36 minute read
RECENTLY PUBLISHED | ART
Something New Must Turn Up: Six Singaporean Artists after 1965
Eng Tow Chng Seok Tin Goh Beng Kwan Mohammad Din Mohammad Jaafar Latiff
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Edited by Seng Yu Jin 250 × 200 mm 116–160 pages each, paperback 65–210 colour illustrations each ISBN: Eng Tow: 978-981-14-8005-8 Chng Seok Tin: 978-981-14-8000-3 Goh Beng Kwan: 978-981-14-8003-4 Mohammad Din Mohammad: 978-981-14-8002-7 Jaafar Latiff: 978-981-14-8001-0 USD 23 | GBP 20 | SGD 25 Published July 2021
The Something New Must Turn Up series spotlights innovative artistic practices in post-independence Singapore.
Something New Must Turn Up is a series of catalogues comparing the practices of artistic forerunners in post-independence Singapore. Through their groundbreaking explorations of media, ranging from collage and printmaking to installation and digital art, these artists actively expanded the boundaries of art.
Each standalone catalogue traces the individual journeys that these artists undertook as they strove to be continuously “new.” Bringing together essays, interviews, full-coloured plates and archival material, the series offers a comparative perspective of how artists critically engaged with the conditions of multiculturalism, developmentalism and modernisation in post-independence Singapore.
Antony Gormley
Seeing the Kites Again: The Wu Guanzhong Donation Collection 又见风筝：吴冠中捐赠作品集
Edited by Russell Storer and Qinyi Lim 240 × 200 mm 100 pages, hardback 40 colour illustrations ISBN: 978-981-18-1544-7 USD 28 | GBP 22 | SGD 30 Published October 2021
350 × 250 mm 296 pages, hardback 127 colour and 1 b/w illustrations English and Chinese ISBN: 978-981-09-7498-5 USD 165 | GBP 125 | SGD 200 Published November 2015
The Antony Gormley catalogue presents works from the artist’s largest-ever exhibition in Singapore. The publication explores the practice of an indisputably monumental figure in contemporary sculpture, and is anchored by soaring photographs of Gormley’s most-recent work, the latest Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden Commission, titled Horizon Field Singapore.
Wu Guanzhong has gone further than any of his contemporaries in fusing Western and Chinese art traditions, and stands as one of the greatest artists of 20th-century China. A prolific artist and essayist, Wu was one of the few Chinese artists to have established a name for himself both in Asia and the West. This beautiful volume featuring essays, over 100 artwork images and a detailed biographical timeline celebrates Wu’s art, life, remarkable achievements and donation to Singapore—the single largest donation made by the artist to any public museum.
Edited by Low Sze Wee 290 × 250 mm 310 pages, hardback 285 colour and 28 b/w illustrations ISBN: 978-981-09-7352-0 USD 58 | GBP 44 | SGD 70 Published November 2015
Published to accompany National Gallery Singapore’s inaugural exhibition Siapa Nama Kamu?, this catalogue presents a survey of Singapore art from the 19th century to the present, charting major themes across broad time periods. Over 400 works of art in a wide range of media are brought together to trace the ebb and flow of the history of Singapore art. Curatorial essays provide insight into the exhibition that considers the parameters of time and nation in relation to the history of art in Singapore.
Edited by Low Sze Wee 290 × 250 mm 294 pages, hardback 278 colour and 28 b/w illustrations ISBN: 978-981-09-7349-0 USD 58 | GBP 44 | SGD 70 Published November 2015
Between Declarations and Dreams is National Gallery Singapore’s inaugural exhibition of the art of Southeast Asia from the 19th century to the present. This richly illustrated catalogue tracks the broad time periods and thematic sections of the exhibition through more than 300 artwork images. The selection of essays provides an extensive discussion on the exhibition and offers curatorial insight to a task that is at once monumental and intricate—the positing of an art history of a region as diverse as Southeast Asia.
Siapa Nama Kamu? Art in Singapore since the 19th Century: Selections from the Exhibition
Edited by Sara Siew 225 × 175 mm 120 pages, paperback 101 colour and 9 b/w illustrations ISBN: 978-981-09-7384-1 USD 10 | GBP 8 | SGD 12 Published November 2015
Siapa Nama Kamu? weaves together a rich and captivating narrative of artworks in a broadly chronological sequence, covering Singapore’s art history from the 19th century to the present. This handy guide presents an overview of the exhibition through 100 key works. Beautifully reproduced in full colour and accompanied by curatorial texts, it tells the story of nearly two centuries of art in Singapore—one of diverse influences, shared impulses and ceaseless flux.
