Gallery
Georgette Chen. Satay Boy. 1964–1965. Oil on canvas. 135 x 161 cm. Collection of National Museum of Singapore. Courtesy of the National Museum of Singapore, National Heritage Board.
Uncover the fascinating story of Georgette Chen, a key figure in the development of modern art in Singapore. Born in Zhejiang, China, Chen lived and worked in Shanghai, Paris and New York before arriving in Southeast Asia in the early 1950s. Her academic training and success in the annual salons in Paris translated into significant solo exhibitions in France, China, the USA, and eventually, Malaysia and Singapore. In Singapore, Chen also taught for many years at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, and was an active influence in the art community. A rare opportunity to encounter the range of Chen’s practice, this exhibition critically re-examines her unique contributions to the artistic landscape of her time, through her most significant works, alongside a wealth of archival materials.
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Listen to an audio tour To mark its fifth anniversary, National Gallery Singapore is extending the positive impact of art to diverse communities. Audio tours of the exhibition are available in Singapore’s four national languages – English, 中文, Bahasa Melayu and தமிழ். Download the Gallery explorer app or visit nationalgallery.sg/georgettechen to access the audio tours.
Converse with a chatbot Gain a deeper insight into the artist and her works by engaging in a dialogue with Chatbot Arthena. Combining artificial intelligence with guided conversations, the chatbot is accessible before, during and after your visit. Search for “Chatbot Arthena” in Facebook Messenger or visit m.me/chatbotarthena to chat with Arthena.
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SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS
CLOSING ON 11 JUL
Organised by the Singapore Art Museum
Closing on 11 Jul | City Hall Wing, Level B1, The Ngee Ann Kongsi Concourse Gallery
Heman Chong. Everything (Wikipedia) (2019). Collection of Singapore Art Museum. Image courtesy of the artist and Rockbund Art Museum
Wikicliki: Collecting Habits on an Earth Filled with Smartphones presents recently acquired works and potential future acquisitions from Singapore-based artists Chua Chye Teck, Heman Chong, Debbie Ding, bani haykal, Amanda Heng and Charles Lim. The exhibition is a dynamic site for surveying the artists’ processes as unique but interrelated entry points into a range of issues that affect contemporary practitioners. The show’s six artist-curator pairings will drive the discussion around their modes of working through examining selected works and associated readings.
OUTBOUND
Ongoing | Various locations nationalgallery.sg/outbound #outboundsg
Haegue Yang. Forum for Drone Speech – Singapore Simulations 2019. Laminated plywood; stainless steel wire mesh; powder-coated metal pipe, prints on holographic paper; transparent sticker and loudspeaker; Nadine’s voice: audio, single channel, stereo, approx. 12 min; birdsong: audio, single channel, stereo, 29 min 58 sec.
An OUTBOUND commission by National Gallery Singapore.
Encounter Forum for Drone Speech — Singapore Simulations as you wander through the City Hall Foyer at Level 2. Inspired by the Gallery’s architecture and its connections to Singapore’s colonial past, this installation by Korean artist Haegue Yang is borne out of intensive research on historical figures and events. Yang employs the sculptural language of visual abstraction, weaving imagery, text and sound together to highlight how museums continually rearrange and reinterpret objects to envision alternative narratives. The illusory qualities of the materials used, including faux marble and holographic prints, express a sense that history and the present are in flux, provoking questions on identity, belonging and engagement.
OUTBOUND is a series of unique commissions that imaginatively transforms transitionary spaces at the Gallery. Each commission is an artistic and temporal landmark that anchors and guides the visitor’s experience while highlighting the Gallery’s iconic architecture. The inaugural season presents projects from artists Gary Carsley (Australia), Jeremy Chu (Singapore), Jane Lee (Singapore), Haegue Yang (South Korea) and Yee I-Lann (Malaysia).
