Mizuma Gallery, FOST Gallery, Ota Fine Arts Singapore, Richard Koh Fine Art and ShanghART
By Alana Malika

The galleries at Gillman Barracks in Singapore present an ever-changing, eclectic collection of exhibitions from artists in Southeast Asia and beyond. Here are our top picks for this month in a special round-up:

Agan Harahap, ‘Morning Glory, 2021’, C-print on photo paper, 100 x 150 cm, edition of 3 + 1 AP. Image courtesy of the artist and Mizuma Gallery

There’s a Fun in Funeral
Indonesian Artist Agan Harahap presents ‘There’s a Fun in Funeral’, a solo exhibition at Mizuma Gallery. Harahap captures the dissonant nature of the pandemic as people attempt to find peace amid mass death, economic anxiety, and prolonged isolation. This series of photographs depicts chaos while exuding serenity, referencing the alternative reality one creates as a coping mechanism to turn away from the absurdities of the ‘new normal’.

Mizuma Gallery, 24 Apr to 30 May 2021.

Grace Tan, ‘Tectonics, 2018’, sculpture in paper and natural indigo pigment with cowhide glue binder, 6 x 30 x 30 cm. Photographed by Darren Soh. Image courtesy of FOST Gallery.

Oscillations: Adventures in Metamodernism
‘Oscillations: Adventures in Metamodernism’ at Fost Gallery features works by Malaysian artist Grace Tan and Singapore artists Sebastian Mary Tay and Ian Woo. The multimedia group exhibition celebrates Metamodernism, an ideological framework that has emerged from postmodernity which combines elements from the modern and postmodern era. The sculptural objects, digital drawings, and moving images explore the liminal space between opposing mediums, techniques, concepts, and more.

FOST Gallery, 24 Apr 2021 to 6 June 2021.

Chen Wei, Spiral Party, 2018, Archival inkjet print, 150 x 187.5 cm, Edition 6 + 2 A.P. Image courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Shanghai / Singapore / Tokyo. — Chen Wei, *Spiral Party,* 2018, Archival inkjet print, 150 x 187.5 cm, Edition 6 + 2 A.P. Image courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Shanghai / Singapore / Tokyo.

Encounter
Five Singapore artists Chen Wei, Maria Farrar, Hilmi Johandi, Zai Kuning and Guo-Liang Tan join together in ‘Encounter’ at Ota Fine Arts. The exhibition highlights diverse modes of expression in Asian contemporary art. This multimedia range of works sets the narrative of the different encounters each artist has had with the defining elements of their practice.

Ota Fine Arts Singapore, 10 April to 22 May 2021.

Encounter
Five Singapore artists Chen Wei, Maria Farrar, Hilmi Johandi, Zai Kuning and Guo-Liang Tan join together in ‘Encounter’ at Ota Fine Arts. The exhibition highlights diverse modes of expression in Asian contemporary art. This multimedia range of works sets the narrative of the different encounters each artist has had with the defining elements of their practice.

Ota Fine Arts Singapore, 10 April to 22 May 2021.

Eiffel Chong, ‘Boy #7’, 2020, inkjet on washi paper, 145 x 104 cm, edition of 1. Image courtesy of Richard Koh Fine Arts and artist.

It's A Male Nude Show
In ‘It’s A Male Nude Show’ by Eiffel Chong and James Seet at Richard Koh Fine Arts, the Malaysian artists aim to subvert the expectations of patriarchal masculinity for the male nude. Chong’s photographs portray young men in a pensive state, depicting masculinity through vulnerable humanness rather than as the dominant predisposition men possess. Meanwhile, Seet’s work contradicts traditional nude sculptures of men by presenting the human form without a statuesque figure or a posed posture.

Richard Koh Fine Arts, 29 April to 22 May 2021. Advisory: Some of the works in this exhibition contain full-frontal male nudity.

Zhu Jia, ‘Zero’, 2012, Edition of 5. Images courtesy of ShanghART.

Zhu Jia Video Screening
In the first installment of a 4-part video screening exhibition, ShanghART invites Chinese artist Zhu Jia. The pioneering video artist will be showcasing his film ‘Zero’ (2012) alongside other print works. ‘Zero’ (2012) identifies the gap between one’s recollection of the past with the practical reality of today and how this distance creates multiplicity in a person’s self-perception.

ShanghART, April 21 to May 13, 2021.

For more information on these exhibitions and others at Gillman Barracks, visit their website here.