Between Declarations and Dreams: Art of Southeast Asia since the 19th Century: Selections from the Exhibition
Edited by Sara Siew 225 × 175 mm 120 pages, paperback 105 colour and 2 b/w illustrations ISBN: 978-981-09-7385-8 USD 10 | GBP 8 | SGD 12 Published November 2015
Between Declarations and Dreams at National Gallery Singapore is the first long-term exhibition devoted to the historical development of art in Southeast Asia from a regional perspective. This portable album presents an overview of the exhibition through a selection of 100 works that speak of points of connection and diversity in art across Southeast Asia. Accompanying curatorial texts flesh out the themes and sections of the exhibition, providing a thoughtful look at the art of this region.
Lonely Vectors
Edited by Joella Kiu, Kenneth Tay and Mi You 180 × 120 mm 176 pages, paperback 64 colour illustrations ISBN: 978-981-18-3711-1 USD 23 | GBP 20 | SGD 25 Published June 2022
Lonely Vectors takes its cue from Singapore Art Museum’s new space at the Tanjong Pagar Distripark as a site of the global economy and its choreography of movements. However, its interests in global flows extend beyond the circulation of goods and commodities to consider the bodies and histories unmoored and set adrift by this world in motion. From the construction of special economic zones to patterns of migration, from seed distribution to peasant solidarity against megaplantations, Lonely Vectors points to the different ways we desire to connect with one another.
Edited by June Yap, Joella Kiu and Selene Yap 260 × 210 mm 164 pages, paperback 52 colour and 1 b/w illustrations ISBN: 978-981-18-0923-1 USD 30 | GBP 25 | SGD 35 Published October 2021
The Gift captures the Singapore segment of the curatorial project Collecting Entanglements and Embodied Histories. Focusing on ideas of inter-relation and exchange manifest in history, geography and identity, this catalogue features the works of 15 artists in an examination of how the act of giving is performed, remembered and entangles. Collecting Entanglements and Embodied Histories is a dialogue between the collections of Galeri Nasional Indonesia, MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and Singapore Art Museum, initiated by the Goethe-Institut. The exhibitions are curated by Anna-Catharina Gebbers, Grace Samboh, Gridthiya Gaweewong and June Yap.
Chapter Five 180
5.31
5.32 5.31 Ono Tadashige. Court Struggle. c.1930. Woodblock print on paper, 24.8 × 29.5 cm. Collection of Ono Tadashige Hanga Kan (Ono Tadashige Print Museum).
5.32 Ono Tadashige. Print from Shigaisen (War in the Streets). 1930. Woodblock print on paper, 11.5 × 15.3 cm. University Art Collection, Chau Chak Wing Museum, The University of Sydney, UA2007.4.
The reason for thinking I wanted to go was to know what proletarian performing art was (in antithesis to that of bourgeois performing arts), but when the moment arrived various fantasies arose. I thought it would be terrible to be forced to go in that direction. I realized my own will was not very strong. I knew I didn’t want to believe in Proletarian Art et cetera. I probably went in hoping to hear a systematic lecture about theatre other than the antithetical [bourgeois] type […]. There were very few people there [thirteen]. I listened to the proletarian art theory of Suzuki Kikō and the socialist sociology of Nakagawa Toshio. I wasn’t really interested. My interest was in theatre theory.15
The role of radical or left-wing theatre in Tokyo, which formed a focus for all kinds of avantgarde art by 1924 to 1925, is well understood, and such theatricality also comes out in Ono’s court scenes (fig. 5.31). 16 What is interesting in Ono’s case, who came to the domain slightly later when it had been fairly developed, was that theatre theory and participation was more important to him than actual proletarian art theory. In fact, he drew sets and took part in several small avantgarde theatre productions in 1928 to 1929.
Even if Ono was involved with proletarian art from 1928 to 1932, one should not thereby conclude his work was regarded as unproblematic by his left-wing peers. Commenting on Barricade (fig. 5.6), one Honmon Fūjin (an alias) wrote:
It’s strange; it seems as if we look at a mountain of dead people where the figures for the most part are all mixed up and cannot be distinguished. Maybe it’s because these cannot be clearly grasped these are no more than a trivial sentimental feeling. They are the struggle of the proletariat against the bourgeois or its treason, that they are clearly and correctly or with spirit fighting would be the right thing, [but] this work doesn’t go beyond a bourgeois work and if the proletariat is to be proud of the proletariat I’d rather it stopped [right now].17
Transitions through World War II 181
5.33
5.34
5.35 5.33 Ono Tadashige. Karasu to Seinen (A Crow and a Youth). 1925. Woodblock print on paper, 12.5 × 10.2 cm. Private collection.
