Art

Transcending the usual gallery experience, Loy Gallery bridges the gap between multi-disciplinary art communities not just in Singapore but also all over the world. Its latest exhibition, 'A Trail to Chase', is no different, showcasing the intersect between art and design. Here, founder Dennis Ouyang talks us through the inspiration behind the gallery and its latest show, collecting art and more.

Established in 2004, China Heights was founded on an organic ethos of ‘sub-culture making’. As is often the case with taste-makers, what has now become one of the most innovative cross-form galleries in Australia began as a young art and design oriented group of peers riffing creatively in a warehouse.

At this year's Frieze Art Fair in New York, independent curator and Apsara Studio founder Jenn Ellis would unveil the product of an artistic collaboration brokered by Breguet and Frieze a year ago.

As far as legends go, the Pagani Huayra R is one of most disruptive hypercars in the world (so much so that it's even banned in some countries). Its performance levels, powered by an aspirated racing engine, are among the most powerful in its class. This is a supercar made for the best circuits around, one that needs a professional pilot to maneuver.

The newly launched Whitestone Gallery in Singapore’s Tanjong Pagar Distripark is immediately striking in its polished concrete floors, bare white walls, raw ceilings and sculptural lobby designed by renowned architect Kengo Kuma.

Now in its seventh consecutive year, the Sydney Contemporary Art Fair is a staple in the art calendar – and one of the biggest economic drivers in the Asia-Pacific art market.

One of the longest-standing incubator gallery and studio programmes in the Australian contemporary art sphere, Melbourne’s Gertrude has shaped and reshaped the currents and trends of the cutting edge of artistic practice for more than 30 years. As a non-commercial, not-for-profit, independent space comprising two gallery venues and a large in-house studio programme, Gertrude seethes with an unapologetic creative energy that places artists at the centre of its ethos and encourages risk-taking, innovation and ambition.

New media artist Refik Anadol is not much of a new media artist. Which is not to say that his art isn’t extraordinary, awe-inspiring, sublime. It is all of these and more. Yet ‘new media’ feels awkwardly small in comparison to the scale and vision of Anadol’s works, where the medium is typically light itself, along with an architectural icon by Gaudí, Gehry, Safdie or Hadid.

James Tylor's current touring exhibition, ‘Turrangka... In the Shadows’ presents a survey of the past decade of his practice exploring his Nunga (Kaurna Miyurna), Maori (Te Arawa) and European heritage. Featuring five exhibition rooms, the survey opens with a body of expanded photographic work, sculptural and culturally significant objects, and designs Tylor developed over a two-year journey along the 300km Hans Heyson trail through the Lofty Mountains and Flinders Rangers.

Earlier this year, La Prairie launched an initiative aimed at celebrating and fostering female artistic and design talent. Dubbed the Women Bauhaus Collective, the program placed five outstanding young female artist/designers — Kristin Chan, Jasmine Deporta, Gloria Fan Duan, Talia Golchin and Lauren Januhowski — under the mentorship of award-winning designer Sabine Marcelis (at centre, below), with the challenge of creating new works inspired by the theme of ‘harmony.’ 

The artwork may only stand at a diminutive 33cm by 41cm, but the pulling power of prolific Japanese-French artist Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita knows no bounds.

As Singapore emerged from the privations of World War II and transitioned into independence, it was said that the arts were a luxury the new republic could scarcely afford. Of course, it’s never been easy to make a living as an artist. But in the all-business environment of mid-century Singapore, earning a living daubing oil on canvas was especially challenging.

Picasso once pronounced that art washes the dust of everyday life off the soul. It also effortlessly sweeps the bland off our walls.

During periods of economic instability such as these, many investors view art — like property — as a safe play. “In times of high inflation, blue chip, modern and contemporary art can often be regarded as a decent hedge. It holds value. We’ve seen that in many of the past cycles.” 

At the forefront of contemporary art practice in Australia, The Commercial gallery has turned its back on the modernist white cube in favour of a polished, industrial-grey feel. Founder Amanda Rowell has hand-selected her gallery stable, featuring artists who exemplify the panache of modernity, the rawness and brutality of punk, the refined graces of minimalism, and the evocative provocations of post-conceptual practice. Rowell continues to invite emerging and experimental artists to exhibit alongside more established ones, giving the exhibition programme a timeless edge that straddles the best of all art forms.

Artist Annalisa Ferraris says growing up in the historically significant Sydney suburb of Castlecrag, her interest in architecture was piqued early. “My grandparents lived nearby — typical Italian family — and when I would walk through the streets with my Nonna when I was little, I just loved all of those signature Walter Burley Griffin flat-roofed houses,” she recalls. 

“Try it. Take a work of art off the wall, out of your room. You’ll feel the hole, that something is missing, an emptiness, and it’s unsettling,” say Valter Spano, director at Partners & Mucciaccia Gallery. “Art becomes a part of you. Sometimes you only really feel that when it’s not there, when there’s a hole, like when you move house and it feels empty until the art goes up.”

Among the many treasures in the venerable Tan Boon Liat building, Gallery 1819’s artworks stand out with their vibrancy, youthfulness and decidedly Singaporean flavour. Alongside an emphasis on local, rising talent, gallery director Zak Lo shares his view that, “Good art catches your attention from afar.”

Where can the art-curious come together with connoisseurs, artists and experts – without a commercial agenda? Ning Chong and her collector-father Huai Seng created just the thing, in contemporary art salon The Culture Story.

A sense of serenity descends on entering Ode to Art gallery – a stark difference from the action of Raffles City. The canvases and eclectic mixed media are in sharp relief against the neutral walls, and showcase a largely Asian collection by the likes of Lim Tze Peng and Hong Zhu An. “I always feel great pride in our local art scene,” says owner / founder Jazz Chong, “and take great pleasure in seeing more local artists being collected.”