Chua Mia Tee

Painter of the Common Man

By Joseph C. Pereira



One painting says it all. The 1974 painting titled Workers In The Canteen shows shipyard workers having their lunch and engaging in various activities. The captured pathos of these workers is palpable, lending to the universality of that picture. One can easily imagine such a scene in shipyards around the world. The portrayal of these workers depicts the commonality of existence, and Mr. Chua Mia Tee has captured that beautifully in this painting.

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Reviving traditional art

in contemporary practise: Sakarin Krue-on

By Usha Nathan



Among the cutting edge artists of Asia, the name of Sakarin Krue-On is hard to miss. Recently, his artwork at documenta 12 has caused quite a stir. The artist has set out to cultivate a terraced rice field in the 7000 square meters on the hillside below Schloss Wilhelmshoehe, in Kassel, Germany! Rice isn’t grown in these parts of Europe, because of the climate conditions. Sakarin, however, is determined to transport the traditional farming practice of wet-farming on terraced slopes from Thailand to a new geography. And obtain a harvest before the one hundred day contemporary art event draws to a close later this month.

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Writing a Painting

and Reading a Painting

By Joseph C. Pereira



In retrospect, Mr. Ho See Jui could not have chosen a tougher time to open his gallery. The Xuanhua Art Gallery was formally inaugurated in August 1997, on the cusp of great economical turmoil. He had no inkling whatsoever of the financial meltdown of that year, which was fermenting in Thailand at the time, and how it would affect the market for Chinese art.
Xuanhua Art Gallery specialises in Chinese ink and brush painting. Dealing in Chinese art and the Chinese market made sense to Mr. Ho. Having gone through the Chinese medium of education during his school days, Mr. Ho also knew that the market was strong for Chinese Art among Chinese collectors in Singapore. They knew the culture, knew the language and understood the meaning of the paintings and the calligraphy in them.

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Bust & Hips: Fertility Goddesses & Figurines

Aesthetic Awakening 14

By Vidhya Gnana Gouresan



Fertility has indeed been a hot topic in the ancient world! The worship of fertility goddesses seems to have primeval origins in many cultures of the world. They have often been portrayed in ancient and pagan sculptural traditions as well, usually through organic materials such as terracotta. These goddesses are generally depicted in the form of stylised female figurines with disproportionately-large or promi-nent breasts and hips, which are indeed celebrated symbols of fertility that reinforce the strong and inseparable link between sexuality and pregnancy. Here are just a few interesting examples of such sculptural symbols of fertility:

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Beauty in numbers

By René Daniels



Take a walk down Duxton Hill and you will be distracted by the discovery of a collection of large paintings of women’s FACES, in a recently launched gallery at The Universal. The women, like the seductive singing sirens of Greek mythology, will beguile you to forget yourself - their intense presence is difficult to ignore, their eyes beseeching, their colours declaring their monochromatic presence, and the strength in their visages, breathtaking.

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Elegance in glass

Glass art at Mango Troppo

Walking around at the Cathay, the sparkling splendour of Mango Troppo is hard to miss. An array of vases on the mantel, serene circular sculptures and dazzling glass furniture draw you in. Each piece is markedly unique, carefully crafted and bears the mark of skilful perfection.

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Highlights of Thai contemporary art

in the Singapore Art Museum Collection

By Low Sze Wee



Since its inception in 1996, the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) has been actively acquiring modern and contemporary Southeast Asian (SEA) art. To date, it has more than 100 works by Thai artists. The aim of the collection is to provide a regional context in which Singapore art may be interpreted more holistically, through a two-pronged strategy. Firstly, the collection aims to provide a survey of the most significant art developments in Thai modern art history through a representation of major works by important artists. Secondly, it aims to keep track of significant developments in the Thai contemporary art scene through a representation of major works by active practitioners.