5.34 Ono Tadashige. Print from Shigaisen (War in the Streets). 1930. Woodblock print on paper, 15 × 11.8 cm. University Art Collection, Chau Chak Wing Museum, The University of Sydney, UA2007.4.
5.35 Ono Tadashige. Bitches and Jazz. c.1934. Woodblock print on paper, 50 × 61.3 cm. Collection of Ono Tadashige Hanga Kan (Ono Tadashige Print Museum).
Indeed the archetypical socialist print images of Käthe Kollwitz, discussed widely since the late 1920s, were also later evaluated by Suyama Keiichi as follows: “Because in the age of proletarian art is demanded a clear strongly inflammatory painting, her darkly melancholic and bitter motifs were probably not fully understood.”18 Already in 1930, contemporary proletarian art critics, no doubt inflected by the reception of Soviet art debates in Japan, saw Kollwitz as not properly overcoming the constraints of bourgeois art: “Yet however many times you repeat it, Kollwitz has no analytical proletarian subjectivity. All she has is a clear depiction of the proletariat. And, formally speaking, she has not completely got away from bourgeois painting of the past.”19
Okamoto Tōki, a direct critic of Ono’s work and later a major writer on the history of the proletarian art movement from a partisan perspective,wrote in 1931 (fig. 5.32) that “Ono Tadashige’s Illustrations of Industrial Rationalization are an interesting attempt but they are too literary (humanistic naturalistic) and they have separated from reality. The materials are not from reality but as if through a literary veil and their results are not alive and vital.”20
Ono finally formally separated from proletarian art in 1932 and concentrated on scenes of the city, and the individual or groups in its streets. One can see the dilemma posed by a choice between politically ordained simplistic form understandable by the masses, and the expressive individualist humanist identification of the artists with his or her format and formal characteristics, as a basic break of Ono from his earlier work. Indeed the theatricality (fig. 5.31) and, at times, technical rawness of his earlier work (fig. 5.33) may simply have been overcome. He became technically adept, and sought more pictorial rather than expressive qualities in his prints (fig. 5.34). This can be seen in a wide range of prints he did from 1932 to 1937 (fig. 5.35). These are mostly of street scenes, large industrial buildings, and small groups of workers or habitués of bars and jazz parlours.
Chapter Nine
Special Features of Gulammohammed Sheikh’s Development as an Artist Sheikh developed conventionally as a painter through his university studies at Baroda from 1955 to 1963 and his overseas postgraduate training in London from 1963 to 1966. He returned to Baroda in 1967 to be employed as a teacher of art history and became very active in art publishing. In the late 1960s and 1970s, Sheikh contributed many polemical pieces to the journal Vrishik, and in 1963, edited a special issue on visual art for the Gujurati journal Kshitij; he became Professor of Painting at Baroda in 1982. In parallel with this art history teaching, and the writing of art critiques, essays and poems in Gujurati, Sheikh’s own painting moved away from an impastoed analytical figurativism before his London era (fig. 9.1), and in which traces of late 1950s École de Paris painting, such as that of Nicolas De Stäel, may be inferred.3 In London, he developed an almost cheekily flat School of London narrativism, particularly reminiscent of the work of David Hockney and R.B. Kitaj, and on his return home, set the erotic plenitude of flowers and trees against an “Indian” sky (fig. 9.2).
Figures of self and friends were also introduced in London, which form a kind of armature for later figural representations, soon to be placed in an Indian urban setting in which gradual historical understandings of both Mughal and Trecento Sienese painting are played with and delighted in (fig. 9.3).
To anticipate slightly the future turning points in Sheikh’s work, in summary: the synoptic, spaces of domestic and urban narratives found in 1980–1981, in which multi-event, multiframe views the viewer can compose as various narratives; a return to single views without framing, but which include discontinuous events and times, in the late 1980s; and from the mid-1990s, Sheikh increasingly narrativises the populist magus/saint figure Kabir, with whom he identifies (fig. 9.4), and at almost the same time, works through magical allegories of India’s civilisation and its modern history (fig. 9.5).
To summarise, Sheikh exemplifies what will become increasingly prevalent during the late
312 9.1 Gulammohammed Sheikh. Yellow Sky. 1961. Oil and wax on canvas, 67.4 × 73.7 cm. Whereabouts unknown.
9.2 Gulammohammed Sheikh. Summer Encounter 3. 1968–1969. Oil on canvas, 61 × 61 cm. Whereabouts unknown.
9.1
20th century: a combination of artists of my Type Four—given his training abroad—and Type Eight, a cosmopolitan who importantly draws on endogenous sources and content, and is embedded in the institutions of his own country, but also borrows wherever and whenever as he wishes across world cultures.
