Things end so new ones can begin. Be it ethereal waterfall paintings by Hiroshi Senju, or mesmerising black-and-white paintings by Yayoi Kusama, fuel your inspiration with art – even after Singapore Art Week officially concludes.
Here are six local art galleries ending in February (plus one ending early March) so keep your calendars free if you plan to catch them!
1. An Exercise of Meaning in a Glitch Season (Feb 21)
Filled with mixed-media installations intended to spark new ways of thinking and doing for a more humane future, An Exercise of Meaning in a Glitch Season will bring you into a new reality through the art initiative Proposals for Novel Ways of Being.
Proposals for Novel Ways of Being is a local initiative formed from the collaboration of 12 local art institutions, independent art spaces and collectives, with over 170 local artists and cultural workers coming together in response to a world irrevocably changed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative and its title seeks to remind us that we need the grapple with the new reality brought by the “2019 Novel Coronavirus”.
Venue: National Gallery Singapore
Date: Ongoing until 21 February 2021, 10am – 7pm
Details: Free for Singaporeans and PRs (General admission ticket required)
Perhaps you could glitch into their virtual tour.
For more information on the exhibition, check out the National Gallery website.
2. Time Passes (Feb 21)
Time Passes as an exhibition stages our return to one another, and to shared public spaces. It recognises the lingering tenderness of our collective time apart and our time now, together but still apart.
Also part of Proposals for Novel Ways of Being, it is conceived as a corridor of time that echoes the indeterminate passage of our days as we navigate through the pandemic that is still to pass, and the detritus it will leave behind. Its title references the middle chapter in Virginia Woolf’s novel, To the Lighthouse, that captures a movement in time and feeling.
Venue: National Gallery Singapore
Date: Ongoing until 21 February 2021, 10am – 7pm
Details: Free for Singaporeans and PRs (General admission ticket required)
For more information, visit here.
3. Where Did Macy Go?: Ziyang Wu Solo Exhibition (Feb 21)
Where Did Macy Go? is an 11-episode animated video told through a series of reports on Macy’s encounter with the epidemic, and life during the quarantine.
A little funky and surreal, the video animation is created by MAYA 3D-modeling and sculpted with VR Tools such as Masterpiece Studio and Tilt Brush. It discusses the collapse of old community structures, the emergence of a new community after de-collectivization, Confucian obedience vs. social obedience, as well as mask politics and social justice under the pandemic.
What is the result of our interconnection with technology and the effect of hyperconnectivity in this globalised world? Follow Macy’s journey to find out!
Venue: Hatch Art Project, 7 Yong Siak Street, Singapore 168644
Date: Ongoing until 21 February 2021,
Details: Free admission
More information on where Macy went is available here.
4. Aisha Rosli: Black Eye Solo Exhibition (Feb 21)
At 24 years old, the young fine artist Aisha Rosli is holding her highly anticipated debut solo exhibition, Black Eye. In Black Eye, she touches on the aftermath of ambiguous situations implicated in the appearance of a black eye, relating to multiple scenarios suggesting states of abuse, distress, anxiety, insomnia.
Rosli is known for incorporating recognisable stylised patterns such as stripes, gingham and lattice into her paintings to anchor the uncanny in and around her characters. As a result, her figurative manifestations dwell in obscure environments that appear curiously familiar, yet yields an enigmatic quality to unpacking her psychologically charged works.
Referencing 20th century painters Francis Bacon and Egon Schiele, as well as contemporaries such as Marlene Dumas, Rosli works within the tradition of figurative painting as she explores themes of solitude, concealment, proximity and desire.
Venue: Cuturi Gallery, 61 Aliwal Street
Date: Ongoing until 28 February 2021, Tuesday – Saturday 12pm – 7pm, Sundays 12pm – 6pm (Closed on Mondays)
Details: Free admission
Read more about the exhibition here.
5. Hiroshi Senju: Beginnings (Feb 28)
These waterfalls were inspired by the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Hiroshi Senju: Beginnings is his first dynamics series of waterfall paintings since 2015.
Though the pristine beauty of Hawaii has inspired Senju’s work in the past, this exhibition was inspired by the rugged, almost prehistoric landscape of Oahu’s northern side. The exhibition features waterfalls in Senju’s iconic black-and-white palette as well as in red and blue.
For the first time in the Waterfall series, the artist has mixed platinum pigment with his usual crushed rock, coral and other natural materials. Perhaps you will notice the subtle luminosity and sheen when you stand in front of the grand, cascading Waterfall paintings.
Venue: Sundaram Tagore Gallery, 5 Lock Road, #01-05
Date: Ongoing until 28 February 2021, Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 6pm, Sundays & Mondays by appointment
Details: Free admission
Read more about the exhibition here, or get to know his creative process here.
6. Cai Zhisong Solo Exhibition 2021 (Feb 28)
One of the most established and iconic contemporary sculptors in the global fine art market has corralled his larger than life steel sculptures to Singapore.
His works have been collected by many large organisations, luxury brands, private banks, contemporary art museums, royal families, and private collectors worldwide. Don’t miss out on this silver opportunity to view his works up close!
Venue: 581 Orchard Rd, #01-11 The Shopping Gallery Hilton
Date: Ongoing until 28 February, Monday – Saturday 10am – 7pm, Sundays 11am – 6pm
Details: Free admission
Find out more here, or view more of his enchanting works here.
7. Bonus – YAYOI KUSAMA: RECENT PAINTINGS (Mar 6)
“YAYOI KUSAMA: RECENT PAINTINGS” is back with a solo exhibition featuring 15 monochrome paintings and a sculpture installation consisting pieces of mirror-finished stainless-steel forms.
This is her first solo presentation in Singapore since her looping, infinity mirror exhibition at the National Gallery Singapore in 2017. Unlike other paintings of her 2018 series which are usually covered in bright, vibrant colours, these works feature bold black lines that envelop the canvas together with her wealth of varied motifs: eyes, faces, biomorphic shapes, nets and dots. All works in this exhibition will be shown for the first time in Southeast Asia.
Venue: Ota Fine Arts, 7 Lock Road #02-13 Gillman Barracks Singapore 108935
Date: Ongoing until 6 March 2021, Tuesdays – Saturdays 11am – 7pm, Sundays 11am – 6pm (Closed on Mondays)
Details: Free admission
Find out more here.
Did any of the art exhibitions catch your eye?
