Visual art of Singapore
Contemporary art in Singapore tends to examine themes of "hyper-modernity and the built environment; alienation and changing social mores; post-colonial identities and multiculturalism.
[1] A 14th-century golden armlet bearing a repoussé plaque of the Javanese Kala was excavated from Bukit Larangan (Fort Canning Hill) in 1926, demonstrating a link between Singapore and classical Malay sultanates.
[8] The kala motif draws from Hindu mythology, and traditionally adorns the top of main entrances of temples and is found in many parts of Indonesia.
A place called Sabana or Sabara was marked on the 11th Map of Asia at the southern tip of the Golden Khersonese (meaning the Malay Peninsula) where Singapore may lie.
[13] The landscape of Temasek (淡馬錫) is visually depicted in the Mao Kun map, a set of navigation charts published in the Ming dynasty military treatise Wubei Zhi.
The Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals) contains a tale of a prince of Srivijaya, Sri Tri Buana (also known as Sang Nila Utama), who landed on Temasek after surviving a storm in the 13th century.
Sir Stamford Raffles, appointed as the Lieutenant Governor of the British colony at Bencoolen in 1818, arrived in Singapore on 28 January 1819 and soon recognised the island as a choice for a new port.
[19] During this period, the art of Singapore was diverse, influenced by travellers, itinerant artists, and migrants from China, the Indian subcontinent, as well as the West, all bringing different pictorial traditions.
[1] For example, Robert Wilson Wiber's watercolour painting, Panoramic View of Singapore from the Harbour (1849) depicts the island from the perspective of the sea.
Part of ongoing colonial scientific projects to study and gather knowledge about the Malay Archipelago, these were some of the earliest visual practices of the region.
[22] Though Malay printing in the region was closely linked to the production of religious texts, publishing grew in its role in marketing, politics, and entertainment during the 20th century.
[23] Singapore saw a huge influx of Chinese migrants by the 1840s, owing to the Opium Wars and high demands for labour in growing Southeast Asian markets.
From the 1930s, European artists such as Dora Gordine, Karl Duldig, Rudolfo Nolli, Tina Haim-Wentscher, and Julius Wentscher received commissions to make public sculptures and reliefs during their short stays in Singapore.
[29][30][31] Sculptor Tina Haim-Wentscher and painter Julius Wentscher represented Malaya at the 1938 Glasgow Empire Exhibition, creating sculptures and designing a Malayan pineapple display.
[25] Low Kway Song's Lynx (1921) and Thai Temple (1923) are art historically notable as some of the few oil paintings from Singapore that can be traced to this moment of artistic production in the early 20th century.
[25] In 1946, just after the war had ended, Liu Kang published Chop Suey, a multi-volume series of sketches that depicted Japanese brutality during wartime Malaya.
[35] In contrast, his later painting from around 1960, Malay House, Malacca, accurately depicts a Malaccan-style longhouse in a realistic manner, down to the floral tiles of the staircase, demonstrating the PPMM artists' wide range of styles.
[43][44] The Equator Art Society sought to represent the realities and struggles of the masses, depicting Singapore's working classes and the poor often through the use of portraiture painting, woodcut prints, and sculpture.
[43] Artists such as Anthony Poon, Thomas Yeo, Goh Beng Kwan, and Kim Lim were influenced by their time overseas, with their work reminiscent of the visual language of Abstract Expressionism, Op Art, and Minimalism.
[46] In April 1961, the art section of Lembaga Tetap Kongres Bahasa dan Kebudayaan Melayu (LTK, Permanent Board of Congress of Malay Language and Culture) staged a major exhibition at the Victoria Memorial Hall.
[38] APAD was led by Abdul Ghani Hamid, Muhammad Ali Sabran, S. Mohdir, Ahmin Haji Noh, Hamidah M. F. Suhaimi and Mustafa Yassin.
[50] Contemporary art in Singapore tends to examine themes of "hyper-modernity and the built environment; alienation and changing social mores; post-colonial identities and multiculturalism.
[50] In March 1988, the three artists Salleh Japar, Goh Ee Choo, and S. Chandrasekaran refused to participate in their graduation show at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, instead holding an exhibition titled Trimurti at the Goethe-Institut in Singapore.
[53] It was significant that the exhibition had a Hindu name, with Indians being an ethnic minority in Chinese-dominated Singapore and NAFA's teachers regularly teaching art in the Chinese language.
[53] The three artists sought to embrace differences as a collective, reflecting Singapore's multiculturalism through each of their racial and religious identities, as a Malay-Muslim for Salleh, Chinese-Buddhist for Goh, and Indian-Hindu for Chandrasekaran.
[53] For example, Chandrasekaran's work Visvayoni draws upon the term "yoni," the Sanskrit word for "womb," which is a symbol for the Mother Goddess Shakti from Hinduism.
[58][59] As a registered, artist-led non-profit organisation, it was one of the earliest of its kind for early-1990s Singapore, with its initial space located at Parkway Parade, a shopping centre in the east of the city.
Art critic Lee Weng Choy describes 5th Passage as an initiative that had "focussed on issues of gender and identity, and on the work of women artists.
"[6] The initiative's programming emphasised an interdisciplinary approach, exhibiting performance art, installation, music, photography, and design,[61] also organising public readings and forums.
[63] In 2001, Singapore participated in the Venice Biennale with its own national pavilion for the first time, with artists Henri Chen KeZhan, Matthew Ngui, Salleh Japar, and Suzann Victor exhibiting work.
