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SingaporeArt.org is an online research archive on the Singapore visual and interdisciplinary arts scene.

Submit press releases, articles, images and url to the archive here or email to submit@singaporeart.org.



h e a d l i n e s

ARTSINGAPORE 2005
September holidays for the children
To Singapore with Love Photo Exhibition
KNOW YOUR FACTS!
Works by Lara Pang - Prat
LEGWORK
Alvin Ong wins UOB Painting of the Year Award
Durian party for MASS members
UNA VOCE 2005
Open Call for Artists in Singapore to Submit their Portfolios for the first Singapore Biennale

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Saturday, July 09, 2005


Don’t Let Sleeping Androids Lie - a sixth anniversary exhibition

Date : 9 Jun 2005 to 28 Aug 2005

Don’t Let Sleeping Androids Lie, Sculpture Square's 6th Anniversary Exhibition, seeks to question the level of interactivity between spectator and art. Aiming to reduce that distanced monologue, the public is encouraged to undertake a proactive role when interacting with art, through various electronic art installations including the development of responsive environments and the head-mounted display. It resolves to take the public beyond a “point and click” paradigm of interaction, encouraging them to explore interactivity as a complex field of exchange between artist:audience, system:user, participation:interaction, body:space, power:play, and self:other.

Power is distributed between user and system and the user is given the opportunity and responsibility to create the content and final presentation of the artwork. Through receptional aesthetics and responsive environments, the distance between user and system is reduced. While reactive art tends to be monologue, interactive art purposes a dialogue between the piece and the participant; specifically, the participant has “agency”, the ability to “act upon” the piece and is furthermore invited to do so in the context of the piece.

The exhibition is part of the Singapore Arts Festival and will also feature a collaboration with Adrian Cheok of the Mixed Reality Lab, National University of Singapore (NUS) and The Esplanade. The exhibition is Sculpture Square's major exhibition of fusing electronics and technology with art, overcoming the antagonism between computer system and human being as well as reflecting on the current and future forms of co-existence between computer system and human.

This exhibition will mark the 6th Anniversary of Sculpture Square's inauguration.


00:58

Friday, July 08, 2005


Dear Editor


We are excited to alert you of a revolutionary art gallery that will soon premiere in Singapore.



The HYPE Gallery will stage its first gallery in Asia, from July 8 to August 3, and Singapore has been chosen to host this exhibition.



HYPE was first launched in London and Paris in 2004, and received critical acclaim; hence, this first staging will be a significant milestone for the art scene in Asia and for Singapore.



Briefly, HYPE is a one-of-its-kind, free-flowing gallery exclusively dedicated to displaying digital art from art students and emerging artists from Singapore and around the region. It offers a rare opportunity to anyone interested in creating and showcasing their artwork, for free.



Appended below is a news release that shares more information on HYPE, and we look forward to your support in publicizing this milestone event. Please let us know if you should need more information. We will be happy to arrange for interviews with the organizers and provide additional soundbites that you may require.


Singapore - first in Asia to stage hype digital art gallery

Unique opportunity for emerging artists to submit and exhibit artwork at showcase



Singapore will be the first country in Asia to stage the highly successful HYPE gallery, which was first showcased in London and Paris in 2004. HYPE is dedicated to displaying digital art from art students and emerging artists from Singapore and the region.



HYPE presents a unique opportunity for art students, emerging artists, photographers, graphic designers and film makers - basically anyone interested -- to express their creativity and exhibit their own digital photograph, artwork, or short film, for free. The only requirement is that the artists include the letters 'h', 'y', 'p', and 'e' in the title of their artworks, for example, Shy Torpedo, Shady Penguin, and Shaky Epicentre.



HYPE in Singapore is organised by Hewlett-Packard, in partnership with The Arts House, and is supported by the Creative Community Singapore (CCS) programme. HP provides the technology for the printing of the digital images onto high-quality, large format prints of 40x60 inches. The Arts House will provide gallery space for the display of the artworks for a month. As new pieces are submitted and old pieces are rotated out, the HYPE gallery will become a living, breathing space for the artworks.



Paul Chan, Senior Vice President & Managing Director, Hewlett-Packard, Asia-Pacific & Japan, said, "Supporting the arts in Singapore is one of the ways HP can contribute to the nation's creative fibre. We want to engage the local artistic communities and urban, trend-conscious professionals by providing them with the tools and the imaging and printing technology that will enable them to find creative self-expression. Through HYPE, we hope to add to the city's buzz factor, and fulfil our corporate social responsibility in nurturing local emerging artistic talents."



At HYPE, artists can sell their artwork to interested buyers. A percentage of the sales proceeds will be donated to the Budding Artists Fund, which is created and managed by The Arts House to reach out and provide opportunities to underprivileged children and youth who have innate artistic gifts.



