{"id":18661,"date":"2019-11-21T15:46:05","date_gmt":"2019-11-21T07:46:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wtravelmagazine.com\/?p=18661"},"modified":"2020-07-21T14:47:30","modified_gmt":"2020-07-21T06:47:30","slug":"picture-perfect-in-art-hub-singapore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wtravelmagazine.com\/picture-perfect-in-art-hub-singapore\/","title":{"rendered":"Picture Perfect In Art Hub Singapore"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Fuelled by multicultural traditions, dynamic investment, and an active push to bring art to the masses, Singapore has emerged as a global art hub. <\/em><\/p>\n

On the banks of the Singapore River, as it winds its way out to Marina Bay, a pair of bronze statues unveiled in 2002 hints at the dynamics that shaped the early days of Singapore<\/strong><\/a>. A Great Emporium by Malcolm Koh shows a European in a safari hat discussing business with a Chinese trader, labourers weighing a bag of goods to the side, while in River Merchants by Aw Tee Hong, the merchant Alexander Laurie Johnston is rapt in conversation with a Chinese trader and Malay dignatory as workers strenuously load a bullock cart.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\"Labyrinth

Labyrinth of mirrors and a variety of plants installations, Noahs Garden II by Deng Guoyuan during Singapore Biennale 2016<\/p><\/div>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Singapore\u2019s role as a hub of commerce should come as little surprise, given Sir Stamford Raffles\u2019 seminal words in 1819 soon after arriving here: \u201cOur object is not territory but trade, a great commercial Emporium, and a fulcrum whence we may extend our influence politically.\u201d That the Lion City uses art to celebrate its economic origins speaks volumes about the importance of that art here in the Little Red Dot. Singapore might not boast the art history or pedigree of the Italian Renaissance Italy or Impressionist-era France, but it has a booming, pulsing art scene<\/strong><\/a> with plenty of home-grown talent supported by world-class museums and galleries.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\"A

A Great Emporium by Malcolm Koh<\/p><\/div>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]\u201cThe art scene in Singapore has grown exponentially in the last few decades,\u201d notes Russell Storer, Deputy Director, Curatorial & Research, at the National Gallery, which opened in 2015. \u201cIt has been triggered by key developments in government policy, such as the establishment of the National Heritage Board and the National Art Council in the late 1980s, the opening of the Singapore Art Museum in 1996, and a growing engagement with the international art world through participation in the Venice Biennale [since 2001] and the establishment of the Singapore Biennale in 2006.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\"Foundation

Foundation stone at the National Gallery Singapore<\/p><\/div>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Singapore\u2019s early art isn\u2019t filled with names that are internationally recognisable or icons of global painting. Some of the oldest pieces in the National Gallery date to the 19th century, including an engraving by Heinrich Leutemann titled UnterbrocheneStra\u00dfenmessung auf Singapore (Interrupted Road Surveying in Singapore), made around 1865. It recounts an incident believed to have taken place in the midst of a road survey in 1835 when a Malay Tiger sprung from the jungle and attacked the surveyors. The piece, according to Storer, \u201cmarks a shift in colonial depictions of Singapore, where we begin to see a more intimate encounter with the natural world. This kind of imagery also set the stage for the rise of modern Singapore art from the 1930s, when a visual imagining of the \u2018tropical\u2019 would become a key theme for modern art in this region.\u201d Other seminal work includes Lynx by Low Kway Song (1921), one of the earliest oil paintings by a local professional artist in Singapore and Portrait of Lim Loh by Chinese artist Xu Beihong (1927), a portrait of one of Singapore\u2019s pioneering entrepreneurs.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\"Russell

Russell Storer, Deputy Director, Curatorial & Research, at the National Gallery<\/p><\/div>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The most prominent art movement in the Lion City has been the 1950s Nanyang Style, the work of Chinese migrants from Nanyang who had come to Singapore in the first half of the 1900s. They continued the Chinese tradition of inks and brushes, but added tropical elements, often featuring people and scenes from locations around Indonesia. Among the movement\u2019s most revered artists were Liu Kang, Chen Chong Swee, and Cheong Soo Pieng, whose Drying Salted Fish painting is recreated on the back of Singapore\u2019s $50 note.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\"Terrace

