Last may I visited the Singapore Art Museum to see an interesting exhibit: After Utopia - Revisiting the Ideal in Asian Contemporary Art.
The SAM is housed in a beautiful classical building.
The central theme of this exhibition is around the following questions: “where have we located our Utopias and how have we tried to realize them?”
“Where is your Utopia?”
Last chance to see After Utopia at Singapore Art Museum
I thoroughly enjoyed it.
And guess what? It’s still on! It’s in its last week (until october 18th), so hurry!
The exhibit is eclectic and most of the art comes from the permanent collection of the SAM.
Artworks by Singaporean founder of The Arts Village (in the 1980s) Tang Da Wu. Named Sembawang (Phoenix).
More art by Tang Da Wu.
What is there to see at After Utopia at the Singapore Art Museum?
Many art works in this exhibition have interesting stories behind them. Stories that are personal, political or sociological.
The used media and techniques are divers and often mixed, which I happen to like a lot.
I’m naming the artists and giving a bit of information, but if you wanna know more, you better visit this exhibition yourself or google the artist in question.
Here goes:
Cambodian Svay Sareth walked 6 days long with this metal sphere. It is 2 meters in diameter and weighs 80 kgs. He made a video of this journey.
Sphere and video by Svay Sareth. Art work titled Mon Boulet.
This art work of Chinese artist Shen Shaomin called Summit filled a whole room. The light was low which added to the spooky atmosphere. The mausoleum-like display of a number of Communist leaders looked scarily real. Brrr… The ‘bodies’ are made of silica gel. In short it is about the failure of Communism.
Fidel Castro. Doesn’t he look real?
I looooooved this installation by Anurendra Jegadeva. The work of this Malaysian-Indian artist is both autobiographical and socio-historical.
I love the eclecticism, the colorfulness and the multi-media approach.
I would definitely buy this, if I had money and space.
More art works belonging to the multi-media installation by Anurendra Jegadeva.
Made Wianta from Indonesia made this art work called Air Pollution. I like it! Not the air pollution, of course, but this installation made out of motorcycle exhaust pipes yes.
And there is more!
As you see, the variety in art works is big. The art is quite accessible and relatable and it’s interesting to read the stories behind the art.
You can ‘do’ this exhibit in one to two hours easily. There are other exhibitions going on at the Singapore Art Museum, so you can also opt to see them all at once and spend more time in the SAM.
I hope you manage to go this week. Let me know what your thoughts are about this exhibit, okay? I’m curious to know.
Seems like the kind of exhibition you love. When you said you would love to buy the installation by Anurendra Jegadeva, I definitely knew I have no clue where art is concerned.
Greetje
Ofcourse you have a clue, Greetje. Or should I say:”Neither do I”. It’s just that this is what appeals to me and it doesn’t appeal to you. That’s all;-).
That one piece with the Madonna and the butterflies reminds me of works you’ve created.
Looks like a really interesting exhibit. I like ones that are short like that so you can really absorb them.
bisous
Suzanne
Yeah, I guess that’s why it appealed to me so much. It looks like something I would/could do.
I also like exhibits that I can do in under an hour or so, two at most.