in-Definite Defiance - Eric Chan

This exhibition is held from 22nd April to 8th May 2016 over at Chan Hampe Gallery's Shophouse 5 over at Geylang.

This would be a pivotal exhibition for Chan (don't think he's related to the Chan of Chan Hampe). Think he is in a mid career crisis where his works are not cheap, quite a few of his works are being auctioned off at lower prices (and also in Ringgit/ lousy exchange rate now against the SGD), he hasn't had a sensational show or sell out show and hardly anybody is talking about him.

In this show, he is trying to break free from painting realistic/ representational and move on to abstract (with this you can relate to the title of the show). Trying to overcome his weaknesses and do things out of his usual mould and comfort zone. You can appreciate what he is doing. In this experimental exhibition, there are hits and misses. But Eric being the talented artist he is, there are more hits. And with him continually going at it, he will do good. Don't forget Eric is a full time artist, no day job, so he will continue to paint and find solutions to his weaknesses.

He has done smaller works this time round, making him more accessible to people who want his works and can't or don't want to spend or can't hang his usual big works. And he has also abandoned his bright and bold palette, choosing to work with earth tones and blue.

Escape

Point for collectors: Eric is a buy to strong buy rating. Definitely a super talented artist. He is intense and that will take him places. Love the fact the he is trying something new and headed in a new direction. Wish him all the best. The best piece at the exhibition was Escape which already had a red dot next to it. 

Edit: Just found out a super 'secret'. In a further act of defiance and screwing the old ways. Eric has reused his linen, meaning for many of the paintings, on the reverse side are his realistic masterpieces or unfinished works. 2 paintings for the price of one. Saw the gallerist showing an example to a collector. Wow! 

Constituent Concreteness - Various

This exhibition is held from 16th April to 22nd May 2016 over at Mizuma Gallery in the Gillman Barracks cluster.

We went over mainly to catch Singaporean Artist Luke Heng's works. He present the beeswax works similar to the one shown at FOST Gallery last year. Nice pieces but drowned out by the other works on show (they were much bigger or had lights and sound). Mizuma has a good eye and has arranged a good selection of artists and works.

On show are Aditya Novali, Albert Yonathan Setyawan, Arin Dwihartanto Sunaryo, Dita Gambiro, Maharani Mancanagara, Syaiful A. Garibaldi (all from Indonesia) and also Japanese artists, Ken  + Julia Yonetani and Miyanaga Aiko.

All I need to say its they are all really nice works, with good stories behind them. You should catch this exhibition. I think the next exhibition might be Ken and Julia Yonetani, must catch that too.

Points for collectors: Buy rating for all the artists. Would really love to see how and where Luke will go with the wax works. 

CityScapes - Tung Yue Nang

This exhibition was held from the 10th to 20th April 2016 over at Cape of Good Hope Gallery over at MICA building.

This exhibition features Tung's black chinese ink works of CityScapes. Slightly different from the earlier works in terms of the emphasis of mood, buildings, objects, people and certain brush strokes. Only a slight difference and you are only able to tell if you have been following and seeing his works.

He is a passionate artist and paints for the love of it. Not quite good at managing his 'brand' and the supply and demand thing. He leaves that to the gallery, but if he doesn't listen to the gallery then not much they can do also.

Points for collectors: Technically good. Buy Rating. But my concern is that he is churning out too much of the same thing. Has been doing it since 2013. So maybe he should move on. Just my gut feel. So maybe a cautious buy would be more accurate.

Reframing Modernism - National Gallery Singapore

This is on from 31st March 2016 to 17th July 2016 at NGS's Singtel Galleries on level 3.

It's a paid exhibiton, but used my gallery Insider Card for the first time for free admission. (Not entirely free just offset $30 from the $40 paid for the membership, guess have to go back a few more times to enjoy the works)

Anyway it's a good exhibition decent works on display. You should check out the single Picasso on show. Not a very complex piece, but really easy to appreciate and enjoy.

Not the best pieces of the individual artists but at least a decent quality. However, being in SEA, we have seen better pieces of the SEA artists presented. (Auction previews are a good and free place) Although the works by Georgette Chen's were good. Have seen better Affandis and Cheong Soo Piengs, but anyway still a decent selection. Would go back to take a look again.

So do try to catch it before it ends.

Locals Only 2016 (Singapore Edition) - Various

This exhibition is held from 14th April to 1st May 2016 at Taksu Gallery over at Holland Village.

Taksu has been doing Locals Only editions for their Malaysian and Indonesian galleries. This is the first time that they are doing Locals Only for Singapore.

The featured Artists are Ong Lijie, Deborah Loh, Aiman Hakim, Chen ShiTong, Jerry Yeo, Dzaki Sarafuan, Allison Low and Miguel Chew.

Miguel Chew is a lecturer at NAFA and also the 'headliner' and curator of the show. He is a print maker and presented a SilkScreen of an 'x-ray of a Uzi'. Interesting. Must say he is a skilled print maker.

