ARTERY SHOWCASES LOCAL, REGIONAL ARTISTS
With the aim that art and artistic activities
should fill every corner of the new campus for the benefit of its students and
for the general public, the inaugural art exhibition SMU’s Visual Arts
Initiative (VAI), was held this year, showcasing works by 11 artists from
Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, USA and Australia. Entitled Artery, it
ran from 12 January to 3 March and was held at The Gallery of the School of
Economics & Social Sciences and along The Concourse. The exhibition featured
three themes: MURMUR, featuring works by Anthony Poon, Chua Ek Kay, Pinaree
Sanpitak, Jane Lee and Delia Prvacki. Testimonies, featuring recent portraits in
ink by Tang Dawu, photographic works by Francis Ng, and Dadang Christanto’s 2005
Testimonies of the Trees series. Looking In Looking Out, featuring commissioned
works by Heman Chong, Tan Kai Syng and Ana Prvacki.
Gracing the opening of Artery, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of
Information, Communications and the Arts & Health, Dr Balaji Sadasivan said,
“SMU is a fine example of an institution that shares our vision for Singapore to
be a Global Arts City where our people are creative and our artistic talents
nurtured. SMU delivers a pedagogy that develops well-rounded students through
its unique brand of curriculum and strongly encourages learning beyond books.”
At the opening ceremony, artist Pinaree Sanpitak collaborated with local
executive chef Jimmy Chok, to create culinary delights using her pre-sculpted
breast stuppas. On the following day, there was a talk by artist Dadang
Christanto, who shared his views on art and social activism and what it means
for an artist to live and work away from ‘home’.
SMU will continue to develop and host exhibitions and enrichment programmes and
will also be developing an institutional collection of contemporary art, with
Southeast Asian art as the principal focus.