Colin Goh, General Manager, The Arts House, said, "The HYPE project matches our philosophy and mission in creating connections: between artists and the community and between artists and business corporations. The growth of the Asian digital arts industry promises great benefits including the expansion of new business networks, new cultural exchange across the Asian countries, and new entrepreneurial opportunities."



HYPE is supported by the CCS programme under the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA). The objective of CCS is to unleash creativity and promote community entrepreneurship in the Creative Industries through project funding.



Christopher Ang, General Manager, Creative Community Singapore, added, "HYPE is an excellent platform where all Singaporeans can be both spectators and creators of digital art. It is a great testimonial of how private sector and public sector partnership can support creativity and innovation in Singapore, and also impact the community by engaging individuals to submit works to a gallery."



For further details and terms and conditions, log on to www.hypegallery.com.sg. Aspiring talents can submit their creative works to HYPE from June 20, 2005 to July 31, 2005.



###

Media contacts:



Heng Hock Mui Eric Tan

Hewlett-Packard Singapore Hill & Knowlton

Tel: (65) 6431-3854 / (65) 9018-3389 Tel: (65) 6390-3342 / (65) 9380-0388

hockmui.heng@hp.com eric.tan@hillandknowlton.com.sg /

hype@hillandknowlton.com.sg







SUBMITTING WORK

HYPE will be accepting artwork from Monday, June 20, 2005 to Sunday, July 31, 2005. The title of the submission must include the letters 'h', 'y', 'p', and 'e'. Please visit www.hypegallery.com.sg for submission details and terms and conditions. Briefly, there are three ways to submit artwork:



* Low resolution

Low resolution soft copies can be uploaded to the online HYPE gallery at www.hypegallery.com.sg, from Monday, June 20, 2005. These will be captured as part of a slide show and screened at the gallery.


* High resolution

High resolution artwork will be printed in large format and mounted at the gallery, while films will be transferred to a looped digital reel for screening. Soft copies of these work can be sent by post from Monday, June 20, 2005 to:



The Arts House

c/o The HYPE Project

1 Old Parliament Lane

Singapore 179429



or submitted in person at the gallery from Saturday, July 9, 2005.



VENUE



The HYPE gallery is located at The Arts House, at 1, Old Parliament Lane.



OPENING HOURS



HYPE will be open to the public from 10:30 am to 8 pm, Saturday, July 9, 2005 to Tuesday, August 2, 2005, and from 10:30 am to 6 pm, on Wednesday, August 3, 2005. Admission is free.


Eric Tan
Consultant
Hill & Knowlton Singapore
p: +65 6390 3342
f: +65 6339 2738
m: +65 93800 388
Email: type eric.tan and followed by @hillandknowlton.com.sg


21:55


³One Gallery, Different Spaces²

Group Exhibition by:
Chen Liang
Chio E-Xian
Kong Mei Sing
Jane Lee
Tan Mui Cheng Zenn

Curated by: Khiew Huey Chian

Exhibition runs from 8th July to the 23rd of July 2005.

Plastique Kinetic Worms
61 Kerbau Road
Singapore 219185
Tel: 6292 7783
Fax: 6292 2936

Gallery opening hours: Tuesdays to Saturdays, from 11am to 6pm. Gallery is
closed on Sundays, Mondays and Public Holidays.

Ideas, interests, processes, sights, sounds and social circumstances may
give impetus to, or influence an artist¹s work in diverse ways. An unusual
confluence of possibilities and actuality is borne out of such stimuli.

Space also plays a fundamentally integral part in exhibiting a work of art.
Artists have always relentlessly explored the different facets of the
relational politics between their works and the site at which these works
are to be displayed. In this show, the artists involved have been offered 3
spaces of disparate characteristics. The largest space has been consistently
used as an exhibition space, while the other 2 spaces in the adjacent unit
have been used in more varied ways, like conducting art workshops, as
working spaces for artist-in-residence programmes, besides exhibiting works.
The space on Level 2 is more private as compared to the other spaces.

Chen Liang, E-Xian, Mei Sing, Jane and Zenn are fresh from their graduation
show; having emerged from a guided institution, they now stand as fully
independent artists. Like a plant that has been newly re-potted, it will be
just as delightful to witness the re-alignment and adaptation of their
individual concepts in relation to these 3 spaces.

Please do not hesitate to contact us for more information about the
exhibition or the artists. An interview with the artists can be arranged
upon request. Please get in touch at 6292 7783.


