Regional revolution

Regional revolution

Art Stage Singapore is a platform that showcases artists from all over Asia in one place

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Regional revolution
Zheng Lu's Water Dripping-Splashing, presented by Sundaram Tagore Gallery.

'An art fair is always a commercial event," said Lorenzo Rudolf, founder and president of Art Stage Singapore whose sixth edition ended last month. There's not a response more apt than that to a common complaint like: "Oh, but Art Stage is too commercial." It's an art fair, and quite naturally, as Rudolf added in an interview during the fair, "the galleries come here to sell".

During the five-day affair, more than 40,000 people have visited the event, which houses 173 galleries from 34 countries around the world. Rudolf said that this edition is a success despite the backdrop of a gloomy economic forecast.

Prime examples of this healthy art market include Sakurado Fine Arts with total sales of US$1.2 million (42.7 million baht) for works by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, Sundaram Tagore Gallery with the sale of a work by South Korean artist Chun Kwang Young for $175,000. From our own turf, Number 1 Gallery had a sell-out show with Thai artist Kittisak Thapkoa.  

But Number 1 Gallery was hardly the only thing which made the presence of Thai art felt in this international affair. At the fair entrance at front, a huge embroidered wing structure Netscape by Thai artist Ploenchan Vinyaratn, presented by Serindia Gallery, hovered ominously as visitors walked through. Its colourful embroideries were at odds with the motion detector which, as visitors stepped onto the ramp, lets out a mixed sounds of heartbeats, pulses and the flapping of wings. This is one of many public art pieces spread throughout the art fair, which nicely serve as a break from crowded rows of booths.

Aside from Yinka Shonibare's delightful alien man sculpture and Zhen Lu's frozen water splash installation, there's also Thai artist Anon Pairot's mixed media paintings, presented by Numthong Gallery, which drew quite a lot of attention from the crowd. Quite a few Thai galleries such as Serindia Gallery, La Lanta Fine Art, YenakArt Villa and Lyla Gallery were stationed here and there throughout the space. Even though the works from these galleries are quite familiar for Thai viewers, being works from their past exhibitions brought together, it was quite a treat for the international audience. Lyla Gallery gave a glimpse of its current show in Chiang Mai with a few paintings by Paphonsak La-or while YenakArt presents portraits by Bruno Tanquerel and sculpture/painting work by Soichiro Shimizu.

On one hand, Art Stage is a platform for internationally-renowned galleries to interact with a regional audience, whether it's Taka Ishii Gallery with works by Nobuyoshi Araki or White Cube with a few pieces by Damien Hirst. On the other hand, it's also a space where Singapore-based galleries like Artinformal and FOST Gallery, get the opportunity to open up more to audiences and collectors from other regions.

With past experience as director of Art Basel and creator of Art Basel Miami Beach, Rudolf said the biggest challenge, despite this already being its sixth edition, is the building up of market for galleries, something which has already long existed in the West. "We have to position this fair as not only a place where we talk about the market," said Rudolf. "But where you speak about what art is and what can art be."

This is shown in a central exhibition "Southeast Asia Forum" where works by a group of artists from the region were presented in a common area. Four Thai artists -- Anon Pairot, Piyarat Piyapongwiwat, Navin Rawanchaikul and Sutthirat Supaparinya -- were featured in this. Again, like Thai galleries in booths, the works by these Thai artists are more for other visitors than those from Thailand as they are works which have been exhibited at home before.

With the rather broad title "Seismograph: Sensing The City - Art In The Urban Age", the works in this section were the most refreshing part in the fair. Many of the works have reflected that in terms of the urban age, when artists in each country are facing somewhat similar issues. While Thai video artist Sutthirat responds to a change of landscape because of dam projects, Singaporean photographer Robert Zhao Renhui addresses the creeping urban development simply by taking photographs of big trees and the communities which have long been attached to them. Indonesian-Australian Tintin Wulia talks about identity on a bigger scale rather than just this region by having visitors join for a DIY passport session.

"We are committed to always presenting new and game-changing content that provokes discussions and debates," added Rudolf. "And this we accomplished with the Southeast Asia Forum. The content that we present has shown us to be not only an innovative fair, but also a resilient one. It is an important aspect that will distinguish us from others, which strengthens our position in these uncertain times."

Art Stage Singapore.

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