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Art and architecture collide in The Private Museum’s survey of Richard Hassell’s tessellations

Picture taken on 29 May 2024 of Osborne House . In celebration of the museum's first anniversary at the Osborne House, The Private Museum puts on Strange Connections: Art and Architecture by Richard Hassell.

In May 2023, The Private Museum officially received the keys to the Osborne House, situated atop the hill at 11 Upper Wilkie Road. The century-old house has endured the passage of time, its walls echoing stories. From its colonial-era beginnings as a residence to hosting a myriad of occupants from different historical periods, and now a haven for the arts, the house is a vessel that encapsulates countless narratives.

Renowned as the founding director of WOHA Architects, Richard Hassell played a pivotal role in shaping the museum’s new chapter within the historic building. As part of research for the museum’s reimagining, Hassell discovered strange connections between the building's history and his own. The exhibition explores the intricate relationship between art and architecture, delving into the historical narratives of Osborne House dating back to the 1830s.

Hassell's explorations in art began in his childhood, with his practice now spanning drawing, painting, and sculpture. His passion for the scientific, philosophical, and cultural elements of patterns, systems, and networks manifests in both his architecture and art.

The showcase reflects his ongoing investigation into emergent phenomena through playful visual constructions, encouraging contemplation of the interplay between the physical and the abstract, and the historical and the contemporary.

Everything Connects, part of The Private Museum's survey of Richard Hassell's practice.

ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE

Clement Yong

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SINGAPORE – In the central room of Osborne House, a colonial mansion in Emily Hill, is the work aptly titled Everything Connects.

On a table are strewn newspaper clippings, postcards and photographs, conjuring stories of the house’s former inhabitants in a chronological loop. Drawings by Australia-born architect and artist Richard Hassell, blown up from their original iPad versions and printed on mulberry paper, fill the walls.

Art and architecture collide in The Private Museum’s survey of Richard Hassell’s tessellations

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