Terrace by the former Supreme Court at the National Gallery – Image Credit to National Gallery Singapore<\/p><\/div>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]As the century progressed, multiculturalism began to infiltrate artistic practice and the Lion City\u2019s contemporary art movement started to establish itself. Storer notes that \u201cin the late 1980s and 1990s, artists formed collectives and staged experimental exhibitions and events that generated new modes of contemporary art such as performance and installation.\u201d Some of these key moments are detailed in the National Gallery\u2019s Siapa Nama Kamu? (meaning \u2018what is your name\u2019) exhibition, with more than 300 works by the country\u2019s leading artists from the 19th century to present day.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\"The

The woodblock print of Unterbrochene Stra\u00dfenmessung auf Singapore (Interrupted Road Surveying in Singapore), by Heinrich Leutemann<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Siapa

Siapa Nama Kamu_ exhibit<\/p><\/div>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]As Singapore\u2019s economy flourishes and grows, its investment in art has increased in tandem. In the past decade alone, large-scale developments within the sector have occurred with dizzying frequency. In 2012, Gillman Barracks opened, a former British army camp reimagined into contemporary art galleries and a research centre. Two years later, the National Arts Council (NAC), the government body that \u201caims to nurture the arts in Singapore, and to make it an integral part of the lives of all Singaporeans,\u201d set up the Public Art Trust, or PAT, with S$10 million in seed money. PAT\u2019s mission is to give artists, especially Singaporeans, a new platform for their work, make art part of the city\u2019s urban spaces and bring it closer to Singaporeans, a tangible way to democratise a medium sometimes viewed as elitist. And in November 2015, costing S$530 million, the National Gallery Singapore opened, the stylish union of the former Supreme Court and City Hall, now home to the largest collection of Singaporean and Southeast Asian art in the world. The government\u2019s efforts have not gone unrewarded, and appreciation for the arts has boomed, borne out by figures from NAC\u2019s Singapore Cultural Statistics 2018 report: Visual arts exhibitions grew from 858 in 2011 to 1077 in 2017, while during the same period, non-ticketed attendance at arts and cultural events increased from 10.5 million to 11.3 million.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\"Link

Link Bridges Upper Link and Lower Link – Image Credit to National Gallery Singapore<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Supreme

Supreme Court Balcony – Image Credit to National Gallery Singapore<\/p><\/div>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The city continues to promote artistic ambition through many channels, from the annual Singapore Art Week to the sustainable art light festival iLight Singapore, and today the city proudly proclaims itself a global art hub. \u201cThe extensive infrastructure has enabled the growth of Singapore as a dynamic and highly interconnected platform for art in the region,\u201d reflects Storer. \u201cIt has major art museums and collections, contemporary art institutions with international exhibition and residency programmes, a biennale and other arts festivals, several art schools and university galleries, and a variety of commercial galleries and art fairs. Singapore\u2019s strategic location in Southeast Asia has also been crucial to its success as an art hub. It acts as a key meeting point for artists, curators, critics and art academics from around the world, and its unique regional \u2013 rather than just national \u2013 focus connects artists and artworks from across Southeast Asia.\u201d Storer believes that even though Singapore is a relatively young nation, it takes art more seriously now than ever before. \u201cIt is able to offer a unique view on the world from a Southeast Asian position, \u201d while also helping to cast a global spotlight on Southeast Asian art, a role that will only continue to grow. \u25fc<\/p>\n

By Sanjay Surana; Photographs courtsey National Gallery Singapore, Singapore Art Museum, National Heritage Board& Singapore Tourism Board.<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Subscribe to the latest edition now by clicking here.<\/em><\/a><\/span>
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\u00a9 This article was first published in Aug-Sept 2019 edition of World Travel Magazine.<\/em><\/strong><\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Fuelled by multicultural traditions, dynamic investment, and an active push to bring art to the masses, Singapore has emerged as a global art hub. On the banks of the Singapore River, as it winds its way out to Marina Bay, a pair of bronze statues unveiled in 2002 hints at the dynamics that shaped the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":21000,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[823],"tags":[2143,2014,177,1698,2351,1346],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wtravelmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18661"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wtravelmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wtravelmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wtravelmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wtravelmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wtravelmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wtravelmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wtravelmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wtravelmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wtravelmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}