January Round-Up

Agnes Arellano, Thaiwijit Puengkasemsomboon, DUO Collection, etc. 
By Ho See Wah

Angel Velasco Shaw, ‘Markets of Resistance’, 2015. Image courtesy of The Substation.

Stealing Public Space 
‘Stealing Public Space’ is part of The Substation’s year-long programme, ‘A Public Square’, which examines the concept of public spaces in relation to Singapore. Curated by Iola Lenzi, it will showcase over 32 works from 25 artists. Keeping in mind the concept of the “public”, the works engage the audience as active agents and draws us into the communal issues the show elucidates.

The Substation, 11 January to 23 February. 

Kitti Narod, 'Ocean Diversity', 2019, acrylic on canvas, 80 x 100cm. Image courtesy of Tang Contemporary Art.

A Silent Voice
The group exhibition brings together six artists from Southeast Asia. Curator Michaela Sena highlights the artworks’ universal themes and aesthetics to illuminate the affinities they share with their international counterparts. This growing ubiquity of artistic language is in part fuelled by contemporary media and technologies. The exhibition is an attempt to capture this moment in time where artists across cultures find themselves in an increasingly interconnected global arena.

Tang Contemporary Art Bangkok, 18 December 2019 to 30 January.

Maya Hewitt, ‘Stay with Me’, 2019, oil, acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 152.5 x 152.5cm. Image courtesy of Nunu Fine Art.

Inscapes: A Retrospective by Agnes Arellano
Filipino sculptor Agnes Arellano presents her body of work created over 36 years. The sculptures are at once private and otherworldly, as she draws inspiration from her own body and from figures such as Haliya, a Bicolan moon goddess. The concepts behind the works come from a personal space as the artist contends with her sexuality, motherhood, mid-life crisis and more to craft these surrealist sculptures that resonate intimately with her audience. 

Outdoor spaces of Areté, Ateneo de Manila University, 13 October 2019 to 15 March.

Ian Tee, ‘FIRE BLANKET 06’, 2018, fibre-glass fire blanket, old clothes, bed sheet, deconstructed backpack, reflective strips and safety straps, 185 x 185cm. Image courtesy of The Private Museum.

Emerging: Collecting Singapore Contemporary – Selections from the DUO Collection
This group show presents Singaporean artworks from the DUO Collection. In line with The Private Museum’s mission of bridging the gap between the public and private art scenes, ‘Emerging’ presents an insight into what private patrons collect, as well as highlighting their presence and position in the art industry. At the same time, it offers a perspective into the concerns of artists today, with a line-up of contemporary artists such as Kray Chen, Kayleigh Goh and Masuri Mazlan.

The Private Museum, 11 January to 1 March. 

Thaiwijit Puengkasemsomboon, ‘Playground Up & Down’, 2019, acrylic, spray paint collage on board, 124 x 76cm. Image courtesy of ARTIST+RUN and Gallery VER.

What Can’t Be Left Over: The Art of the Deserted
This solo exhibition by Thaiwijit Puengkasemsomboon speaks to the abandoned and deserted. The Thai artist breathes new life into forgotten objects and questions their utility and meaning through giving them this constructed afterlife. In this trajectory, ‘What Can’t Be Left Over’ reckons with the velocity of times. In a world where development is happening at a blindingly rapid pace, and with technological advancements oustripping human capacities, what are our own utilities and meanings in the not-so-distant future? 

ARTIST+RUN and Gallery VER, 18 January to 14 March. 

Nguyễn Phương Linh, ‘Sương trắng miền quê ngoại’ (‘White Mist in Foreign Country’), 2019, UV-printed PVC curtains, lumiled light 220cm x 360cm. Image courtesy of Sàn Art.

Điềm Mờ (Opaque Signs)
‘Điềm Mờ (Opaque Signs)’ is a fundraising exhibition with works donated by previous artist collaborators of Sàn Art. Featuring a majority-Vietnamese line-up, the concept of luminosity is a running thread through the artworks. In this instance, light is used as a signifier of relentless rapid urbanisation with inexhaustible artificial lights as its harbinger. At the same time, metaphorical connotations are evoked as other works alert us to how we see in the presence – or absence – of light. Read David Willis’ review of the exhibition here. 

Sàn Art, 17 December 2019 to 22 January.

Erna Garnasih Pirous, ‘Nuansa Perjalanan’, 1991, acrylic on canvas, 44.5 cm x 44.5cm. Image courtesy of Selasar Sunaryo Art Space.

Selasar Sunaryo Art Space & Bale Project Collection Exhibition: Selection of Modern and Contemporary Art
This exhibition presents works from the collections of Sunaryo, the founder of Selasar Sunaryo Art Space (SASS), as well as Bale Project, a commercial unit under the Selasar Sunaryo Foundation. The showcase charts a history-based perspective towards Bandung art and its various movements, aesthetic languages and preferred media. The show is also a reflection of SASS’s seminal role in the Bandung art scene in its capacity as an influential contemporary art institution. 

Selasar Sunaryo Art Space, 19 November 2019 to 26 January.