Arts Picks: Teater Ekamatra’s Yusof: Portrait Of A President, The Private Museum’s SG60 art exhibition
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Teater Ekamatra is restaging Yusof: Portrait Of A President, which tells the life story of Singapore's first president Yusof Ishak.
PHOTOS: ESPLANADE – THEATRES ON THE BAY
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Yusof: Portrait Of A President
Teater Ekamatra’s restaging of this 2015 play is getting an additional four shows due to popular demand. Given the powerhouse cast, this is one worth spending your Culture Pass credits on.
Veteran actor Sani Hussin reprises the role of Singapore’s first president Yusof Ishak. He is joined by Siti Khalijah Zainal and Farah Ong, who were also in the first staging. The stellar ensemble is rounded out by Ghafir Akbar, Dalifah Shahril and Fauzie Laily.
The play, commissioned by the Esplanade for 2015’s Pesta Raya – Malay Festival of Arts, is written by acclaimed playwright Zizi Azah.
The epic spanning 40 years tells president Yusof’s life story, from his early years as a journalist at the Utusan Melayu newspaper to his move to Singapore, where he went from civil service appointments to eventually Singapore’s first head of state.
Directed by veteran Mohd Fared Jainal with Alfian Sa’at as dramaturg and costume design by Kebaya Societe’s Sufiyanto, this promises to be an in-depth introduction to one of Singapore’s founding fathers whom most know only as the face on Singapore’s currency.
Where: Singtel Waterfront Theatre, 8 Raffles Avenue str.sg/GtYd
MRT: Esplanade
When: Oct 17 to 24, 8pm (Thursdays to Sundays), 3pm (weekends)
Admission: From $50
Info:
Towards Happiness, Prosperity & Progress: Reflections On The Singapore Spirit
Yanyun Chen’s Rotan Rattan: Notions Of Labour – Kapuas Hulu is part of The Private Museum’s latest show, Towards Happiness, Prosperity & Progress: Reflections On The Singapore Spirit.
PHOTO: YANYUN CHEN
Private collectors and institutions have thrown up the more engaging visual arts exhibitions for this SG60 year, and The Private Museum is closing the series with this ambitious effort.
The exhibition borrows its title from the National Pledge, which gives the six curators a lot of leeway. There are loose themes for the show that offers works by 60 artists, crammed slightly higgledy-piggledy into the two-storey space.
Some rooms are more coherent than others. I especially like the botanical theme in the Caroline Verandah. Weixin Chong’s elegant Orchidia Lust Lush.1/.2 and Robert Zhao’s satisfyingly symmetrical Pink Star speak to the beauty and resilience of native plant life.
Zarina Muhammad’s Turn Your Face To The Wind And Follow The Movement Of The Sun anchors one side with ecological excavations centred on the Cyrene Reef. Then there is the exuberant artificiality of Samuel Xun’s Bouquet Of Disappointment, a wearable vinyl soft sculpture that brings the camp urban constructs of the Lion City back into the space.
One of the best pieces is Rotan Rattan: Notions Of Labour – Kapuas Hulu. This is a characteristically thoughtful, technically polished and aesthetically pleasing installation by Yanyun Chen. A densely textured charcoal drawing of foliage sprawled across a six-panel screen provides the backdrop for a plantation chair with a plywood panel draped over it.
The work invites a conversation about colonial power and its exploitation of labour and resources, and centres the practices of indigenous Indonesian people for whom rattan is a material woven into the fabric of their daily lives.
It would have been nice to have all this information at the exhibition, but there is a deplorable lack of wall panels. The captions – just the barest information on artist, title and media – are also displayed in the most inconvenient fashion. They are collated in a map tucked discreetly into a corner of each room. This makes trying to identify the works a chore.
Contemporary art is challenging enough without burdening visitors with the added task of matching works to a dot on a map.
Still, for anyone interested in what Singapore’s contemporary artists are making, this is an intriguing, if infuriatingly presented, survey.
Where: The Private Museum, 11 Upper Wilkie Road theprivatemuseum.org
MRT: Little India
When: Till Dec 7, 10am to 7pm (weekdays), 10am to 5pm (weekends)
Admission: Free
Info:
Within Ink, Beyond Form – 12 Years Journey Of Tay Bak Chiang
Century Of Change by Singaporean artist Tay Bak Chiang, who has a new solo show at iPreciation.
PHOTO: TAY BAK CHIANG
Singaporean artist Tay Bak Chiang’s quiet aesthetic is on display in this 12-year survey of his works at iPreciation gallery.
The blocky, inky calligraphy of Unsheathe and the sternly minimalist lines of his guqin series reflect his foundation in Chinese ink practice and culture.
His food series – with half-eaten dishes and tiny birds scattered on tables and the iconic plastic chairs rendered in bright blobs – combine both the comforting familiarity of home with a sense of desolation created by pandemic disruptions.
Food For Thought by Singaporean artist Tay Bak Chiang, who has a new solo show at iPreciation.
PHOTO: TAY BAK CHIANG
His latest works, with its use of shadow and shading, are a marvel of understated elegance. For example, Century Of Change captures the sleek curl of a dragon, but the texture and the spiky lines also call to mind the organic feel of bark and trees.
Where: iPreciation, 01-01 HPL House, 50 Cuscaden Road www.ipreciation.com
MRT: Orchard
When: Till Oct 24, 9am to 6pm (weekdays), 11am to 6pm (Saturdays)
Admission: Free
Info:
