Singapore Art

What exactly is Singapore Art?

Singapore is a cosmopolitan and well connected city with lots of artists coming in and lots of artists going out. Some are citizens, some are permanent residents, some on student passes, some on dependent passes and some are just global citizens. With some retaining their roots/citizenships/houses here and some just emigrate completely never to return. And some just using Singapore as a stepping stone.

But no matter where they are or where they will be, if they did something here or showed something here, it influences the art landscape be it in a big way or small way.

So you can tell where I am going with this, Singapore Art is a mish mash of everything. Even the artists and curators that come through to work or even for a residency also are part of it. But how important of a contribution they make, only time will tell and is obviously influenced by the Art Gods and the end users ( Art buyers).

So if you buy works from these group of artists who call Singapore home or stayed here long enough, we will consider it Singapore Art.

And I don't consider a foreign artist putting on a show in Singapore without being based here part of Singapore Art. Maybe in Art history they will get a mention but I won't consider it Singapore Art.

A simple enough explanation. But it really gets complex when you try to map the artists and try to be an academic and try to categorise or place them in your thesis about Singapore Art.