13:38

Thursday, July 07, 2005


Contemporary Art Showing by Six Artists
Date : 7 July 2005 to 31 August 2005
Venue : # 04-20 R/S Takashimaya Shopping Centre Time : 11 am to 9 pm
Address: 391 Orchard Road Takashimaya S C #04-20 R/S Ngee Ann City
Artgroup: Merlin Frame Maker and Art Gallery
City: Singapore

Enrique Castanon - Argentina
Tang Xue Zhen - China
Sunaina Bhalla - India
Denis Murell - Macau
Min Kyi - Myanmar
Chew Choon - Singapore


23:48


The Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) seeks to promote better mutual understanding between the peoples of Asia and Europe through greater intellectual, cultural, and people-to-people exchanges.

Established in February 1997 by the members of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), ASEF is based in Singapore and reports to a board of 39 governors representing the 38 ASEM countries* and the European Commission.

One way ASEF carries out its mandate is by creating its own projects. Some of these initiatives include Asia-Europe Lecture, Asia-Europe Young Artists' Painting Competition and Exhibition, Informal Human Rights Seminar, Asia-Europe Youth Co-operation Network, and ASEF Editors' Roundtable.

Having completed over 300 projects directly involving 15,000 people to date, ASEF always seeks to work in partnership with other institutions and private sector entities to ensure its work is broad-based and spread as widely as possible throughout ASEM member countries.

The Foundation is funded by contributions from the member governments, but the cost of many of its projects are shared by other institutions as well as private corporations of ASEM countries.

Welcome Message

By Ms Chulamanee Chartsuwan,
Director, Cultural Exchange, ASEF

Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) has always been encouraging the use of the Internet, as a source of information and as a venue for discussion. ASEF's mandate is to make Europeans and Asians meet and cooperate in the fields of Intellectual, People-to-People and Cultural exchange. The Internet is thus a wonderful medium which allows a relative continuity of exchange, despite the geographical distance between people.

With CulturE-ASEF, we have now a tool specially dedicated to Asia-Europe Cultural Exchange. Institutions, organisations, festivals, studies, exchange programme, exhibitions, private initiatives of artists and publications: you will find all these and others classified and described at www.CulturE-ASEF.org.

This website will be continuously up-dated and enriched by our project-partners Dr. Gerhard Haupt and Pat Binder who edit the excellent information and communication system Universes in Universe - Worlds of Art. Both of them originated this concept of CulturE-ASEF, immediately supported by us and they are now responsible for its realisation and a large part of its promotion.

But CulturE-ASEF, this new platform of information and contacts, is your website and its quality also depends on you, as a consumer and as a provider of information. Therefore, don't hesitate to get in touch with us if you know anything relevant for Asia-Europe cultural cooperation.

This will allow the website CulturE-ASEF to become a real platform and a reference for Asia-Europe Cultural Exchange on the net.


* ASEM member countries are:
Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Myanmar, Netherlands, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, United Kingdom and Vietnam

Source: ASEF


22:20


Visual artist Mr Lim Tze Peng, who received the Cultural Medallion in 2003, will undertake four projects. The projects include solo exhibitions in Bali, Beijing and Shanghai, an extensive 8-month painting expedition covering Singapore, Bali, Thailand, Vietnam and China, as well as the creation of 20 monumental paintings on Singapore and other countries. These paintings will each average 43” in height and 82” in breadth and signify an important phase of Mr Lim’s achievements in art.

The projects undertaken by the four artists are funded by the Council’s Cultural Medallion Grant. This Grant Scheme was launched in November 2000 to encourage Cultural Medallion recipients to create new works. It also seeks to increase the profile of the recipients and their works both internationally and nationally. The scheme was birthed through recommendations from the Renaissance City Report to support original works or commission new works by Cultural Medallion recipients. To date, the Grant has been given to 16 Cultural Medallion recipients such as Tan Swie Hian, Professor Edwin Thumboo and Jeremy Monteiro.


20:55

Wednesday, July 06, 2005


SG Private Banking Gallery,
Alliance Française de Singapour
1 Sarkies Road, Singapore 258130
Contact: +65 6833 9314 Fax: +65 6733 3023


“NEW TIBETAN ART EXHIBITION”
organized by Yisulang Art Gallery

SG Private Banking Gallery
Alliance Française de Singapour
6th - 12th July 2005
(Opening at 7pm, Tues, 5th July 2005)

SINGAPORE, Monday, June 13, 2005

This July marks an exclusive preview of paintings by the New Tibetan Art movement.

Tibetan art and culture that has long been elusive comes to light under the spotlight of the new millennium after witnessing a recent turbulent history. The select nine artists’ works are distilled to showcase the impressions of fresh ideas, modern techniques and the new world, left on Tibetan artists of the New Tibetan order. Though the themes remain entwined with Buddhism, the artists’ approach serve as a cultural bridge between past and present.

