Arts Picks: Art exhibitions featuring works about life in early and post-colonial Singapore
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(Clockwise from left) Yong Mun Sen's Padi Field (1944), Johann Fauzi's Rumah Ku Dunia Ku (My Residence My World) and Rofi's mixed media sculpture titled Stick & Stone (2019).
MICHAEL & SANIZA COLLECTION, RICHARD KOH FINE ART, STRAITS GALLERY
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Yong Mun Sen In Nanyang
Artist Yong Mun Sen's painting titled People By The Beach (1936) at the exhibition Yong Mun Sen In Nanyang.
PHOTO: NATIONAL GALLERY SINGAPORE
Even before the establishment of art institutions like Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Nafa) in 1938, there had been an art scene in Singapore with the arrival of artists to then Malaya from China.
One of them was Malaysia-born artist Yong Mun Sen (1896 to 1962), who came here in 1917 via Kuching, Malaysia, and Taipu, in Guangdong, China.
In 1936, he co-founded the Society of Chinese Artists (Soca) and also mooted the establishment of Nafa. Soca provided Nafa with teachers and funds during its early years.
As part of its 85th anniversary celebrations this year, Nafa, together with the Michael & Saniza Collection, are presenting 78 artworks by Yong to recognise him as an instrumental figure in Nafa’s founding history.
His works are explorations in watercolour, oil, ink and photography that look at the people, landscapes and seascapes during the colonial era. A highlight of the exhibition is an oil on canvas painting titled People By The Beach (1936) in the style of post-Impressionist artists like Paul Gauguin (1848 to 1903), who were also an important influence on the later artists of the Nanyang style.
Where: The Ngee Ann Kongsi Galleries 1 and 2, Nafa Campus 1, 80 Bencoolen Street
MRT: Bencoolen
When: Saturday to May 7, Tuesdays to Sundays, 11am to 7pm; closed on Mondays and public holidays
Admission: Free
#09-1464
Artist Johann Fauzi's oil on linen painting titled Rumah Ku Dunia Ku (My Residence My World, 2019 to 2023) at the exhibition #09-1464 at Richard Koh Fine Art.
PHOTO: RICHARD KOH FINE ART
In Johann Fauzi’s solo exhibition titled #09-1464, the Richard Koh Fine Art gallery is transformed into an immersive installation that mimics the opulence of the Singaporean artist’s Housing Board flat.
The show includes works ranging from large-scale landscape paintings to small still-life images. There are also ornate furnishings, artefacts and kitschy ceramic sculptures. These are mostly European in style, a style which Johann has also appropriated to inform his work.
In a statement, the appropriation of the style and objects is described “as a means of questioning and destabilising the historical power structures they represent, especially in the context of a former colony in South-east Asia”.
In his painting, Rumah Ku Dunia Ku (My Residence My World, 2019 to 2023), the clash of cultures is subtle, accentuated by the inclusion of two dolls from the television show Sesame Street.
The painting is also a depiction of his and his partner’s living space in Singapore and includes a Meissen candelabra from the 18th century transformed into a lampstand. It is a home filled with the bounty of a post-colonial conqueror.
Where: Richard Koh Fine Art, 01-26 Gillman Barracks, Block 47 Malan Road rkfineart.com
MRT: Labrador Park
When: Saturday to March 4, Tuesdays to Saturdays, 11am to 7pm
Admission: Free
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Seesaw
Artist Rofi's mixed-media painting titled Democracy (2023) at the Seesaw exhibition at Straits Gallery.
PHOTO: STRAITS GALLERY
The exhibition Seesaw at Straits Gallery centres on the theme of artists dealing with issues of identity in an ever-evolving environment. A sense of tension runs through the works by artists Rofi, Kass and Kang Ah Young.
There is a literal push and pull of forces in Rofi’s paintings and sculptures – metaphors for the tensions between power and its causes.
Kass’ inspirations include science fiction, anime and mythology. Her latest preoccupation is with the myth of the unicorn, which is described in a statement as “oscillating between spiritual enlightenment and material attainment”.
Kang, meanwhile, looks at tension derived from a sense of familiarity and displacement. Born in South Korea, she is in her final year of the BA (Hons) Fine Arts programme at Lasalle College of the Arts. Her paintings of various chairs are about reassessing memories imbued in everyday objects.
Where: Straits Gallery, 05-38 Northstar@AMK, 7030 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5
When: Till Feb 19, Tuesdays to Sundays, 11am to 7pm; closed on Mondays
Admission: Free
Correction note: The story has been updated to reflect that artist Yong Mun Sen was born in Malaysia. An earlier version of the article also said that Taipu is in Fujian, China. This is incorrect. Taipu is in Guangdong, China. We are sorry for the error.
