My Story V - A Symbolist's Witness - Wong Shih Yaw

This exhibition runs from 19th December to 28th December 2014 at Ion Art Gallery and is organised by Utterly Art.

This is the 5th edition of the story series. These works are similar to the earlier two series. The concept of the works was a bit too simplistic and I felt that he justified the addition of the different elements to the paintings by attributing meanings to them and that the overall elements didn't quite gel together.

Having said that six of the nine paintings on display had been sold already. I think this was mainly because of his price point as he is selling at half the price of the well established Singaporean artists of his age. Further, on first impression the paintings lead to an initial burst of interest, but on further contemplation, the works are sort of a novelty and one would get bored with them after a while.

However, the value of art can depend more on the artist than the art work. Interesting article from artnet. Meaning a historically significant artist's worst work will always be more valued than the best work of a insignificant artist, even if the work is deemed technically better than the former's worst work. How would this be relevant? Well, when someone decides to write the history of Singapore's contemporary art, The Artist Village will come up and those artists will be given recognition. Currently, Tang Da Wu is highly recognised as he is the founder or The Artist Village. Wong Shih Yaw is one of the artists associated with The Artist Village - see this postcolonial website article and The Artist Village 20 year on (PDF). So Wong Shih Yaw, along with Tang Da Wu, Hazel McIntosh, Tang Da Hon, Amanda Heng, Lim Poh Teck, Baet Yeok Kuan, Tang Mun Kit and Vincent Leow, were part of The Artist Village's first show. And the Singapore Art Museum / Art Gods have recognised him and have already acquired 24 of his works. You can check them out here at SgCool. So only time will tell if the historical significance of the artist becomes more important than the art.

Points for collectors: You decide after giving thought to the above. But currently I will give it a miss, as in my lifetime, the value won't rise yet. Like the Artnet article, it uses a timeline of 100 years. So in the meantime, I would like something prettier and technically better on my walls.