Initial tours and exhibitions back home and across the globe swept up many awards and terrific appraise from critics and the art-loving public.Two of nine artists from the New Tibetan Art movement will be available for interviews from 4th – 6th July. Kindly inform us in advance if you should need a session with them.
Tibet - the Land, its People, and their Painting
By Susan Croft

Background to the contemporary art of Tibet

For those who are not on or part of the ’Roof of the World’, Tibet is a mysterious land, an extreme terrain and climate, a pure untouched wilderness of crystalline lakes and soaring mountains beneath painfully clear blue skies, a territory that has still not been entirely explored and mapped. It is home to the highest mountain on earth – Qomolangma or, as it is better known outside, Everest – home to a particularly refined, spiritual form of Buddhism, home to a nomadic people who are as rugged and tough as the landscape they inhabit.

Partly because of its geographic remoteness and inaccessibility, partly because of its people’s corresponding self-sufficiency and suspicion of those beyond their fortress-like borders, partly for political reasons, Tibet, even today, is one of the least known places on earth. Much that is commonly known comes from the writings of early travelers and, in the minds of many outsiders, it is this traditional, possibly romanticized view of Tibet that still prevails. We have heard of the yaks, of the turquoise- and coral-encrusted jewellery, of the huge palatial monasteries, of the ubiquitous maroon-garbed lamas, of the prayer wheels and flags. We have seen reproductions of the exquisite and complex tangka religious paintings (and sometimes the real thing) and marvelled at grotesque masks of Tibetan deities, at vibrant bronze and clay sculptures, and at temple murals the purpose of which was to teach the people about the scriptures. Those who have looked further into this culture have come across the Tibetan Book of the Dead, which describes the consciousness between death and rebirth.

Descriptions and examples of these religious aspects of Tibetan culture are readily available to anyone who wishes to study them. Tibetologists have been studying them for over a century so, in libraries and bookstores, and on the Internet, a quick search will yield a large amount of information. But what of Tibet’s contemporary culture? What is known about the art that is being created now? How has Tibetan art evolved historically? Even an in-depth study will reveal little in the way of information or even references to what is happening today or of how contemporary art has developed.

That is why the Yisulang Art Gallery’s exhibition of contemporary Tibetan art is so important - and surprising. It is a rare event indeed, and one that will help to turn the spotlight onto a rich and hitherto unknown source of artistic expression.

This exhibition showcases the work of nine artists whose work finds its inspiration, subject-matter, techniques, and/or raw materials in Tibet. All of them have laid themselves open to the influences of Tibet, the land, its people, their religion, their culture and their art. Anyone who spends time in Tibet cannot fail to be struck by the way in which these elements combine to form a rich, strong life force that includes a keen spiritual awareness. This consciousness pervades people’s lives, as established religion as well as in terms of their world view. The simplicity and harshness of life in Tibet has forged a people with a vital sense of the wonder and fragility of existence, of the transient relativity of life and death, and of the natural and spiritual forces that define their world. Their experience of a land of extremes, and of sudden changes in terrain, climate and circumstances, that encompasses the mundane everyday routine as well as the unexplainable unpredictable fluctuations in fortune, makes the difference between reality and fantasy or the world of the spirits seem small.

The work of these artists is instinctively informed by such considerations because they constitute the atmosphere and energy field in which the painters lived and worked. However, the various members of this group also made a deliberate effort to obtain an intellectual and aesthetic understanding of Tibetan culture and art by undertaking wide-ranging, practical research. Not for them, the classical, narrow theology-based studies. Their investigations generally revealed a lack of secondary sources except in relation to religion, so they were obliged to conduct their own first-hand investigations. This they did in the 1980s and 1990s. With an open mind, they examined the texts, artefacts and art they found, the folk songs and dances, the folk art, as well as the religious art, and the stories that have been handed down the centuries, and analysed these items in the context of their own artistic background. Prior to this, the artists variously had been educated to develop a familiarity with different artistic traditions, both ancient and modern, Asian and western, so they were able to make a vast network of connections between Tibetan art and art outside Tibet. In addition to their scholarly appreciation, the artists individually cultivated a more emotional and psychological bond with Tibet and its culture, too, by extensive pilgrim-like wanderings in the valleys and mountains of this fantastic land in order to fill in the blanks in the aesthetic history of Tibetan art. They collected, sorted, classified and analysed the rich heritage they encountered, and then prepared to present it to the world.


Susan Croft
21 May 2005


ABOUT THE ARTISTS
BIOGRAPHIES OF TIBETAN ARTISTS WHO COMPRISE NEW TIBETAN ART MOVEMENT
Bama Zhaxi – Born 1961, Shigatse, Tibet
As a self-taught artist, Barma began to win awards in his early twenties for paintings that acknowledge and may even highlight religious motifs, simultaneously expressing a thoroughly modern view of his native culture. The warmth of colours he uses – rust, ochre and touches of scarlet – communicate a humanistic spirit and are characteristic of New Tibetan Art.