From 2000, Sheikh also works in digital media where multiple images can be digitally collaged, either to produce an image that can be printed directly in gouache colours on paper (fig. 9.6), or as a model design for a tapestry (fig. 9.7).
After earlier small-format accordion painted books and miniature shrines (fig. 9.8), by 2008, in Kaavad: Traveling Shrine: Home, Sheikh brought together references to many of these past works, leading a workshop team making oil and acrylic paintings for a very large multimedia portable shrine of 244 × 732 centimetres, which unfolds in 34 panels (fig. 9.9).
As Kavita Singh movingly concludes about Sheikh’s expansive view of life, in looking at the 2010 CITY: Memory, Dreams, Desire, Statues and
The Contemporary, 1980s to the Present 313
9.2
9.4 9.3
9.5
9.6
9.8 9.7 9.3 Gulammohammed Sheikh. Speaking Street. 1981. Oil on canvas, 122.7 × 103 cm. Collection of Roopankar Museum of Fine Arts, Bhopal.
9.4 Gulammohammed Sheikh. Commandos for Kabir. 1996. Oil on canvas, 212 × 165 cm. Collection of Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi.
9.5 Gulammohammed Sheikh. Speaking Tree‐1. 1996. Oil on canvas, 213.8 × 167.5 cm. Private collection.
9.6 Gulammohammed Sheikh. Talisman Twin‐1. 2000. Digital collage, dimensions variable. Edition of 6, various collections.
9.7 Gulammohammed Sheikh. Mappamundi Suite 5: Lands Divided. 2004. Gouache on inkjet print of digital collage, 39 × 49.5 cm. The Guild Collection, Mumbai.
9.8 Gulammohammed Sheikh. Book of Journeys. 1996—2011. Gouache on watercolour paper bound with silk; 36 pages, each 24.8 × 24.8 cm; fully extended: 24.8 × 964.8 cm. Collection of Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi.
The Asian Modern
Written by John Clark 235 × 175 mm Approx. 500 pages, paperback 496 colour illustrations ISBN: 978-981-14-0607-2 USD 45 | GBP 35 | SGD 55 Published March 2021
In this expansive study, John Clark draws on decades of his research on modern art cultures across Asia from 1850 to the present day. The Asian Modern uses an artist-centric approach, by way of meticulous case studies, to create a new comparative paradigm for the narration of art.
“Affiliations of place,” claims John Clark, rather than “genealogies of time,” is key to clarifying the category of “the Asian Modern.” […] The transfer is from an extractive art history obsessed with pedigree and derivations, on the one hand, to a redistributive art history, on the other, that is possible only through the reciprocities and fundamental obligations between persons and things. Absent the latter, there can be no future for art history in Asia.
—Patrick Flores, Professor of Art Studies, University of the Philippines, introduction to The Asian Modern
John Clark is Emeritus Professor in Art History at the University of Sydney, the author of five books and editor or co-editor of another five. His Asian Modernities: Chinese and Thai Art of the 1980s and 1990s (2010) won the Best Art Book Prize of the Art Association of Australia and New Zealand in 2011. He is also active as a curator.
Edited by Charmaine Toh 280 × 190 mm 116 pages, paperback 69 colour illustrations ISBN: 978-981-18-0631-5 USD 30 | GBP 25 | SGD 35 Published September 2021
History and Imagination presents the works of four Singapore photographers: Tan Lip Seng, Lee Lim, Lim Kwong Ling and Lee Sow Lim. These amateur photographers were active members of camera clubs in the 1950s and 1960s, a period of rapid political and urban change in newly independent Singapore. Navigating the desire to document the emerging nation against the conventions of pictorial photography, scholarly essays and full-colour plates trace how their images parallel a newfound search for independence from British rule and the anxieties of modernity.
National Gallery Singapore Art Writing I Am An Artist (He Said)
Written by Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook 135 × 205mm 496 pages, paperback ISBN: 978-981-18-2396-1 USD 25 | GBP 20 | SGD 35 Published October 2022
“To be an artist is … just like shit in a clogged toilet, stubborn shit that can’t decide whether it wants to be flushed or to stick around” writes acclaimed artist Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook. Composed as an irreverent dialogue between masculine and feminine narrators, this book of essays is an uncategorisable fusion of art criticism, feminist theory, art pedagogy, gossip and autofiction. It is also an invaluable insider account of Southeast Asia’s contemporary artists being catapulted into international circuits since the 1990s. Araya’s provocative prose is lyrically translated from Thai for the first time by Kong Rithdee, one of Thailand’s most influential cultural critics.