Dzaki Sarafuan did a paper cut. He is primarily a print maker. Interesting work which shows his skill. But not stellar or eye catching.

Ong Lijie did etchings. She is also another print maker. Ok only from these works.

Deborah Loh presented 5 new paintings from her new series, The other Domino effect, and also 3 older paintings from her school days, Coldplay is Damien Hirst is me. The older works showed her to be very raw and subjects not mature yet. But with the new series, she has definitely improved leap and bounds. Very good artist with lots of potential. Now she has to improve and work hard.

Aiman Hakim is relatively older and has been showing  previously with Utterly Art. But he has been under the radar. He presented a circular painting from his Toy Story 2 series and 3 small figurines/sculptures from his unicorn series. The sculptures I say are quite nice. The painting wasn't that good. The one that he showed with ChanHampe Gallery's ' Fresh Takes' exhibition last year from the same series was much better.

Chen Shitong presented some works which were from the same series that was shown at Galerie Steph last year. I still think the same thing, a la Tay Bak Chiang.

Jerry Yeo presented images carved into the underside of the skateboard decks. So-so only.

Allison Low presented 3 drawings, 2 of which were shown at Scout earlier this year. Allison is skilful and good. She has to keep at it and keep on practising and finding solutions. Her faces and figures are really good. Her furniture not quite there yet. Subject matter is interesting.

Allison's works

Allison's works

Aiman Hakim

Deborah Loh

Deborah Loh

Deborah Loh

Points for collectors: Buy Ratings for Deborah Loh and Allison Low. Miguel Chew - not sure, haven't seen his other works or activity level. Aiman Hakim, think he's 32 now, but not really in the mainstream gallery circuit and is also priced a bit higher, so it's a neutral rating now. The rest can give a miss for now.

The Key to This Mystery is to Rephrase the Question Slightly - Chun Kai Feng

This exhibition is held from 12th March 2016 to 30th April 2016 over at FOST Gallery at Gillman Barracks.

Presented are typical works by Chun Kai Feng, taking the ordinary everyday things and manipulating them. By doing so, he wants the observer to think about the relationships of people and things. This time he uses objects found in shopping malls/ or urban interiors. So it will be easy for Singaporeans and other residents to identify the objects and identify with the objects themselves.

Nice interesting works. Good visual perception and eye. The pieces may be too regional/cultural specific for him to develop international demand/interest, but he is still young, so see how he develops.

Points for collectors: Chun Kai Feng and his twin have been recognised with the Young Artist Award (NAC). And he is going places. Just really hope he does something that can resonate with an international audience too. Maybe he needs another overseas residency? Anyway I like the tile and concrete pieces, not his normal medium. Small pieces but as a group it catches your eye. So Buy rating for him. 

My Forest has No Name -Donna Ong

This exhibition was held from 16th January to 28th February 2016 at FOST Gallery over at Gillman Barracks.

She presented a variety of items. The ones that were sold out were her light boxes. It is a nice and attractive work of  paper relief cut outs placed in layers within antique wood boxes and lit up internally. Hence, commonly referred to by collectors as the light box works, which is opposed to those lightboxes hanging on the walk which are backlit images, very much like an x-ray box in the doctors office.

She also did some arrangement of 'forest' on old school tables, made up of plants, birds and what's nots.  There were also shelves with figurines and an old photo to go. There were also some photos on display.

Interesting. She is doing nice and pleasant works. Pleasant as in visually pleasing. Not content, if you remember last years Prudential Eye. But that piece was aesthetically pleasing though disturbing. That would be an example of good but disturbing visual art.

Points of Collectors: Strong Buy. But the light boxes are the ones that in demand. Think because they are nice and easier to store/display unlike her other unwieldy tables and desks. All the light boxes have been sold out. Recently one of the light boxes which was sold at Art Stage 2014, recently changed hands at Auction either by Sotheby's or Christies in Hong Kong. Art Stage 2016 also had two of the boxes which I think sold either during the VIP preview or during the vernissage. Nothing else sold I think. But I really like the small shelf with the 3 elephants and the man climbing the tree.

Ang Soo Koon - Everest

This exhibition was held from 20th January to 21st February 2016 at Objectifs.

It was a popular exhibition amongst the art faternity with many pledging to go. Managed to get a prominent curator June Yap for the exhibition too.

Think it was ok. Just asked Pizza Queen what she thought about the exhibition and she gives me a blank look unable to recall that exhibition.

Here are some photos:

Points for collectors: As a brand the artist has the right credentials, correct local and overseas education. Based partially overseas, has network with the correct circle of artists, curators and museum people. A name which other collectors also recognise. She is also born in 1977, mid career artist which is an early time to acquire her works. For me her works are ok, seen her early works too. Unless she improves the perceptual/visual aspect of her works, I will give her a miss for now. Good brand though.