Bama has held solo shows and done joint exhibitions in China, Paris, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur and Toronto. He is a vice-chairman of the Tibetan Artists Association and a member of the Chinese Artists Association.

Benba – Born 1972, Bainang Country, Tibet
A graduate from Hebei Normal University and the University of Tibet, Benba uses references to Buddhism and traditional Tibetan culture culminated with Chinese themes and unusual compositions to provoke new ways of seeing the world.

Benba is now a fine arts teacher at the Lhasa City Normal School and a member of the Chinese Artists Association.
Cering Namygai – Born 1976, Lhasa, Tibet
Cering graduated from the art department of the University of Tibet. First impressions of his work discover a strikingly innovative style, but a second look reveals employment of intricacies characteristic of classical tangkas. At times, much like his compatriot, Dezhoin, his paintings contain a tinge of cubism and a popular Tibetan symbolic motif of the painted eye.

Cering is now an art teacher at the Lhasa City No.1 Primary School and a member of the Tibetan Artists Association.
Dezhoin – Born 1976, Lhasa, Tibet
Dezhoin graduated from the art department of the University of Tibet. Her works sport a very human quality coupled with acute humour. Like Cering Namygai, a fellow Tibetan alumnus, Dezhoin’s paintings are modern and innovative, and she too uses the symbolic painted eye as motif to great effect. The occasional Chinese cloud formations are references to her Chinese heritage.

Dezhoin is now a teacher with the Braille Without Borders Organization, a member of the Chinese Association for the Promotion of Ethnic Minority Fine Arts, and a member of the Lhasa City Artists Association.
Jimei Chilei – Born 1958, Lhasa, Tibet
Jimei graduated from the art department of the University of Tibet before furthering his art education at the Ethnic Fine Arts Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. His painting Roasting Highland Barley was the first work of a Tibetan artist to be selected for permanent collection by the National Art Museum of China, Beijing.

Currently, Jimei is known for his dramatic yet intimate portrayal of temples and houses. The colours he applies; maroon, ochre, black and white – are found in Lhasa’s great landmark, the 17th century Potala Palace. Similarly, his compositions, with buildings solidly interspersed, in seemingly higgledy-piggledy fashion, are reminiscent of the Potala’s hillside structure. In these works, there is a lateral-cum-aerial view of the buildings that, paradoxically, gives them a striking immediacy with a panoramic distancing effect.

Jimei is now the Secretary-General of the Tibetan Artists Association and a member of the Chinese Artists Association.
Lhaba Cering – Born 1978, Shigatse, Tibet
Lhaba graduated from the art department of the University of Tibet. His works are thought-provocative hybrids telling of his training in both Tibetan and Chinese traditions. His Tibetan heritage is represented distinctly in the myriad of Tibetan temple roofs depicted in traditional colours of ochre and black. Further Chinese influence is highlighted by his inclusion of flower-like clouds in pastel shades of pink and blue.

Lhaba is now a teacher at the Shigatse Prefecture No. 1 Senior Middle School and a member of the Tibetan Artists Association.
Li Zhibao – Born 1952, Jianghua, Hunan Province, China
Li graduated from the Fine Art Department of Hunan Normal University and has been working in Tibet since 1976. His cultural background, as a member of the Yao ethnic group, as a student of painting in China, and as a long-term resident of Tibet, gives him a particularly rich source of inspiration and technique. In some of his paintings, the female characters he depicts have an obvious Indo-Tibetan look about them.

Zhibao’s early affinity with New Literati Painting (xinwenren hua) has changed so that he is now identifiably a Tibetan artist, especially when it comes to his practice of painting on cloth and of creating and using his own mineral pigments.

Li is now a vice-chairman of the Tibetan Artists Association, vice-president of the Tibet Institute of Calligraphy and Painting, Chairman of the Lhasa City Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and a member of the Chinese Artists Association.

Yu Youxin – Born 1940, Juxian County, Shandong Province, China
Yu graduated from the Beijing Arts School, under the tutelage of masters like Wu Jingbo, Bai Xueshi, Zhao Yu and Wu Guanzhong. Since 1980, he has been working in Tibet and it would be fair to say that he has become a true son of his adopted land. Both professionally and personally, he has immersed himself in all things Tibetan. Working in ink on rice paper, Yu succeeds in conveying the vastness, strength, power and serenity of Tibet, be it in soaring mountain peaks or massive portrayals of yaks.

