I thought they nailed it with their marketing campaign, using the tagline We Are Asia to position the fair as distinctly from this part of the world.  Quite Asian too to make use of celebrity endorsers (i.e. the region’s biggest art collectors) to promote the event in a series of eye-catching ads.  While one did not see groundbreaking pieces from the art world’s biggest names, and the organizers could have laid out the spaces in a less confusing manner, overall, the art did not disappoint at the second edition of Art Stage Singapore.

The fair opted for a regional slant, not the Asia of Xhao Ziaogang (not a single one in sight!) or Yue Minjun.  Not even the Asia of Yoshitomo Nara or Subodh Gupta; both did not have major works on view.  Takashi Murakami made his presence felt as a gallerist, through his Kaikai Kiki Gallery. Their space displayed works from the various artists in his collective, not his own.  The art fair encouraged its audience to look beyond the familiar and discover a different side to Asia’s art scene.

The powerhouse galleries like White Cube, Victoria Miro, and Marlborough opted for sedate pieces from their stable of artists.  Galerie Perrotin and Haunch of Venison chose well, featuring artists the market could easily relate to.  Japanese artist Mr. featured prominently in Perrotin’s space, while Haunch of Venison showed paintings from Indian artist Jittash Kallat, beautiful collages from Tibetan Gonkar Gyatso, and wonderful lace-covered porcelain animals from Portuguese Joanna Vasconcelos.  While these don’t count as Vasconcelos’ most important work, I totally loved the pieces her gallery showed.  I hope they bring her bigger pieces next time.

Philippine art made its presence very strongly felt. The Drawing Room, silverlens, and Finale Art Gallery had spaces in the main Galleries section.  The Drawing Room debuted a piece from Riel Hilario’s new series of sculptures incorporating Ilocano furniture traditions.  Also on view:  a strong Kawayan de Guia diptych, several Lirio Salvador guitars, paintings from Troy Ignacio and Kiko Escora, a maquette from Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan, photos and sculpture from Diokno Pasilan and Mark Salvatus.

The silverlens crew stayed busy from the get-go.  Patty Eustaquio delivered another beauty from her Cloud Country series, a lovely painting of a dead bird morphing into a pink bloom, while the consistently good Mariano Ching had two drawings and a wall-bound assemblage from cut and painted steel.  Luis Lorenzana framed his portraits of wide-eyed fantastic creatures in white carved wood, while Frankie Callaghan’s luminous photographs occupied one whole wall.

Easily one of the fair’s most popular booths, Finale mounted a solo exhibit by Annie Cabigting.  In Painting Under The Influence of Painting, Annie continues with her series of oil on canvas pieces depicting anonymous viewers gazing at well-known masterpieces.  I’ve seen many of Annie’s other works in this vein, but I have to say she outdid herself with this batch.  I especially liked My Grotesque (After Cordero), her recreation of a Louie Cordero painting.  Annie also proved in great demand with the art press, a favorite subject for interviews by television crews and publications doing the rounds of the fair.

Galerie Caprice Horn from Berlin and Y ++/ Wada Fine Arts from Tokyo and Beijing joined forces to showcase a solo exhibit, Labyrinth, by Rodel Tapaya.  Rodel brought out glorious pieces, paintings that keep to his penchant for folktales, but in deeper, richer, more dramatic hues than his previous works.  He tweaked his figures, elongating and distorting them to appear mysterious, even abstract, against patterned backdrops.  He certainly followed-up his prize-winning mural, currently on view at the Singapore Art Museum (SAM), with a formidable set of works.

I also witnessed how familiar local audiences have become with Rodel.  While I enjoyed his paintings, a group of ladies stopped by to discuss this “Philippine artist who won the grand prize at SAM.  He’s so good!”

Rodel, for those who may not keep abreast of art news, just won the Grand Prize of the APB-Signature Art Prize sponsored in part by SAM.

Yumie Wada, President of Wada Gallery, intimated how pleased they were to represent Rodel in the fair.  Collectors flew in from various parts of the globe to view his pieces during the Vernissage.  The show sold out.

Gaston Damag traveled from his base in France to reprise one of his pieces from 2003, originally shown at UP Vargas Museum.   His Ifugao heritage, always inherent in his art, again played a large part in this work.  For Conversion 2 at the Galerie Zimmermann Krachtowill space, he took inspiration from the church perched atop his hometown in the Mountain Province in Northern Philippines.  Gaston set rice gods, bululs, made from paraffin on rows of rough wooden pews.  Heated lamps dangling from the ceiling of the reconstructed chapel made the wax figures slowly melt, distorting them, allowing them to return to their original state, ready to be reformed.

Manuel Ocampo complemented Gaston’s piece with his painted interpretations of church windows mounted on the walls of the space.

 

The art fair brochure describes the Public Art & Special Projects section as realized in cooperation with various exhibitors and artists.  I thought the organizers should have followed the example of ArtHK on how these large-scale pieces could be used to break up the main exhibition area instead of relegating them to sides and the rear of the hall.  They seemed almost accidentally placed rather than highlighted.  Among them, Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan’s In Habit, a towering boat reworked from their piece from the 2010 Liverpool Biennale.  Paging the Singapore Art Museum!  You must acquire this piece for your permanent collection!

I loved Project Stage, a section of smaller spaces devoted mostly to one-man shows by emerging talents.  The energy in this area made the fair exciting, gave it its buzz, and set it apart from other fairs in the region.  Pow Martinez and Dex Fernandez shared a space under the aegis of Pablo.  Poklong Anading remounted Miracle of Healing and Other Hopeful Things for Galerie Zimmermann Krachtowill.  Costantino Zicharelli expanded Into The Abyss:  White Album, recently exhibited at SLab, with more drawings based on album covers.

Chinese artist He Xiangyou killed off Ai Wei Wei at Pearl Lam Galleries, fabricating the controversial artist’s likeness lying face down on the floor. Malaysian artist Shooshie Sulaiman converted 12 into a functioning studio where you could have your photographs taken by an old fashioned pinhole camera.  Kedai Gambar Goldie No. 12 is based on a studio in her hometown in Johor that still operates to this day. 10 Chancery Lane Gallery from Hong Kong featured figurative paintings from half-Filipina artist Maya Hewitt. Indonesian artist Yudi Sulistyo built a plane wreckage entirely out of paper, but with the look and perception of heavy metal, down to the most minute details.  Another Indonesian artist, Erianto stacked painted canvases that simulated packed crates inside D Gallerie’s space.

Other Filipinos at Art Stage:  Lyra Garcellano at Singapore Tyler Print Institute (STPI), Leslie de Chavez at Arario Gallery, Art Sanchez and Allan Balisi at RK Fine Art.

In the course of the fair, the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), JTC Corporation, and the country’s National Arts Council announced the conversion of Gillman Barracks, site of former British military quarters, into an arts and culture enclave.  Thirteen galleries have been invited to open branches in the development, among them The Drawing Room and silverlens from the Philippines.  Others also invited include Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Sundaram Tagore from the US, Tomio Koyama Gallery also from Japan, and Future Perfect from Australia. Apparently, those that take in Singaporean nationals into their employ benefit from tax breaks.

All the infrastructure that the Singapore government extends to the arts can only bode well for the entire region.  In a few years, you can just imagine what a mecca the city will be for the visual arts.

Art Stage Singapore was held from 11 to 15 January 2012 at the Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Center, Level B2, Halls D, E, & F, 10 Bayfront Avenue, Singapore.  For more information visit www.artstagesingapore.com