The Artist Speaks: Kim Lim The Singapore-born British artist Kim Lim devoted her practice, spanning over four decades, to abstract sculpture and printmaking. She held an enduring interest in the qualities of light, space and rhythm, which she explored across a wide range of materials. The artist's visual lexicon was informed by the organic forms and rhythms found in nature, as well as her travels across Asia and Europe. This title sees her artistic ideas and processes from the 1950s to the 1990s take centre stage. It traces the development of Lim's practice through writings, photographs of works taken by Lim in her home studio, and an interview with her sons, o ering a rare glimpse into her personal and artistic life.
RECENTLY PUBLISHED The Artist Speaks Series The Artist Speaks series presents an intimate look at artists through their words and workings, tracing the ideas, influences and experiences—as told by artists themselves—that underlie their aesthetics. | GENERAL | GALLERY The artist in her studio, c. late 1960s. I suspect that my empathy is temperamental; I prefer an art that has quietude and containment. This describes classical Western art, the art of the Greek orders and of Brancusi and Matisse, as much as it does the art of the East. […] The artist quoted in Gene Baro, “The Work of Kim Lim,” Studio International: Journal of Modern Art 176, no. 905 (November 1968): 186.
I suspect that my empathy is temperamental; I prefer an art that has quietude and containment. This describes classical Western art, the art of the Greek orders and of Brancusi and Matisse, as much as it does the art of the East. […] But sculpture of all times and societies deals with many of the same basic issues and shares attitudes or declares quite opposite positions about such matters as the relationship of space and mass. The obvious differences, subject matter and superficial treatment, often hide important similarities and sympathies. For me, the experiences of sculpture, West and East, taught me what sculpture is about. Experience gave me the motive to go on. The artist quoted in Gene Baro, “The Work of Kim Lim,” (R) image: Ladder Series. 1972. Studio International: Journal of Modern Art 176, no. 905 (November 1968): 186. Ink on paper, 59 x 25 cm. 48 49
But sculpture of all times and societies deals with many of the same basic issues and shares attitudes or declares quite opposite positions about such matters as the relationship of space and mass. The obvious differences, subject matter and superficial treatment, often hide important similarities and sympathies. For me, the experiences of sculpture, West and East, taught me what sculpture is about. Experience gave me the motive to go on. (R) image: Ladder Series. 1972. Ink on paper, 59 x 25 cm. 48 49
The Artist Speaks series presents an intimate look at artists through their words and works, tracing the ideas, in uences and experiences—as told by artists themselves—that shape their practice.
Kim Lim
It’s interesting that she was the only woman, and the only non-white It’s interesting that she was the only woman, and the only non-white artist amidst an all-male line-up in the Hayward Annual (fig. 9). It was a artist amidst an all-male line-up in the Hayward Annual (fig. 9). It was a really seminal moment for her to be the only woman exhibiting amongst really seminal moment for her to be the only woman exhibiting amongst influential white men in a British art show—she broke through the glass influential white men in a British art show—she broke through the glass ceiling there. As I understand it, it was highly contentious, as Bill selected ceiling there. As I understand it, it was highly contentious, as Bill selected her and that was perceived as nepotism as she was his wife. But it really her and that was perceived as nepotism as she was his wife. But it really wasn’t like that, my dad had a huge amount of respect for Kim as an artist, wasn’t like that, my dad had a huge amount of respect for Kim as an artist, and thought she was the best. Those were his exact words when I asked and thought she was the best. Those were his exact words when I asked him about it, he thought she was far better an artist than many others. him about it, he thought she was far better an artist than many others. Nonetheless, the following Hayward Annual included a greater representation Nonetheless, the following Hayward Annual included a greater representation of women, and she was on its all-female selection panel.2 That was truly of women, and she was on its all-female selection panel.2 That was truly a defining moment for gender emancipation in the arts. It was the first a defining moment for gender emancipation in the arts. It was the first exhibition comprising mostly of women at a major British institution, exhibition comprising mostly of women at a major British institution, caused by her having been the only woman in the year before. caused by her having been the only woman in the year before.
Fig. 9. Fig. 9. Private view card for the 1977 Hayward Annual: Private view card for the 1977 Hayward Annual: Current British Art: Part One.Current British Art: Part One.
