If you thinked I winked, I did - Khairullah Rahim

This exhibition is held from 31st July to 31st August 2015 at Fost Gallery over at Gillman Barracks.

He presented (I think) about 11 paintings, with one big 3m center show piece.

You can read his various interviews and reviews on the Fost website, Blouin Art, ArtHop and ......

My thoughts would be he has done good this time.  Definitely a move on from his earlier series and technical improvement too. He definitely has things to say with his art and says it confidently.

However, he still has room for improvement. To prevent himself from being thrown into the pop art genre he needs to hone his painterly skills. Think more about the brush strokes, colours, equilibrium, balance of the painting. In the way a good abstract artist works the painting. Especially that of balance,  To quote from Rudolf Arnhem's book, " Why should artists strive for balance?  Our answer this far has been that by stabilising the interrelations between the various forces in a visual system the artist makes his statement unambiguous. Going a step further, we realise that man strives for equilibrium in all phases of his physical and mental existence  and that this same tendency can be observed not only in all organic life,but also in physical systems", "balance remains the final goal of any wish to be fulfilled, any task to be accomplished, any problem to be solved"

Having understood this, then the artist can understand the active counter principle of dynamism/ dynamics.  " only by looking at the interaction between the energetic life force and the tendency toward balance can we reach a fleet conception of the dynamics activating the human mind and reflected in the mind's products".

Why did I quote this jibber jabber? Because apart from the biggest 3m and penguin piece, the balance with the other bigger pieces are not quite there. Not horribly wrong, it's just that I exact higher standards from him.

I am rooting for him and if he continues painting to resolve these issues. He will have arrived.  But he needs to paint more, not for show but for practice.

I believe he is working with other media too and am glad to hear that.

Points for collectors: Strong buy. Think the penguin was the best piece and has been sold.  A few others have also been sold too. Keep watching him, I think he has exciting things lined up. 

A Place Behind by Eyes - Yeo Tze Yang

This exhibition is held from 7th to 16th August 2015 at Ion art space by Utterly Art. It is part of a bigger exhibition Time & Place, 50 years of Singapore, which includes Andre Tan and Martin Loh who also presented solos. And a smattering of other artists to fill the space.

Yeo presented 8 paintings of Singapore scenes. It was meant to capture the small things he noticed.

In my personal opinion Yeo Tze Yang has potential. However, he needs guidance, either by going to art school or working with a pro-active gallerist.

When I first came across his works at Flaneur Gallery, I was impressed by this young artist.

However, when I viewed this exhibition, I was disappointed. The same kind of disappointment you feel when your favourite football team loses. Meaning I am actually rooting for him.

Why do I say this? First if you read his artist statement, it is rather weak and if you break it down, it just says he's capturing what he sees. Nothing wrong, but in this day and age of the internet and exposure to art in Singapore and around the world, what he did isn't very fresh. Give the newcomer a chance you would say, but if he really wants to shine he needs to get the thinking correct and understand what contemporary art is all about. Hang around some conceptual artists. Next if you compare his earlier series for Flaneur's Urban Hysteria, they look very similar. And it would seem that he had only one style. And to further this, just look at all the paintings presented, his solution to dynamism of the painting is to tilt the visual axis left, i.e. every painting slants to the left to give it 'movement'. So after coming off a busy week of art exhibitions, it leaves me disappointed.

Price from Utterly Art FB page - 92cmx122cm =$2800
Price psf $0.25
Comparatively from recent exhibitions (but bigger paintings)
Luke Heng - $0.21
Khairullah Rahim - $0.29

Points for collectors: Not a buy yet. But good for him, think most have been sold. Prices a bit high for such a young artist. Hopefully the people who have bought his pieces do it to support the artist and like his work and not for investment (might get burnt). 

Singapore Survey 2015:Hard choices

This art exhibition is held from 6th August 2015 to 13th September 2015 at Helu Trans art space, organised by Valentine Willie special projects.

This exhibition was started way back in 2008 when Valentine Willie still had a gallery here. This exibition is a well curated show, where the artists try to answer the question of the show.

Featured artists are Alan Oei, Alecia Neo, Chun Kai Feng & Qun, Eugene Soh, Genevieve Chua, Geraldine Kang, Godwin Koay, Green Zeng, Heman Chong, Jason Wee, Jimmy Ong, Lee Wen, Lee Boon Wang, Lucy Davis, Nguan, Samantha Tio, Tan Wei Keong and Tang Da Wu.

Must say it is quite a heavy weight show. Impressed with all the works.

But the one that caught my eye was Alan Oei's Sg01 and Sg02.

This is one show that you must catch.

Jason Wee

Genevieve Chua

Jimmy Ong

Chun Kai Feng

Nguan

Nguan

Alan Oei

Heman Chong

Points for Collectors: All these works present are really impressive. Would say most of the artists here are from the buy category, except Godwin Koay. The photographers are good too. Think a few things were sold. I know Genevieve's triptych was sold. Alan Oei's works were good.

Phrase, Rephrase: Various artists

This exhibition is held from 5th August to 19th September 2015 at Galerie Steph over at Helu Trans.

It features 4 artists - Shazwany Aziz, Chen ShiTong, Vanessa Ban and Kanchana Gupta.

Kanchana Gupta was doing something new by layering sheets of paints (stripped from canvas) to form a sculptural painting.

Vanessa Ban did a Neon light sign.

Chen ShiTong did prints of objects/rocks, atop which sat people. A la Tay Bak Chiang rocks and birds.

Shazwany did a variety of prints too.

Kanchana Gupta

Chen ShiTong

Shazwany Aziz

Points for collectors: Sorry, but not really impressed. Can give it a miss. Kanchana Gupta sold 3 of 4 works by the time I went down. But I think more because of its low price. But am really impressed with Steph who is willing to give these artists a chance at a decent platform.