The Esplanade's 'hidden' arts

Carla Bianpoen, Contributor, Singapore

The Esplanade's Opening Festival running from Oct. 12 through Nov. 3 has been a hit, with about 60 reporters from all over the world covering the special performances at the auspicious venues for concert and theater. No doubt the deluge of promotion for the performing arts has played an important role in securing adequate attention for the local and international qualities exposed at the festival.

Regretfully, promotional acts for the visual arts in the spaces of the vast area of the esplanades have been missing. The rooftop terrace where works by Malayan artist I-Lann Yee were supposed to be exposed was closed for unknown reasons.

The only space allocated for paintings, Gallery Jendela, was also closed during the first few days of the festival, and no catalog whatsoever was available of art works that were supposedly spread all over the Esplanade.

Likewise, the curators had either little time or inadequate documentation to respond to questions from interested art journalists. As a result, only the very obvious art in the main spaces of the Esplanade had the advantage of being duly noted. Even this could have benefited from a better understanding through adequate background information.

Gu Wenda's United Nations - Man and Space -- a monumental installation (until early November) at the entrance hall consisting of 188 flags made of human hair and bringing together the DNA of the peoples of the world, was dramatically impressive. Some information on the artist, whom Edward Lucie Smith calls a key figure in the culture of our time, and his concept of taking hair rooted in his traditional Chinese beliefs to be the unifying tool of nations, may have been adding to the public understanding of values in the changing of world cultures.

Gu Wenda (born in 1955 in Shanghai) is internationally well known, yet it would have been interesting for the public to know about his early beginnings, his breakthrough. Rising from an artist painting revolutionary posters as a Red Guard during the Cultural Revolution to his current standing.

The Vestial sculptures by Raquel Paiewonsky (until Jan. 5, 2003) from the Dominican Republic in the same space consisting of dresses also draws the attention, not the least because she too uses hair, though in another context.

Hair is generally experienced as the jewel of a woman's most intimate belongings, which in certain traditions must be covered and prevented from exposure in the public sphere. Bringing this in the open as decorative motives of a dress denote a strong sense of revolution, though that may be too strong a word.

Paiewonsky's sculptures also deal with condoms and typical female objects like hairpins, all of which may come out of a sense of impatience with having to subdue to traditional values. More information on the artist was not available.

The 25 sculptures by Yue Min Jun from China, titled Silly Smiling Men, which may either amuse or intensely annoy, are scattered throughout the Esplanade. Little do people know that the silly smiles refer to a time when open critique was a fierce taboo. Artists then hid critique behind a smile, a tactic that appears to have kept Yue Min Jun stuck in his art development.

Yue Min Jun was born 1962 in Daqinq, Heilongjiang province, lives and works in Beijing, China, and has been widely exposed in the West.

The space known as Jendela, is the only space where paintings are exhibited. Its peculiar architectural shape allowing its spectacular backdrop against the river made it a natural habitat for the opening exhibition representing the river in its historical and contemporary role in Singapore. The works featured until Nov. 10 are from the Singapore Art Museum and were curated by the museum's director Kwok Kian Chow.

Of note certainly is the 300 cm-by-300 cm The Net, on which sculpts made of capricious shapes made of paper-dye in brown, black and white emerge as though they had come up from the bottom of the sea. It is the art of Singapore-born Teo Eng Seng (1938) who studied art and art education at the Birmingham College of Art and design in the 1960s, started experimenting with paper in 1966 and is now a recognized master of paper-dye sculpts (until Nov. 10).

For Esplanade visitors interested in the art at the various spaces, it would be helpful if leaflets, brochures and catalogs would lead the way.

Ongoing and Changing Exhibitions Esplanade Venues: Concourse, Jendela, and other spaces 1 Esplanade Drive Singapore.