SINGAPORE I ART WORLD
off the Anderson Bridge, which is what prompted him to create First Generation. Malcolm Koh’s A Great Emporium, displayed outside the Asian Civilisations Museum, recreates a scene involving a British merchant, a Chinese trader, and Chinese and Indian labourers. From Chettiars to Financiers, by Chem Lian Shen, explores the evolution of Singapore’s moneylenders, while The River Merchants, by Aw Tee Hong, presents the various races of Singapore. Meanwhile, at the Singapore Botanic Gardens, another work by Cheong, Chang Kuda (Malay for ‘piggyback on a horse’), depicts a game children played in the 1950s and ’60s. “We will continue to work with artists to bring the arts to the Gardens,” says Dr Nigel Taylor, director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens.
Snippets of the world
Public art is everywhere, sometimes in little clusters like those described on Singapore Tourism Board’s YourSingapore (yoursingapore. com), which has compiled three walkable art trails – Civic District, Orchard Road and Marina Bay – that are packed with public art. The Marina Bay stroll takes in sights such as the giant bronze ring Abundance III by Singapore-based sculptor Sun Yu-Li; the Fountain of Wealth (above) and the surrounding depictions of animals in the Chinese zodiac by local artist Han Sai Por (more of her pieces appear later in the trail), and the vibrant, Christmas-tree-esque, 18m-tall Momentum by David Gerstein – an upbeat homage to the people who’ve helped shape Singapore.
An expression of joy
Yet another reason to visit Terminal 3 at Changi Airport
Some of the public art here is less imbued with symbolism, and can instead be categorised as joyous expressions designed to entertain. One of the most distinctive is the giant mural of Mayan faces on Haji Lane, on the side of Mexican restaurant Piedra Negra. In the city’s outer reaches – the heartlands – governmentbuilt housing blocks are enlivened with murals of kites (Block 838, Yishun Street 81) and a giant rainbow (Block 316, Hougang Avenue 7). And Marc Quinn’s Planet, a colossus white baby that seems to hover above the ground at Gardens by the Bay, may explore the connection between nature and humanity. But it’s also perplexing, whimsical and simply fun – all wonderful reasons for us to encourage and appreciate this type of egalitarian artistic endeavour.
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