COVER IMAGE Artist’s undated photograph of Day (1966) taken in Singapore. Stainless steel, enamel paint and zinc coating; 216 x 106.5 x 106.5 cm. Gi of Lim Koon Teck. JL JL
The exhibition drew controversy because of 23 selected artists, only 7 were The exhibition drew controversy because of 23 selected artists, only 7 were men. 3 Kim Lim’s involvement in organising the exhibition—together with men. 3 Kim Lim’s involvement in organising the exhibition—together with Tess Jaray, Liliane Lijn, Gillian Wise Ciobotaru and Rita Donagh—to raise Tess Jaray, Liliane Lijn, Gillian Wise Ciobotaru and Rita Donagh—to raise public consciousness of women artists in Britain was a rare instance as she public consciousness of women artists in Britain was a rare instance as she otherwise disclaimed the role of a public feminist. otherwise disclaimed the role of a public feminist.
ATAT
Both of them didn't want their works to be defined by who they were. She Both of them didn't want their works to be defined by who they were. She declined the invitation from Rasheed Araeen to participate in The Other Story, declined the invitation from Rasheed Araeen to participate in The Other Story,
5454 which focused on Asian, African and Caribbean artists in post-war Britain which focused on Asian, African and Caribbean artists in post-war Britain as she didn’t want to be perceived as “Other.” as she didn’t want to be perceived as “Other.”
JLJL
She wanted, first and foremost, to be seen as an artist. She has made it She wanted, first and foremost, to be seen as an artist. She has made it clear that she never wanted to be “othered,” to use her words, as a “woman” clear that she never wanted to be “othered,” to use her words, as a “woman” or a “foreigner.” As far as her practice was concerned, she was invested in or a “foreigner.” As far as her practice was concerned, she was invested in the viewer’s direct experience of her works. the viewer’s direct experience of her works.
AT AT
She was very conscious of not being pigeonholed. It's nice that as a woman She was very conscious of not being pigeonholed. It's nice that as a woman and as a person of colour who is part of the Asian diaspora, she's being and as a person of colour who is part of the Asian diaspora, she's being reappraised. It's nice that their works are getting that opportunity now. reappraised. It's nice that their works are getting that opportunity now. But for both her and for Bill, they were anxious for their work to be taken But for both her and for Bill, they were anxious for their work to be taken outside the frameworks of gender, race or nationality. But I think that it outside the frameworks of gender, race or nationality. But I think that it was amazing that Kim exercised that with her work, and incorporated was amazing that Kim exercised that with her work, and incorporated these pan-Asian cultural references. Her works have Chinese, Middle these pan-Asian cultural references. Her works have Chinese, Middle Eastern, Indian and Cycladic references, but particularly with the early Eastern, Indian and Cycladic references, but particularly with the early wood carvings and later stone works, the Japanese aesthetic was very strong, wood carvings and later stone works, the Japanese aesthetic was very strong, whether that’s intentional or not. Maybe that was her way of not wanting to whether that’s intentional or not. Maybe that was her way of not wanting to perpetuate the same animosity that the last generation had. perpetuate the same animosity that the last generation had.
JL JL Artistic LegacyArtistic Legacy
Even though she is well represented across British institutional collections Even though she is well represented across British institutional collections today, this has not necessarily translated to greater representation or today, this has not necessarily translated to greater representation or visibility in art historical narratives or in discourses of sculpture in Britain visibility in art historical narratives or in discourses of sculpture in Britain or Singapore, for that matter. It is only in recent years that there have been or Singapore, for that matter. It is only in recent years that there have been increasing attempts to re-appraise and recontextualise Kim Lim’s works.4 increasing attempts to re-appraise and recontextualise Kim Lim’s works.4 Why do you think there has been a greater interest in her work in the past Why do you think there has been a greater interest in her work in the past decade?decade?
AT AT
It's because of a number of different things. Firstly, it’s a testament to the It's because of a number of different things. Firstly, it’s a testament to the timeless quality of her work. Kim’s works resonate with people on multiple timeless quality of her work. Kim’s works resonate with people on multiple levels: they’re both feminine and powerful, abstract and rooted in nature. levels: they’re both feminine and powerful, abstract and rooted in nature. There’s an intuitive thing that people have with it, where they want to There’s an intuitive thing that people have with it, where they want to just hold and touch it. Secondly, this zeitgeist of affirming diversity, just hold and touch it. Secondly, this zeitgeist of affirming diversity, including gender, has helped. There is no question that art was quite a including gender, has helped. There is no question that art was quite a
5555
The Artist Speaks: Kim Lim
230 × 160 mm 88 pages, paperback 30 colour and 24 b/w illustrations ISBN: 978-981-14-5178-2 USD 23 | GBP 20 | SGD 25 Published March 2022
Known primarily as a sculptor who produced abstract wooden pieces and stone-carved works, Kim Lim channelled natural materials into paradoxical expressions of stillness and motion, substance and weightlessness. Her practice explores the relationship between art and nature, drawing inspiration from her varied travels across Asia and her life in Europe. In this publication, her process of shaping materials into contours of curves, lines and surfaces over three decades of artistry takes centre stage. Writings, sketches and notes shed new light on her masterpieces, offering a glimpse into Lim’s personal and artistic life.
