Chimera At The Singapore Art Museum

Tabaimo, video still from "Midnight Sea", from the collection of the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art

The Wall Street Journal got it right.  Collectors did rule at Art Stage Singapore, from the marketing campaign to the biggest fringe event of the week.  The people behind the art fair did not shy away from promoting its commercial aspect, they made no bones about who exactly they wanted to come and see at the event (and what they expected them to do with their wallets).  But that didn’t mean that the rest of us could not enjoy some pretty good art. Especially not at Chimera, an exhibit at the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) of select pieces from select collectors, contemporary works from Asia. Chimera belongs to a series called The Collectors Show that runs concurrent to Art Stage Singapore every year. Continue reading


Art Stage Singapore Makes Its Debut

Ai Wei Wei, "Through"

Do art fairs take on the qualities of the cities that host them?

Art Stage Singapore opened last week at the convention center of Marina Bay Sands, the slick casino complex that has been anointed the city-state’s current “it” venue.  I looked forward with as much anticipation to my first glimpse of

Another view, Ai Wei Wei, "Through"

the monumental M-shaped edifice as I did to the art inside the fair.Spearheaded by Lorenzo Rudolf, the former director of Art Basel, Art Stage Singapore’s advance publicity promised an event to rival the more established art fairs in the region.  Continue reading