Prices of Young Artists

Think I have ranted on this before. Young artists mustn't price too high. You might have won some awards and people know you.

Born in the 90's, asking 12k for your photographs which are editions.

A four year old piece comes out to auction. The auction house estimate is 3k to 4k. And yet the piece is passed.

Maybe selling art is a pastime and not the main source of income. Just like many of the middle aged artists in Singapore who are not full time artists and have an alternative career with a solid stream of income and thus they can randomly price their works to make them seem great. "My pieces are priced at 20k". And how many if at all do you sell I might ask.

Nuff Said.

Among Plants & Animals - Wei Xin Quek Chong

This exhibition is held from 19th October 2018 to 8th January 2018 at SPRMRKT Cluny Court.

The main theme for the exhibition was her flora works. She has always been interested in plants and flowers and has always been working with plants, from the early days of applying makeup to flowers and gathering plants, to her recent residency in South America. The works on show also span this period some earlier works and some executed this year.

She is a print maker by training and thus isn't surprising that she showed etchings and prints. The method in which she captures some of her images is also very interesting. She would use the common place camera / photograph or the more quirky method of scanning her works. The method would be selected based on what she wanted to achieve, because in capturing images it's a lot to do with the lighting and light source.

She was also recently selected as a President Young Talent for 2018 but the work shown there was slightly different (will post about it later).

We really like her works. And there is a strong intellectual thought process that goes through her works, not something that is easily apparent. And the works have good aesthetic qualities too. As a print maker she is also very familiar with the materials she is working with and the process of production of the work.

The works which she produces initially seem simple and can hang inconspicously on the wall, but it grows on you. It's one of those mature works which reveals more as time goes on, and revisiting the work doesn't bore you.

Artwork of the month awardee

Point for collectors: Wei Xin Quek Chong - Strong Buy rating. From the main body of the post you can tell we really like her works. The media which she works with, prints/ photographs, aren't too popular with collectors as opposed to paintings, so I don't think she sells well. Hence it's a good time to buy her works.

The Mirage - Boo Sze Yang

This exhibition was held from 3rd to 18th October 2018 at AC43 / Art Commune Gallery over at Bras Basah Complex.

Boo Sze Yang showed brown/sepia works of construction sites rendered with lines and shadows. The works' main emphasis was perspective and perception of these spaces.

These works were good and well structured. A lot of things going on in the works that you need to take time to appreciate. Step in and away from the paintings to note the various aspects of the works.

Point for collectors: Boo Sze Yang - Strong Buy Rating.  

Room - Jodi Tan

This exhibition is held from 5th October 2018 to 2nd January 2019 over at SPRMRKT at STPI.

Jodi is working with multiple media. She showed some of her paintings, cross stitch, sticker works/collage works and sculpture. And she decided to have some merchandise (gift wrappers and stickers) for sale too.

The paintings and cross stitch were nice. The collage works were nice too. But the sculptures were the bomb. She did one which was 1.7 metres tall and other small table top ones.

Artwork of the month awardee

Points for collectors: Jodi Tan - Strong Buy. Really like her works. I think her big Sculpture had been acquired too. She is definitely one to follow. 

And yet, if only - Kayleigh Goh

This exhibition was held from 28th September to 15th October 2018 over at Gajah Gallery at Tanjong Pagar Distripak.

In this show, Kayleigh showed more of her concrete works. Her works have definitely improved and are more complex now. They are also more visually pleasing. And she added more colour to the work, more layers and in one work used Japanese paper. Something I believe she was experimenting with while she was doing her residency in Japan.

Artwork of the month awardee, this was the piece that she used Japanese paper.

Points for collectors: Kayleigh is very active in the Singapore art scene. She has been involved recently in a few community projects too. She is definitely improving and quite a few pieces from this show has been picked up by quite prominent and eminent collectors. Strong Buy rating.

Portraiture - The Artist Village

This exhibition is held from 6th September to 15th September 2018 at the Banksy Gallery of the Mox co-working spaces at Joo Chiat,

It's organised by The Artist Village and showcases the works of some of their members and a few invited artists. Interesting small works. Really like Bridget Tay's work.

Giles Massot

Ezzam Rahman

Denise Jillian Tan

Deusa Blumke

Agnes-Mun Yit

Bridget Tay

Bridget Tay

Koh Nguang How

Points for collectors: We like Bridget Tay's work shown here. And we also like Denise Jillian Tan and Ezzam Rahman too.

In Vain In Vanity

This Charlotte Lim exhibition was held from 10 Aug to 7 Sept 2018 at UltraSuperNew Gallery.

The exhibition was pretty interesting for me partly because there was a mix of media across all the pieces - paint on fabric, video installation, and drawings - and all displayed in a space that isn't your typical gallery, and which complemented the works very well.

There was a super long piece called Seasons, hung across the walls, depicting a pair of female figures painted on pale pink chiffon and then as you venture deeper into the gallery, you see more figures from her earlier works on black organza.

The drawings, also taken from an earlier body of works, had a bit of shock value. So did the piece with a rather disturbing soundtrack.

I loved the pieces mounted onto a mirror - definitely a conversation piece if it sits in anyone's home.

Points for collectors: yup, buy rating. Good to watch and see how she develops. 

Still, Singapore Life - Sara Chong, Chen Yanyun, Alvin Mark Tan and Keyon Guo

This exhibition was held from 31st August to 12th October 2018 at Art Seasons Gallery.

This exhibition featured Sara Chong, Chen Yanyun, Alvin Mark Tan and Keyon Guo. And the subject was still life in Singapore.

Interesting and refreshing topic. Haven't seen much still life and portraiture works in a while.

Sara Chong painted herself and two other artists, Chen Yanyun and Jeremy Fernando. She's good.

Chen Yanyun showed one of her charcoal works. Was interesting but not her best. Think she was holding off because she is having a show with Art Porters in November.

Alvin Mark Tan showed his typical works in the traditional style.

Keyon Guo did some still life.

Artwork of the month awardee

Point for collectors: Sara Chong I give a buy rating. She's good especially with the figure but has problem blending with the background. She needs to work on that. Chen Yanyun - Buy rating. But not this piece. I love her figures and nudes. Alvin Mark Tan - neutral because the works are pricey, maybe he takes longer to do the works. And he still can improve on his works. Keyon Guo - long way to go but can reach there eventually.