Arts Picks: Genevieve Chua: Twofold

This visual arts exhibition, presented by STPI - Creative Workshop & Gallery, is Singaporean painter Genevieve Chua's largest solo exhibition to date, featuring 30 of her works.

Recognised for her abstract approach, Chua has been billed as one of the most promising artists from Singapore in the last decade.

She uses geometric shapes and a monochromatic palette to create complex, intricate works with patterns that evoke qualities of near-abstraction and optical art.

Twofold features playful configurations of paintings from Chua's ongoing series Edge Control, Swivels and After The Flood, as well as new print-based works from her residency with STPI last year.

For example, one artwork, titled Edge Control #15, Soft Diplomacy, features acrylic on linen and was created in 2018.

Another work, After The Flood #28 - created between 2011 and last year - features a digital-pigment ink print on photographic paper, hand-coloured with ink.

The exhibition is guest-curated by Melanie Pocock, curator at Ikon Gallery in Birmingham, England.

WHERE: STPI - Creative Workshop & Gallery, 41 Robertson Quay MRT: Fort Canning WHEN: Till April 19; 10am to 7pm (Mondays to Fridays), 9am to 6pm (Saturdays), 10am to 5pm (Sundays), closed on public holidays ADMISSION: Free INFO: stpi.com.sg/exhibitions/genevieve-chua-twofold

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EASTMAN CAMERATA

This is the first concert by Eastman Camerata, a performing arts ensemble consisting of professional Singapore-based musicians who are alumni of the prestigious Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester in New York.

The group includes violinist and Cultural Medallion recipient Vivien Goh, Singapore Symphony Orchestra associate conductor Joshua Tan Kang Ming, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music faculty member Adeline Wong and many other members of Singapore's performing arts scene.

Today, they will perform classical works such as Felix Mendelssohn's String Symphony No.1, as well as Wong's Empunya Yang Beroleh Sita Dewi and David Diamond's Rounds For String Orchestra.

The concert is organised by the Boutique Chamber Players and helmed by its artistic director Han Oh, who is also an Eastman alumnus.

The camerata aims to present two or three concerts a year and bring together other alumni from their school in local and regional performances.

WHERE: Esplanade Recital Studio, 1 Esplanade Drive MRT: City Hall/Esplanade WHEN: Today, 7.30pm ADMISSION: $25 from Apactix (go to apactix.com or call 3158-8588) INFO: facebook.com/boutiquechamberplayers

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STRAITS: NOBUAKI TAKEKAWA & TANG DIXIN

This exhibition at Gillman Barracks features the works of Japanese artist Nobuaki Takekawa and Chinese contemporary artist Tang Dixin.

Presented by Ota Fine Arts Singapore, the show explores the artists' unconventional ways of art-making. They engage in unique, impromptu and playful collaborations with each other, such as by exchanging drawings via phone messaging.

Takekawa and Tang developed their careers in different ways and have held exhibitions here on separate occasions.

In 2018, their friendship deepened while working on a project at Sifang Art Museum in Nanjing, China.

For the current exhibition, they explored Singapore and created works from their observations.

The results include Demolition Of Rice Pyramid, an acrylic-on-canvas work by Takekawa, featuring ants on a pyramid-shaped pile of rice; and Forest, an oil-on-canvas work by Tang, featuring shades of yellow, green and brown. Both works were created earlier this year.

WHERE: 02-13 Gillman Barracks, 7 Lock Road MRT: Labrador Park WHEN: Till March 7; 11am to 7pm (Tuesdays to Saturdays), 11am to 6pm (Sundays), closed on Mondays and public holidays ADMISSION: Free INFO: bit.ly/2vmAuP7