Arts Picks: Buy S’pore art, SSO’s National Day concert, third-generation potter Lynn Teo’s solo show

Buy Singapore art from Annexe and Art Again

For those looking to give a second lease of life to works by Singapore artists, check out two young platforms reselling works by prominent artists. Art Again and Annexe can be easy entry points for first-time collectors looking to bring art into their homes.

Nestled in an industrial building in Tannery Lane, Art Again’s exhibition Pasar is a pastel-coloured tribute to the lively tropical market, filled with paintings of fruit, flowers, animals, goods and wares.

Of the close to 50 works drawn together from 10 private collections, more than half have already been sold since the show’s opening on Aug 8.

Some of the surprises are the early works on show – a set of geometric paintings by Lin Hsin Hsin, made in the 1970s when she was in her 20s; as well as two still lifes by Tan Tuan Yong, made when he was a student at St Patrick’s School.

Works by Chua Mia Tee, Chen Cheng Mei and Teng Nee Cheong are also on display – and moving through the exhibition is like a jolly stroll through a market of delights.

Sign up for a still life drawing session on Aug 16 (2 to 4pm) and get to sit alongside the artwork while making your own. A full price list of works – ranging from $500 to $26,000 – is available online and can make buying art less intimidating for first-time collectors.

Auction platform Annexe is having an auction – dubbed The SG60 Sale – featuring works including a large-scale piece by Teng, a particularly vibrant batik work by Jaafar Latiff and an abstract work by Cultural Medallion recipient Anthony Poon. Bids are listed on the website in this online auction that closes on Aug 17, although buyers should note the 25 per cent buyer’s premium on the lots.

Some of the auction’s lots come from former arts manager Juliana Lim’s collection, including a pair of woodcut prints by Lim Yew Kuan, a work by S. Chandrasekaran and a collection of rare art books on Singapore art.

For her lots, Annexe and Ms Lim are contributing equally to the Artist’s Resale Rights (ARR) of 4 per cent. An ARR is a royalty paid to artists or their estates when their works are resold.

On why she is applying the ARR to her lots, Ms Lim – who bought most of the art pieces from her friends during her arts management days – says: “Young artists sell us works inexpensively to survive, but benefit nothing when their works appreciate in value. I feel this is not fair and so this is the right thing to do – similar to how other creative fields benefit from copyright.”

Bids can be placed online, but the lots are on view at Art Agenda Singapore.

What: Pasar
Where: Objects, 51 Tannery Lane
MRT: Mattar
When: Aug 14 and 15, 11am to 6pm; Aug 16 and 17, 11am to 2pm
Admission: Free
Info:

str.sg/CXnW

What: The SG60 Sale
Where: Art Agenda Singapore, 02-01, 39 Keppel Road
MRT: Tanjong Pagar
When: Till Aug 17, 1 to 6pm
Admission: Free
Info:

str.sg/y3JX8

Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s National Day Concert 2025

Cannot get enough of Charlie Lim from the National Day Parade? The singer-songwriter will take the stage at the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s (SSO) annual National Day Concert with a commissioned work that blends Lim’s songs, Into Dreams and Room At The Table, with Dick Lee’s Home.

Between Two Worlds, arranged by Chok Kerong, is one of four pieces that will premiere at the concert. Other premieres include Gen Z musician Izharul Haq’s Kiau Nam, inspired by the composer’s alma mater Qiaonan Primary School, and composer Tan Yuting’s Chapteh: Take Flight!, inspired by the childhood game of kicking a feathered shuttlecock.

The full concert will also be visually interpreted in Singapore Sign Language (SgSL) and other visual forms by deaf artist-performer Lily Goh, who helped Coldplay perform one song in SgSL at their National Stadium concerts in 2024.

Goh, who has been signing for the SSO since 2023, describes the process of interpreting orchestral music – a hearing interpreter tells her what is happening in the music and, with this information, she creates a story in visual forms, not limited to SgSL, Visual Vernacular and Deaf poetry. Orchestral music, she says, is often like a story written in a musical language.

She says: “The most rewarding part is seeing deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences truly connect with the music. They can understand the story in a way they never had before and it’s very powerful. It means the collaboration between me and the hearing interpreter has opened a door – turning something they couldn’t access before into something they can experience and enjoy fully.”

The concert will also be live-streamed on the Singapore Symphony YouTube channel at

str.sg/7gvQ

Where: Esplanade Concert Hall, 1 Esplanade Drive
MRT: Esplanade/City Hall
When: Aug 16, 7.30pm
Admission: $15 to $75
Info:

str.sg/riok

Transitions by Lynn Teo at Silk Tea Bar

Third-generation potter Lynn Teo has long felt that she lived under the shadow of her more famous uncles, master potters Chua Soo Kim and Chua Soo Khim of Sam Mui Kuang Pottery. Now, the 37-year-old is staging her first solo exhibition as an act of “overcoming long-held fears and reclaiming my own voice”.

Held in the meditative Silk Tea Bar, her works in Transitions recall the distinctive forms of Sam Mui Kuang’s classic pots – with their small mouth and bulbous body – but are also characteristic of Teo’s signature gourd forms. The works Horns #01 and Horns #02 embody this tension between tradition and experimentation.

“For me, there has always been a tension between authentic self-expression and the trained technical and aesthetic sensibilities nurtured by family tradition,” says Teo.

“While not strongly against exploration, the family usually discourages anomaly. Walking against that current has taken a great deal of inner strength and the works presented in Transitions capture this creative journey and struggle.”

On Aug 17 at 3pm, Chua Soo Kim will give a talk on the transitions from traditional to contemporary glazes at Sam Mui Kuang. The pottery studio once had a dragon kiln in Jalan Hwi Yoh, which gave the area its name – Hwi Yoh means “pottery kiln” in Teochew.

On Aug 19 and 20, sign up for a tea session with Teo as she discusses her inspiration and work over various brews from Chaozhou.

Where: Silk Tea Bar, 26A Sago Street
MRT: Maxwell
When: Aug 15 to 21, 11am to 7pm (closed on Mondays; Aug 18 by appointment only)
Admission: Free
Info: Follow @silk.teabar on Instagram

Correction note: In an earlier version of the story, it was reported that deaf artist-performer Lily Goh helped Coldplay perform two songs in SgSL at their National Stadium concerts in 2024. This is incorrect. It should be one song.