September Round-Up

Southeast Asian artists at The Mistake Room, Grey Projects etc.
By Ho See Wah

Denise Yap, ‘Redundancy Notice’, 2019, 2 printed posters with matt laminate, 42 x 59.4cm. Image courtesy of Grey Projects.

Repel Revel: Queer Show 2019
'Repel Revel' offers us two propositions. The first is that we should we should repel the current, stifling frameworks that dictate gender norms via the strict imposition of a binary. The second is that we should revel in the action of speculation for a reimagined future that breaks away from the socially-engineered constructions of gender-hood. With this agenda in mind, the show carves out a space where queer identities and their propagators are able to claim power and agency over their lived realities.

Grey Projects, 15 August to 29 September.

Wawi Navarroza, ‘”I Want To Live A Thousand More Years” (Self-Portrait After Dengue, with tropical plants and fake flowers)’, 2016, archival pigment print, 127 x 101.6cm. Image courtesy of Silverlens.

Wawi Navarroza: Self-Portraits & The Tropical Gothic
Multi-disciplinary Filipino artist Wawi Navarroza focuses her attention on the genre of self-portrait photography in this solo show. By manipulating the medium such that the image is immediately construed as an artificial product, Navarroza questions and disrupts our ways of seeing. Using herself as an object, along with the use of other visual and symbolic motifs,, the artist interrogates her own identities as a Filipino female “Other” occupying multiple worlds.

Silverlens, 17 August to 14 September.

Syukur Rani, ‘Kami Pencinta Keamanan’, 2019, oil & acrylic on canvas, 90 x 90cm. Photograph by the artist. Image courtesy of Artemis Art.

The Millennials
14 young artists come together in this Malaysian group show, aptly titled ‘The Millennials’, to lend a voice to the ethos of their generation. The artworks speak to numerous concerns such as environmental degradation, the impact of social media, and the future of their country. Though the thematic threads are strewn in various directions, they all engage intimately and critically with Malaysian society. The socially charged exhibition showcases the committed engagement that these youths have with their country, while portraying the artists’ hope for the future.

Artemis Art, 22 August to 16 September.

Yim Yen Sum, ‘When the light is off. (III) I used to be here.’, 2019, gauze dyed in acrylic, embroidery on gauze framed in an acrylic light box, 138 x 46cm. Image courtesy of A+ Works of Art.

Transience and Transformation
‘Transience and Transformation’ presents works by Imhathai Suwatthanasilp, Jiratchaya Pripwai and Yim Yen Sum. The show invites us to meditate on the condition of contemporary life, where everything moves so rapidly that there is little time to slow down. Via the stillness and subtleties of the artists' works, the audience is drawn into a quieter world of contemplation and reflection.

A+ Works of Art, 5 September to 28 September.

Lim Jia Qi, ‘Tree’, 2019, pastel and paint on woodblock, 110 x 80cm. Image courtesy of the artist.

Young Talent Programme Winners’ Solo Exhibitions 2018/19
Affordable Art Fair Singapore and ION Art come together in a joint initiative to present ‘Young Talent Programme Winners’ Solo Exhibitions 2018/19’. Now in its seventh year, the presentation aims to mentor young artists from Southeast Asia and cultivate their professional careers. For this iteration, the works of Arya Wirawan, Lim Jia Qi, and Liu Ling are showcased at ION Art gallery and we see how the three artists express their varied contemporary concerns dynamically via their chosen mediums.

ION Art gallery, 30 August to 15 September.