Contemporary art galleries in Singapore

By Boudewijn Brands

SINGAPORE (JP): Many expatriates make quick visits to Singapore for immigration purposes. The fact is, Singapore is now the closest developed country to Indonesia. It is clean, well organized and it has high standards of culture.

Although these standards are also found in the field of contemporary art, it was not always the case though. In Southeast Asian Art Today, Roeder Publications, Singapore 1996, Susie Wong comments: "Only a few galleries promote genuine art in Singapore. The art shops which fare best are filled with ever popular calligraphy, Chinese watercolors and romantic oil paintings from mainland China."

The National Museum, however, had already at that time acquired "both installations and material remnants of performance work". It may have set an example. It is now possible to see a number of good galleries in a limited period of time. The focus here is, more or less, on galleries that work internationally, so not only showing Chinese style art but also contemporary art originating from other countries, including Indonesia.

They are, therefore, also important for contemporary Indonesian artists. Most of these galleries are members of the Art Galleries Association (Singapore) (AGA), which was founded in 1995. This cooperation between 15 leading galleries has culminated in a pioneer activity for the region: ARTSingapore, the first fair for Contemporary Asian Art.

This, and the auctions held by the international auction houses, now makes Singapore a center for exhibitions of and trade in contemporary Asian art. ARTSingapore was held from Sept. 29 to Oct. 3, 2000. The fair's location is where we will start our tour: the renovated MITA-building on High Street.

Using public transport: get out at City Hall MRT and walk there via the Funan computer center. There are five galleries here, all on the ground floor. Jasdeep Sandhu started Gajah Gallery four years ago in a character building near Newton Food Court.

Jasdeep already exhibited works by young Indonesian artists when they were not as well known as they are now. He focuses on Southeast Asian artists in general and has just moved to the ultra-modern space in the MITA-building. Visit Gajah Gallery on the net at gajahgal@cyberway.com.sg.

SooBin Art Gallery (duhualou@pacific.net.sg) is named after its owner, Chua Soo Bin. He is also the AGA's president. He started as a collector and began his gallery from home. He combines works of art that sell well, such as Lee Man Fong, with good works of young artists, including those from Indonesia. From July 8 to 23, 2000, he held a show Expression with works by seven artists from Yogyakarta (Daniel Adenis, Febri Antoni, M. Basori, Budi Kustarto, Edo Pillu, I Nengah Sujena and Yunizar) in co- operation with Embun Gallery there.

As another gallery owner whispered in my ear: "he must have lost money on such an exhibition". But that is what a real art- lover does, someone who gets pleasure in life from art rather than driving expensive cars.

Gallery Belvedere was, at the time, showing works by an Indian artist. They also have a gallery in Liat Towers on Orchard road (art@galerie-belvedere.com). Orchard Gallery (orchardgallery@pacific.net.sg) was established in 1984 by Chua. They specialize in contemporary art from China in all media.

In the Paragon Shopping Center on Orchard Road is Plum Blossoms, which was founded by Stephen McGuiness.

Stephen first came to Asia in 1979 and became involved in antique trading. He opened Plum Blossoms in Hong Kong as an antique shop but and was once asked to rent his premises for an art exhibition in 1987. That is when the addiction began. The gallery emphasizes relatively unknown artists and is now also venturing into photography. The gallery relies heavily on the Internet for its business activities, http://plumblossoms.com.

Besides Plum Blossoms, you can also find Artfolio Gallery in the Arcade (artfolio@singnet.com.sg). They also hold art from Indonesian-based artists.

The last gallery in the MITA-building is Art2. This gallery specializes in young, mostly Singaporean, artists. Art2 also has three-dimensional works.

The owners, Vera Ong and partner Seah Tzi-Yan both worked in a gallery before they started Art2 in 1991. This was in a room that I estimate to be only 3 meters by 3 meters, located in the Substation. This exhibition space is walking distance from the MITA building, in the direction of the Funan Center, but you have to keep the left side until you see the Asian Civilization Museum on Armenian Street. From there the Substation is 20 meters to the right.

Here, Art2 also has a small amount of stock, a selection of prints, frames and a number of art publications. Their program, until December 2001, has just been published at www.art2.com.sg. From the Substation, it is a small walk to the Singapore Art Museum.

If you find the current exhibition uninteresting, or you have some time on your hands, go to the museum shop and browse through the souvenirs and books. Soul Ties, The Land And Her People, Art from Indonesia is still for sale here (S$ 30,90). From the museum, walk to Chimes, a nice, restored colonial building with a number of shops, including some selling paintings. You can walk again from here to Raffles Hotel.

If you still have time, check out some of the following galleries: London Fine Art, 139 Tanglin Rd (Tudor Court), which has an international selection; Atelier Frank & Lee, located at 43 Emerald Hill in a restored old area north of the subway station on Somerset Road (info@atelierfl.com).

Contemporary art as well as "Plastic Kinetic Worms" can be found at 199 A/B South Bridge Road (on the corner with Cross Street). This is a 'contemporary art space organized and managed by artists' (pkworms@pkworms.com). The feel is a pioneer style one and they have, like Frank & Lee, good networking with Cemeti Gallery in Yogyakarta.

An interesting new development is the recent creation of "Sylvie's Art" which intends to show its collection on the Internet, after which collectors can make an appointment to view the works (mppbrady@pacific.net.sg).

Sylvie is of Surinam-Javanese descent and intends to focus on Indonesian artists. For a more complete exhibition program consult the most recent Straits Times.

The writer is an ardent collector of Indoneisan art based in the Netherlands.