Thursday 7 August 2014

Everyday Heroes - Dyn aka Safaruddin Abdul Hamid

This exhibition runs from the 7th August 2014 till 24th August 2014 at Chan Hampe Galleries at Raffles Hotel Shopping Arcade.



In this series, he pays tribute to the people who have iconic jobs which have contributed to the development and identity of Singapore. And with progress nothing stays the same (except for the tribes in the jungles and the Amish) and soon these fade away into our memories.

He paints in his usual bright and cheerful palettes. For some paintings the colours were harmonious but for others the colours chosen were harsh. In this series the figures are not distinct and a representational image is presented. And the colours for each painting lend to the melding of the figure to the background, the way our memories get foggy over a period of time.

He also spends his time teaching design and drawing and the design aspect is evident in the works.

The process of the creation of the pieces is also interesting and would account for the painterly / perceptual end product. He works with photos and drawings and starts off digitally. The digital images are then flatted and tweaked to requirements. He then projects the images and uses them as a guide for his painting (he doesn't just fill in the colours / paint by numbers).  And this would explain the style of painting experienced by the viewer.




Points for Collectors: Buy rating. The prices are under 3k. I think he has three pieces collected by the Singapore Art Museum. He paints actively and is involved in the art world by teaching art.

Monday 4 August 2014

Everyday Heroes by Dyn

This exhibition by Safaruddin Abdul Hamid opens this Thursday 7th August 2014 at ChanHampe Galleries. It will be from 7pm.

Should be a fun show. I think in one corner, they might feature a few of Leo Liu's works too.

Don't forget to thank the people who serve you the cheese and wine.


Jimmy Ong by Jimmy Ong

This exhibition runs from 25th July 2014 to 31st August 2014 at FOST Gallery at Gillman Barracks.

In this exhibition he presents the works which he is best at - figurative charcoal drawings. He presents two styles here- one is the recent Nassim Hill Revisited series, comprising figurative still life painting, some with just a splash of colour. This is him reminiscing his life when he was staying in the Nassim Hill area. The other series consists of large format human drawings which are older works from his Beyond LKY and Ancestors on the Beach series.

His Nassim Hill series is very good. It's easy to do still life. But to reach a level of excellence is difficult. (If you have a chance you should check out the Chardin works to appreciate the Master level of still life.) His drawing of human figures is superb and his skill level is shown in these > 2 metre long drawings. Don't think there are many Singaporean artists who know their anatomy well and are able to do half decent paintings/drawings of the human figure. I think the Italian art schools place a strong emphasis on this when they train their students.

Some write ups: I-S Asia, Ocula and Sing Art.


Pineapple & Company

Seven Coconuts

Heart Daughters


Points for Collectors: Rating: Strong Buy. When I went to the show, quite a few had already been sold. This is probably because he hasn't exhibited his drawings for a while, as I felt that the prices for these charcoal drawings are a bit on the high side. Good artist, good credentials.

Saturday 2 August 2014

A Drawing Show - Ian Woo et al

This exhibition runs from 1st August 2014 to 14th September 2014 at Yeo Workshop at Gillman Barracks.

Drawing is essential to all artists. Reasons for it can be found here. So I am happy that Yeo Workshop does a show like this.

The four artists are

1. Ian Woo - This series which he did is very interesting. Some are form dominant and I found the bigger ones to be more focused on flow and dynamism like those he did for Tomio Koyama, How I Forgot to be Happy. Quite a few of his drawings were sold - the cheapest way to own an original Ian Woo. These were different from the Lot drawings acquired from the SAM and at show at the Medium at Large exhibition. But I think Ian Woo's painting's are better buys because they show both his drawing skills and his understanding of colours.

One of Ian Woo's charcoal/graphite works.


2. Wong Lip Chin - Not impressed by his work. In fact he drew a middle finger on the outside of the building as the artists were given free reign to paint the pillars and walls. He also did a performance on opening night to receive a tattoo/drawing on himself. Drawings in the folder, also not impressive. Seen his paintings also not impressed. Maybe as some curators and gallerists have mentioned, he needs direction in what he does.

WTF?

3. Boedi Widjaja - Architect by training now a full time multi medium artist. Interesting. But not quite my fancy. But at least he's getting invited to be exhibited.


4. Jaitip Jaidee - She is fine art graduate from Thailand. She submitted three works where she cut and inked onto wood veneer. Very painstakingly meticulous job. She sold two of the three works as of writing.


Points for collectors: Ian Woo's drawing is a Buy if you are collecting drawings or building up a collection of Ian Woo's works. If not, save your dough for his paintings. He has a show in Tokyo with Tomio Koyama next month. So if you happen to be in Japan.... As for Wong Lip Chin - can skip for now until he gets his act together. Boedi Widjaja and Jaitip Jaidee - Not sure, but interesting works. Neutral rating. Buy if you like.

Choreographed Collisions - Yeo Shih Yun

This exhibition is held from 17th July 2014 to 31st August 2014 at Galerie Steph at the Artspace at Helutrans.

Yeo Shih Yun is a brilliant artist who founded Instinc Art Space. She is doing more of her black ink works. And this time she is studying the brush marks made by robots. And like the other series, i.e Conversation with Trees, she collects the marks and makes SilkScreen prints with them. And she then uses a combination of SilkScreen printing, artist strokes and robot markings to create her work. She has a strong ability to work with monochromatic black and is able to understand and use the tonal variance to her advantage. That said, in some of her paintings in this series, she uses white (to assist in adding layers / depth by gradient to the works). She has the talent to produce perceptually pleasing art. In her older works she is able to use colours too, unlike some artists who are better at monochromatic works and don't understand colours well.


Yeo Shih Yun in black with Uptime  (L) and Downtime (R)

Against the Spring (Titles of the art from the series were derived from the instruction manuals of the robots)

On the floor, one of the seven SilkScreens used for printing 

Points for Collectors: Strong Buy. Yeo Shih Yun was initially a lone ranger in the art world and has since gone more mainstream. But still not a 'blue-eyed boy' of the Art Gods in Singapore, although she presented / was commissioned Conversation with trees at/for the Singapore Art Museum. Even Majorie Chu at Art Forum has represented her for her Learning from Trees Series.