See also The Artist Speaks: Lee Wen and The Artist Speaks: Chua Ek Kay on p. 35.
Awesome Art Series
The Awesome Art series makes art accessible to the young and young at heart, inspiring hours of creativity at home or in the classroom.
Awesome Art Thailand: 10 Works from the Land of the Smiling Elephant Everyone Should Know
Awesome Art Vietnam: 10 Works from the Land of the Clever Turtle that Everyone Should Know
Written by Clare Veal Suitable for children aged 9 to 12 265 × 210 mm 64 pages, paperback Illustrated throughout ISBN: 978-981-14-8425-4 USD 14 | GBP 11 | SGD 18 Published September 2021
Written by Ann Proctor Suitable for children aged 9 to 12 265 × 210 mm 64 pages, paperback Illustrated throughout ISBN: 978-981-14-8424-7 USD 14 | GBP 11 | SGD 18 Published February 2021
Did you know that Thailand is the only country in Southeast Asia to have never been colonised? And that the art of Vietnam is one of great innovation and daring, featuring works coloured with tree sap and spun from worm cocoons? Come discover the art of Thailand and Vietnam! These illustrated volumes encourage children to appreciate art through 10 iconic artworks from each country, covering photography, painting and even a sculpture of hundreds! The Awesome Art series represents National Gallery Singapore’s commitment towards presenting and advancing discourse on the art of Southeast Asia.
See pp. 36–7 for five other wonderful titles in the Awesome Art series.
Art for Tinies Series
Art for Tinies is a series of fun and eye-catching illustrated board books with larger-than-life artworks for little art lovers and their grown-up companions.
I Want to Play House
Eat with Your Eyes
Written by Low Lai Chow Illustrated by Jeanette Yap Suitable for children aged 3 to 6 200 × 160 mm 36 pages, board book Illustrated throughout ISBN: 978-981-18-2975-8 USD 13 | GBP 10 | SGD 15 Published April 2022
Written by Low Lai Chow Illustrated by Jeanette Yap Suitable for children aged 3 to 6 200 × 160 mm 36 pages, board book Illustrated throughout ISBN: 978-981-14-5544-5 USD 13 | GBP 10 | SGD 15 Published September 2020
Feast your eyes on delectable delights and discover the magic of a home through modern art! I Want to Play House and Eat with Your Eyes form part of the Art for Tinies series, which brings together stories, illustrations and works of art seamlessly under playful themes. Each title features 14 artworks from National Gallery Singapore accompanied by simple text and images that make learning about art enjoyable.
Nam June Paik
Edited by Sook-Kyung Lee and Rudolf Frieling 246 × 189 mm 176 pages, paperback 111 colour and 48 b/w illustrations ISBN: 978-184-97-6635-7 SGD 47.20 Published October 2019 by Tate For distribution within Singapore only
Matisse & Picasso
Written by Jane Kinsman and Simeran Maxwell 267 × 230 mm 196 pages, paperback 81 colour and 21 b/w illustrations ISBN: 978-06-4233-4855 SGD 50 Published May 2020 by National Gallery of Australia For distribution within Singapore only
Suddenly Turning Visible: Art and Architecture in Southeast Asia (1969–1989)
Edited by Shabbir Hussain Mustafa and Seng Yu Jin 230 × 152 mm 312 pages, paperback 119 colour and 82 b/w illustrations ISBN: 978-981-14-0652-2 USD 40 | GBP 30 | SGD 50
Minimalism: Space. Light. Object.