However, he contrasts these monumental images with fluffy white cloud formations, their edges reminiscent of frost, or delicate groups of flying cranes; these juxtapositions perhaps come from a Buddhist way of seeing the earthly world as elusive and ephemeral while, at the same time, testifying to the techniques and influences of Yu’s original training in Chinese art.

Yu is now a vice-chairman of the Tibetan Artists Association, an advisor to the Tibet Institute of Calligraphy and Painting, and a member of the Chinese Artists Association.

Han Shuli – Born 1948, Beijing, China
Han graduated from the Attached School of the Central Academy of Fine Arts shortly before his first, seven-year stay in Tibet. There, he greatly extended his artistic experience; this, eventually, after a second period of study at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, under the guidance of Professor He Youzhi and Yang Xiangang, resulted in his famous MA graduation work Flowers of the Grassland which won prizes in Beijing and Switzerland.

Ever since, Han has gone from strength to strength, specializing, first, in colourful paintings on cotton cloth inspired by Tibetan folk culture and then, in works created in ink and colour wash that are imbued with Buddhist imagery and references. His Chinese media and brushwork and the Tibetan themes he has adopted form a powerful combination.

Han Shuli is a member of the China Art and Literature Union, Chairman of the Tibetan Autonomous Region Art and Literature Union and of the Tibet Artists Association, President of the Tibetan Painting and Calligraphy College, and Honorary Professor of Tibet University and Tibet National University.


For more images and further enquiries, please contact:

Adrian Goh
Yisulang Art Gallery
60B Pagoda Street
Singapore 059219
T: +65 6227 6288
F: +65 6227 2290
E: enquiries and followed by @yisulang.com
W: www.yisulang.com

Dawn Fung (Ms.)
Gallery Assistant,
Alliance Française de Singapour
Email : dfung and followed by @alliancefrancaise.org.sg
Tel : 6833 9314
Fax : 6733 3023
Online : alliancefrancaise.org.sg


21:36


LabCulture Singapore

LabCulture Singapore is a seven-day residency for ten Singapore artists, who will be incubating new works using creative technology, facilitated by four UK-based artists.

Public Program
- LabCulture Singapore exhibition
Exhibition will feature innovative new media art work by over 20 international artists made during LabCulture residencies in the UK, which includes digital audio, video, installation and on-line works.
The Substation Gallery, 6 - 11 July 2005, 11 am - 9 pm

- LabCulture Singapore opening
The Substation Gallery, 6 July 2005, 7 pm
Julie Penfold, director of PVA MediaLab, will talk about PVA and the works in the exhibition. Stephen Ives, an artist-facilitator with LabCulture Singapore, will also introduce recent audio work from the last two years of LabCulture in the UK.

- LabCulture Singapore: YouthLab exhibition
The Substation Gallery, Saturday, 9 July, 11 am - 9 pm
Display of creative works by participants from last weekend's YouthLab

- LabCulture Singapore Artists' Presentations
The Substation Gallery, Sunday, 10 July, 2 to 5 pm
The ten Singapore artists taking part in LabCulture Singapore programme will present works-in-progress developed during the residency. The artists are: Ann Shen, Choy Ka Fai, Harman Bin Hussin, Jason Lim, Jaynthi Siva, Lim Woan Wen, Michael Tan, Paul Rozario, Tan Bee Thiam and Yeo Shih Yun.

- Talk and presentation of works from the LUX archive
The Substation Gallery, Monday, 11 July, 7.30 pm
Lucy Harris will talk about and present a selection of artists' work from the LUX archive. LUX is the leading archive and agency for UK experimental film and video since the 1980s. LUX also preserves and makes available the film and video collections of its predecessor organisations; the Lux Centre, London Filmmakers Co-op and London Electronic Arts/London Video Access.


20:48

Tuesday, July 05, 2005


Journeys Revisited - A Goh Beng Kwan Retrospective Exhibition

UOB is proud to present Journeys Revisited – A Goh Beng Kwan Retrospective Exhibition.

Pop by Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Gallery 2 from 5 to 15 Jul 2005 (10am to 8pm) to catch a glimpse of this collection of some of Goh's finest works.


• Date:
5 to 15 Jul 2005

• Time:
10am to 8pm

• Venue:
Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Gallery 2
80 Bencoolen Street


As the first UOB Painting of the Year Competition winner in 1982, Goh Beng Kwan has been an integral part of UOB's art journey. Twenty-three years later, the Bank is proud to partner him once again in presenting his retrospective solo exhibition – a tribute to his enormous talent and dedication as an artist, and a testament to UOB's appreciation and support for the arts.

