December Round-Up

Ota Fine Arts, Gallery Lane Cove, NUS Museum and more
By Woong Soak Teng

Installation view of ‘Guo-Liang Tan: Soft Turnings’, 2021. Image courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Singapore.

Guo-Liang Tan: Soft Turnings

Ota Fine Arts Singapore presents the third solo exhibition by Singapore artist Guo-Liang Tan, featuring his latest series of five large paintings. An expansion of the artist’s exploration in abstraction, translucent aeronautical fabrics painted on both sides with acrylic are framed by free-standing wooden structures, encouraging viewers to roam around the contemplative space and interact with the paintings.

Ota Fine Arts Singapore, 27 November 2021 to 8 January 2022.

Cindy Yuen-Zhe Chen, ‘Becoming With…’ (detail image), 2021, Chinese, Japanese and acrylic ink and thread on Wenzhou paper, dimensions variable approx. 130 x 120 x 100cm. Image courtesy of the artist.

Presence of Mind

Curated by Buddhist practitioners Rachael Kiang and Kath Fries, ‘Presence of Mind’ is a group exhibition exploring the influences of Buddhism on the art practices of diasporic artists from Australia and Singapore. Derived from a research project, the show reflects on how mindfulness and spirituality manifest in art-making across different cultures. The artists include Cindy Yuen-Zhe Chen, Jeremy Chu, Lada Dedic, Kath Fries, Lindy Lee, Jason Lim, Aryadharma Aaron Matheson, Kristina Mah, Alecia Neo, Nell, Shirley Soh, Phaptawan Suwannakudt and Lachlan Warner.

Gallery Lane Cove, 11 December 2021 to 29 January 2022.

Image taken from NUS Museum.

Fistful of Colours: Moments of Chinese Cosmopolitanism

Drawing from the Lee Kong Chian Collection at the NUS Museum, the exhibition illuminates the social history of art through works from the late Qing Dynasty to our current times. Positioning Chinese ink works within the political context, ‘Fistful of Colours’ borrows ideas of Chinese cosmopolitanism coined by the scholar Peng Cheah to draw parallels between creative endeavours and political aspirations of artists.

NUS Museum, 16 September 2021 to 31 December 2022.

Image taken from ATT 19.

Sculpting, Painting, At Home.

ATT 19 presents an exhibition by Chiang Rai artist Somluk Pantiboon, showcasing a new series of paintings and ceramics made specially for the gallery using minerals, clays and soils from the artist’s home. An extension of his ceramic practice, large-scale paintings are coupled with ceramic pieces in natural earth tones, which are further embellished with floral arrangements in a collaboration with Bangkok’s emerging floral artists.

ATT 19, 20 October to 29 December 2021.