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The Phantom in the mirror

Edge of Infinity – A solo exhibition by Shobha Broota

By Peter Nagy

13 September – 14th October 2007 at Indigo Blue Art

A phenomenon is defined as an occurrence that appears or is perceived. Phenomenlology is the study of such appearances, the science of understanding perception, yet science itself implies an empirical premise: that which is based on observation or experiment, not purely theoretical. So what one has then is the observations of observations, a double helix of the chicken/egg conundrum, a tree falling in the forest just so that it can make a sound.
Such are the dilemmas and pleasures when one encounters when viewing the art of Shobha Broota. The paintings that she has been creating for much of the past twenty years challenge perception and require the viewer to consider how the mind processes that which the eyes take in. The works are pure visual stimuli that eschew language and cognition, a switch of sorts to directly activate the link between optic nerve and the brain. It is as if by standing in front of her paintings we become acutely aware of our own finely tuned physiology and are made to marvel at its everyday operations.

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Symphony In Red

Abstract art by Carlo Magno

28th Aug 2007 at 7pm at Galerie Joaquin

The development of art, many artists believe, is like the quest for truth. It is a relentless and never-ending journey. Ever since man could express his thoughts on canvas or even on a cave wall, he could do so through representational art. Artists in the past thousands of years would try to capture reality by graphically trying to imitate what they saw with their eyes.
During the 20th century, as culture reflected society, artists were triggered into overdrive, seeking new ways to express their views of the world. They were not content with depicting objects as they were. They wanted to explore the internal and hidden relationships between things. These attempts, done collectively or individually, consciously or unintentionally, became synonymous with what is now known as modern art. It was during this milieu when abstract art was born.

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Art Talk: Thoughts & Objects

In conversation with Tang Mun Kit

By Usha Nathan



In 1917, Marcel Duchamp’s notorious exhibit, Fountain (a porcelain urinal), was rejected by the organisers of the Society of Independent Artists, New York. Duchamp argued that it was an ordinary article of life taken and placed so that “its useful significance disappeared under a new title and point of view”. He had, in fact, created “a new thought for the object”.

Closer to home, Tang Mun Kit, creates artworks - sculptures and installations - using discarded objects, junk and organic materials. These objects each have a history, a prior life. They have been gathered from pre-war shophouses, and other such buildings, which underwent conservation, and from places like housing estates. The found objects are then transformed into new creative forms, with an aesthetic and economical dimension, in Mun Kit’s works. In their re-energised forms, the objects have a metaphorical quality. They comment on the human condition and the issues facing us in everyday life.

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Hidden Talents 2007

Artist in the diplomatic life

At the Coffee Connoisseur “The Gallery” 51 Circular Road,
26 September - 7 October

The idea of colours and form does not arrive beyond the term diplomacy. Somehow the word introduces individuals serious and refined where we wonder if they have the space to exercise the gift of creativity. The aptitude of creativity never creases to exist but awaits for time to bloom and passion to put it on fire.

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documenta 12 - Part 1

By Usha Nathan



16 June – 23 September. This special 3-part feature on one of the most important contemporary art events will study the works of the 17 Asian artists featured in it this year

The town of Kassel, quaint and removed, is invaded every five years by hundreds of thousands of spectators of the showcase that calls itself “an authoritative worldwide seismograph of contemporary art”. documenta is a unique art fair that started out with an educational goal. Arnold Bode, an artist cum designer who was barred from painting and publishing about modern art during the Nazi rule, was the man behind the institution. In 1955, 700 artworks by various international artists were showcased to offer a retrospective of modernist art. Arnold envisioned the event as one that would reconnect Germans with the modernist ideals of Europe and the rest of the world, and reorient its nationalist focus. The uniqueness of the showcase was a particular curatorial focus that invited new ways of presenting and, hence, receiving art, away from conventional ways of arranging artworks.

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Singapore Art Show - cont’d*

August 2 - October 8 at various locations

The Singapore Art Show 2007 will be entering its second month soon. The Singapore Art Exhibition, which commenced with great success last month, will continue until the 3rd of September. Coming this September is yet another assortment of exhibitions and art events at numerous venues across Singapore.

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Rabbit-Shaped Bowl

Pottery Making at Clay Cove

Clay is a very malleable material. It can be used to make different kinds of forms and shapes using different pottery and hand-building methods. Today, we will show you a step-by-step process to make a Rabbit-shaped Bowl using the Hollowing method.

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