Goh Beng Kwan's artistic career spans over five decades of practice. Since his early years as a young student, he was influenced by the Pioneer Artists and imbibed the regionalism of the Nanyang Style. Later, during his years in New York, American Abstract Expressionism left a deep impression on his approach to art-making. These experiences have contributed to Goh's course of stylistic development that has positioned him as one of the leading exponents of abstraction among second generation artists in Singapore. Best known for his signature style in collage work, Goh has established a unique approach in abstract composition with surface translucency and tonal play, coupled with an evocative sense of the local and an inspired consciousness of regional cultures and colours.

A consistent theme over the span of Goh's practice is his interest in travelling to explore and experience the sights and tastes of regional cultures, thereby to draw inspiration. His collages are not simply an erudite play of abstract compositions. His intuitive choice of materials, including the pieces of found objects he imbeds and layers in the two dimensional surfaces of his paintings, raises to fore a curiosity and longing for his own cultural identity and Asian heritage.

Goh's oeuvre includes works in the ink tradition. Though less well known than his practice in collage, Goh has built up a significant body of ink paintings over the last two decades.

Journeys Revisited is a retrospective exhibition that surveys Goh's practice over a span of fifty years. The exhibition invites ideas of travel and artistic trajectories, evoking a sense of time, and of encounters and experiences. These ideas are intended to bring out and highlight major oeuvres and inspirational sources in Goh's developments over the course of his artistic career.


21:59


Republic Polytechnic will be launching the clusters ‘Having Fun with Digital Photography – Basic and Advanced Course’ starting 5th Jul 05.



Course Objective



To introduce participants to photography basics and explore exciting possibilities in the digital editing process.



Participants who are interested in further honing their photography skills are also invited to sign up for the ‘Having Fun with Digital Photography (Part 2 – Advanced) course’.



Course for Part 1 (Basic) will be for 5 weeks’ duration and the classes will be conducted once a week.



Course for Part 2 (Advanced) will be 3 weeks’ duration, with classes being conducted once a week.



Basic Course consists of 5 learning units and the class dates are as follows:



LU title Class Date

Introduction to Digital Photography 5th July 05

People Pictures I 12th July 05
People Pictures II 19th July 05
Creating Special Effects 26th July 05
Building Your Own Album 2nd Aug 05



Total course fee: $150 (inclusive of GST). Participants are required to enroll for all the 5 learning units on the scheduled dates.



Participants must bring their own digital camera: one with basic features will suffice.



Time : 7pm to 10pm
Location : Republic Polytechnic
TS0508
(Tower Block South, #05-08)



Advanced Course consists of 3 learning units and the class dates are as follows:


LU title Class Date

Landscapes 16th Aug 05
Still Life and Text in Pictures 23rd Aug 05
Advanced Special Effects 30th Aug 05



The course fee: $90 (inclusive of GST). Participants are required to enroll for all the 3 learning units on the scheduled dates.



Participants must bring their own digital cameras.



Time : 7pm to 10pm
Location : Republic Polytechnic
TS0508
(Tower Block South, #05-08)



Certificate of Completion will be awarded to participants who have successfully completed the 75% of the course.



Please log on to our website at www.rp.sg/cet to register for these classes. Limited seats are available! SIGN UP NOW!

Please note that classes are offered subject to a minimum number of participants, and RP reserves the right to cancel a class if the number of participants is not sufficient. If it needs to be cancelled, cancellation will be done 7 days before the LU class. For your convenience, an email will be sent to you to inform you once the class is confirmed or cancelled. (You may the update your email address and other contact details in the Personal Information page.)


21:15


Address: NAFA Campus 2, 38 Bencoolen Street
City: Singapore
Comments: Goh Beng Kwan - Journey Revisited

Journey Revisited is a retrospective exhibition of more than 30 paintings by Singaporean artist Goh Beng Kwan. The show, organised by the United Overseas Bank, features works done by the 1982 UOB Painting of the Year and Cultural Medallion winner from the 1950s to the present.

Date: 5 - 15 July 2005
Venue: 10am -8pm


00:17

Monday, July 04, 2005


LABCULTURE SINGAPORE

PVA is delighted to announce the launch of LabCulture Singapore. We will be working with artists Harman Bin Hussin, Lim Woan Wen, Paul Rozario, Michael Tan, Choy Ka Fai, Jason Lim, Tan Bee Thiam, Jaynthi Siva and Yeo Shi Yun.

The UK artist-facilitator team is Ming Wong, Simon Poulter, Lucy Harris, Stephen Ives and Julie Penfold, supported locally by Audrey Wong, George Chua and Khairuddin Hori.

The PVA team will deliver a number of public seminars and presentations during their stay. We are particularly pleased to be working with the Shine festival, presenting some of the work made by young people in the UK to a new audience in Singapore. We hope that this will be a point of departure for a new youth exchange project between the two countries.


