Empirical Atlas - Various- including Ben Loong, Zen Teh and Chong Weixin

This exhibition is held from 14th September to 29th September 2017 over at Pearl Lam Galleries at Dempsey.

This show included emerging and established artists.

The 3 local artists would be Ben Loong, Zen Teh and Chong Weixin.

Ben Loong showed 3 of  his plaster works which were coated with resin and some gold leaf added to it. Nice works and an improvement from the works which he showed in the VADA show.

Zen Teh showed more of her landscape geographical works/ pictures of Pulau Ubin printed on paper and hung ala Chinese Scrolls. If I am not wrong these works are earlier works, as her current project is on show at Alliance Francaise.

Chong Weixin showed her flower/plant images, ink jet prints of her desktop and works from her Paris residency. Love her works. Not easily palatable. And given the media that she uses, i.e. photos and prints, it narrows the people willing to acquire her works.

Points for collectors: Buy rating for Chong Weixin. Buy rating for Ben Loong. Buy Rating for Zen Teh, but maybe not the works here, but watch where she goes with her rocks( from Vestiges) and that will give her a strong buy. She too is working with various media which makes it hard to collect. We like her concrete works and really love the rocks at Vestiges.

Vestiges - Zen Teh

This exhibition is held from 7th September to 7th October 2017 at La Galerie at Alliance Francaise.

Zen Teh showed most works and her sister also showed some works.

She showed her works from her Chiang Rai residency. Lovely works.

The other work which she showed was found rocks with pictures / photos on them. This was a lovely series. Buyable.

Her sister showed some architectural works on perspex/ plastic.

Points for collectors: We have been watching Zen Teh for a while. Like her works. This exhibition wasn't really a 'for sale' exhibition. But we give her a Buy rating for this exhibition anyway. Interesting what she will be showing at Pearl Lam tomorrow as part of the group show Empirical Atlas.

Artling Pop-up

This exhibition is on from 8th to 17th September 2017 at Helutrans Art Space.

Into its third year, this pop up features artists under 40 from the various galleries in Singapore.

Interesting pieces. Can catch it if you have the time.

Monsoon Songs - Fyerool Darma

This exhibition is on from 8th September to 29th October 2017 over at Yeo Workshop at Gillman Barracks.

This exhibition is a departure from the paintings which he did earlier. That series was very well received. This series not so. (From a art buyer point of view, but from the art fraternity the feel might be different)

This series is hard to get or to associate with. It seems it is more personal to the artist. His rocker life (biker, Aliph shoes, wedding thingy with rock scarves), his bollywood influence (Monsoon Songs and the digital images), Malay culture and rocker life (the cowhide works) and his sound works. It's just things which matter to him, like a nostalgia trip and not really dealing with issues, like his earlier series (the portrait series). Maybe you can see him questioning his origin and race through his works. But to me it comes across that he is doing things which make him look cool.

Also this series does not  require much artistic talent. The works individually don't look too difficult to create. Maybe the most difficult was doing the reverse bleaching to achieve the motorbike and coconut tree works. So to appreciate it you have to look at all the works as a whole, then you can see how things gel.

Nice that he tried something else for the exhibition. But I felt that he hasn't really worked enough on his paintings to move on. Hasn't reached the excellent level yet. And there are a few more things to do with that series before he moves on.

Really felt that he can do better especially that he is a "Biennale Artist".

Points for collectors: Fyerool is a passionate artist who has been working hard from the days of his coffee paintings. And he has been working hard on his artistic process. Rating is a buy. This series is a buy if it fits your collection and selected properly to fill gaps in your collection. Also buy if you are a fan of Fyerool. 

Ghost Screen - Tan Guo Liang

This exhibition is held from 8th September to 21st October 2017 over at Ota Fine Arts over at Gillman Barracks.

Tan Guo Liang hasn't been active locally for a while as he was overseas doing his MFA. Now he has graduated and is back in Singapore with a studio at Kapo Factory.

Anyway this series began during his MFA days which he worked with fabric and used paint on the fabric to see how the paint takes. Not so much of an abstract expressionist or visual field painting but more of how materials and pigment work together. The translucency of the fabric also added to the effect.

This is very different from the works which he showed at his last show with Space Cottonseed; the oil paintings of flowers.

Our favourite piece.

Points for collectors: Really like these works and where he is moving. Smart and knowledgeable artist. Strong Buy rating. Was there for the opening and there were some works in the back room which was open during that evening, but other days the backroom was closed. Think there was a couple of his oil paintings there too. Hopefully you get to see them.

AAF Young Talent Programme Winner's Solo Exhibition 2017

This exhibition is held from 1st to 24th September 2017 over at Ion Art Gallery.

The three winner's are Le Thuy, Leow Wei Li and Tay Ining.

Le Thuy did her drawings on silk. Nice works.

Leow Wei Li did some more of her paintings which are in the same vein as the previous shows. But this time she also showed an installation of a toilet floor trap covers and sound. Interesting work. Not visually pleasing but auditory-wise, interesting.

Tay Ining did more of her metal works which included some organic material like sausages and rice to deal with the subject of rot. Interesting works. Here at 75GOP, we really like what she is doing.

Le Thuy

Leow Wei Li

Tay Ining

Points for Collectors: For all 3 artists we would give a buy rating.

The New Now - various artists

This exhibition is held from 25th August till 17th September 2017 at Gajah Gallery.

It features 7 emerging artists.

Kayleigh Goh - We have featured her before. She did more cement works on wood again.

Kuat Zhi Hooi - He showed a traditional sign board, one commonly used in the old-school shops. Black lacquer with words engraved into it and painted gold. He also showed a found table which was engraved with chinese words of food on it.

Charlotte Lim - Showed paintings on organza and stitched onto stretched chiffon. Nice works. Skill wise not too bad. But we question the conservability of the medium used.

Gabrielle Tolentino - He did some sculptures / figurines. Nice works.

Leonard Wee - Did two paintings. Interesting but not quite there yet. Intelligent and motivated chap.

Wong Jia Yi - Did etching and aquatint on copper. Did one with many small discs of her FB friends. And another of open-bite etching on copperplates. Nice works.

Benedict Yu - did a collage of newspaper and painted UV words over it. And another oil painting.

Leonard Wee

Kuat Zhi Hooi

Kayleigh Goh

Charlotte Lim

Leonard Wee

Wong Jia Yi

Gabrielle Tolentino

Kuat Zhi Hooi

Gabrielle Tolentino

Points for collectors:
Kayleigh Goh is a buy rating. Nice works which we like. Kuat Zhi Hooi - also a buy rating. interesting and fresh concepts. Charlotte Lim maybe a buy rating, but have to wait and see, if I am not incorrect, she hasn't graduated yet. Gabrielle also a buy rating. The sculptures are nice. Leonard Wee would be a hold and watch. He's a well informed guy so have to see him improve. Wong Jia Yi would be a buy rating but see where she goes with the copper or whether it's back to traditional print making. Benedict Yu interesting works. Might be trying a bit hard. But have to wait and see.