00:29


Artist Feature
Nooracuma bte Memahat

http://www.citrakarah.bravehost.com

Nooracuma bte Memahat is an artist and an art teacher. She exhibited in Ellipsis: An exhibition of NAFA/Huddersfield University Visual Arts Graduates(2003). She has won awards for her photography as well as website design, including first prize for the Public Trustee Logo Design Competition. Concerned about the relations between memory and reality, Cuma is particularly intrigued by how our mind perceive and comprehend our reality in the context of identity and everyday cultures - an intrigue, she has been exploring through various media, including drawing, painting, ceramic, photography, installation and video. She has a Bachelor (Hons) of Fine Art: Painting and Drawing from University of Huddersfield, UK.


Education
2002-2003
BA (Hons) in Fine Art: Painting and Drawing (Hons. 2nd Upp), University of Huddersfield, United Kingdom.
1996-1999
Diploma in Visual Communications, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore.


Group Art Exhibitions
2004
Different Races, United Passion - Association of Artists of Various Resources (APAD) Racial Harmony Day 2004 Art Exhibition, Braddell Heights CC Exhibition Hall, Singapore
2003
ELLIPSIS - An Exhibition of Works by NAFA School of Visual Arts /HU School of Design Technology BA (Hons) Degree Graduates, The Gallery Hotel, Singapore


Awards and Honours
1999
Certificate of Merit for Excellence in Web Design, Fierce Rabbit Records, Singapore
1998
5th Prize, Photography Contest, Berita Harian, Singapore
NAFA Certificate of Commendation, 1st Prize Logo Design, Public Trustee, Singapore
1997
1st Prize, Logo Design, Department of the Official Assignee and Public Trustee, Ministry of Law, Singapore


Work Experience

2004
Art Teacher, Gradsign Art School, Singapore
2002
Freelance Graphic Designer, 7G Studios Inc Pte Ltd, Singapore
2000
Graphic Designer, Bizarts Creative Pte Ltd, Singapore
1999
Freelance Illustrator, MPH Education Pte Ltd, Singapore
Graphic Artist, Editec International Pte Ltd, Singapore

Other Experiences
2004
A member of Angakatan Pelukis Aneka Daya(APAD), Singapore
2003
Chairperson of Student's Council for Ellipsis Exhibition, NAFA, Singapore.
Interviewed on Radio Passion 99.5FM for ELLIPSIS - An Exhibition of Works by NAFA School of Visual Arts /HU School of Design Technology BA (Hons) Degree Graduates, Singapore.
2002
Appeared in a television serial documentary programme, "Whole New Game Plan", a production of The Right Angle Media Pte Ltd for Mediacorp Channel Five, Singapore.
Writings on my Work
2003
NAFACTS Newsletter Issue 32 (Nov 03 - Jan 04) p.8, "Art + Design Graduation Show: Another First!" Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore.
zbNOW, LianHe Zaobao supplement (9 May 2003) p.10, ELLIPSIS - An Exhibition of Works by NAFA School of Visual Arts /HU School of Design Technology BA (Hons) Degree Graduates, Singapore.
NAFACTS Newsletter Issue 30 (May 03 - Jul 03) p.9, "Going Away, finding themselves? -Fine Arts Undergraduates' UK Residential Study Visit" Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore.


00:24

Sunday, July 03, 2005


No. of visual arts shows

Year 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
No. shows 150 208 255 273 346 399 406 520 518 551 537 563
No. days 1,441 2,135 3,265 3,270 4,115 6,164 7,654 8,376 8,515 9,459 11,380 13,990

Visual arts refer to public exhibitions of abstract or representational art objects such as paintings, sculpture, pottery, ceramics, creative photography and installation art. Applied arts such as graphic and fashion design, film and video, jewelry design and handicrafts are excluded.

Source: NAC


01:38


Singapore Art Show 2005

Organised by the National Arts Council, Singapore Art Show (SAS) aims to be a national platform for both established as well as up-and-coming local visual artists to showcase their latest artworks. It also serves as an important avenue for public appreciation of the diverse visual arts practices found in Singapore.

The programme structure of SAS is currently being developed. To be launched in 2005, it will allow for the showcase of artworks from various genres and medium by Singapore artists, as well as seek to engage the visual arts community in Singapore through outreach components, public art, platforms for the discovery of new talents, and prestigious awards.

SAS is part of an integrated framework of two exciting biennial visual arts platforms developed to provide expanded and diverse visual arts showcases in Singapore. The other is the Singapore Biennale which will focus on the development and presentation of South-east Asian and Asian contemporary art in the international scene. These two biennials aim to further nurture our visual arts talents, capabilities and audiences nationally, regionally, and internationally.


01:36



An Invitation to View: A Taste of Earth, new installation by Aleksandar Obradovic


00:29