Edited by Eugene Tan and Russell Storer 292 × 230 mm 280 pages, hardback 154 colour and 65 b/w illustrations ISBN: 978-981-11-6680-8 USD 45 | GBP 35 | SGD 55
Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden Commission: Danh Vo
Edited by Charmaine Toh 240 × 200 mm 58 pages, hardback 17 colour illustrations ISBN: 978-981-11-2236-1 USD 23 | GBP 20 | SGD 25
Edited by Russell Storer 240 × 200 mm 60 pages, paperback 17 colour illustrations ISBN: 978-981-11-6454-5 USD 23 | GBP 20 | SGD 25
Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden Commission: Charles Lim Yi Yong
Edited by Adele Tan 240 × 200 mm 60 pages, hardback 38 colour illustrations ISBN: 978-981-11-6790-4 USD 23 | GBP 20 | SGD 25
Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden Commission: Cao Fei
Edited by Sam I-shan 240 × 200 mm 60 pages, hardback 17 colour illustrations ISBN: 978-981-14-4941-3 USD 23 | GBP 20 | SGD 25 Published August 2020
Lim Cheng Hoe: Painting Singapore
Edited by Low Sze Wee 287.5 × 230 mm 160 pages, paperback 100 colour and 8 b/w illustrations ISBN: 978-981-11-6825-3 USD 40 | GBP 30 | SGD 50
Colours of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay
Edited by Marine Kisiel and Paul Perrin 295 × 230 mm 208 pages, paperback 142 colour and 10 b/w illustrations ISBN: 978-981-11-4515-5 USD 40 | GBP 30 | SGD 50
Between Worlds: Raden Saleh and Juan Luna
Edited by Russell Storer 295 × 230 mm 208 pages, paperback Available in two cover designs 120 colour illustrations ISBN: 978-981-114684-8 USD 40 | GBP 30 | SGD 50
Strokes of Life: The Art of Chen Chong Swee 生机出笔端：陈宗瑞艺术特展
Edited by Low Sze Wee and Cai Heng 305 × 240 mm 212 pages, paperback 100 colour and 1 b/w illustrations English and Chinese ISBN: 978-981-11-2373-3 USD 40 | GBP 30 | SGD 50
Rediscovering Treasures: Ink Art from the Xiu Hai Lou Collection 袖中有东海：袖海楼水墨藏珍
Edited by Low Sze Wee and Cai Heng 305 × 240 mm 192 pages, paperback 61 colour illustrations English and Chinese ISBN: 978-981-11-2374-0 USD 40 | GBP 30 | SGD 50
Reframing Modernism: Painting from Southeast Asia, Europe and Beyond
Edited by Low Sze Wee, Horikawa Lisa and Phoebe Scott 300 × 240 mm 248 pages, hardback 218 colour illustrations ISBN: 978-981-09-9561-4 USD 73 | GBP 56 | SGD 90
Iskandar Jalil: Kembara Tanah Liat (Clay Travels)
Edited by Low Sze Wee and Seng Yu Jin 305 × 240 mm 364 pages, hardback (collector’s edition) 186 colour illustrations ISBN: 978-981-11-0189-2 (hardback) USD 270 | GBP 205 | SGD 330
A Fact Has No Appearance: Art Beyond the Object
Edited by Clarissa Chikiamco, Russell Storer and Adele Tan 280 × 200 mm 100 pages, paperback 40 colour and 2 b/w illustrations ISBN: 978-981-09-8433-5 USD 23 | GBP 20 | SGD 25
Earth Work 1979
Edited by Charmaine Toh 280 × 200 mm 100 pages, paperback 6 colour and 23 b/w illustrations ISBN: 978-981-09-8282-9 USD 23 | GBP 20 | SGD 25
Wu Guanzhong: Beauty Beyond Form 吴冠中：大美无垠
Edited by Low Sze Wee 285 × 230 mm 192 pages, paperback 67 colour and 12 b/w illustrations English and Chinese ISBN: 978-981-09-8135-8 USD 40 | GBP 30 | SGD 50
Chua Ek Kay: After the Rain 蔡逸溪：雨后
Edited by Low Sze Wee 285 × 230 mm 208 pages, paperback 52 colour and 2 b/w illustrations English and Chinese ISBN: 978-981-09-7353-7 USD 40 | GBP 30 | SGD 50
Liu Kang: Colourful Modernist
Edited by Yeo Wei Wei 275 × 205 mm 296 pages, paperback/hardback 290 colour and 1 b/w illustrations ISBN: 978-981-08-8674-5 (paperback) USD 35 | GBP 28 | SGD 45 ISBN: 978-981-08-8675-2 (hardback) USD 60 | GBP 45 | SGD 75
The Story of Yeh Chi Wei (2 Volumes)
Edited by Yeo Wei Wei Volume 1 (hardback) 280 × 220 mm 296 pages, 150 colour illustrations ISBN: 978-981-08-5026-5 Volume 2 (CD-ROM) 695 pages, 200 colour illustrations ISBN: 978-981-08-5929-9 English and Chinese USD 58 | GBP 44 | SGD 70 Edited by Kwok Kian Woon and Lee Wen 297 × 210 mm 88 pages, paperback ISBN: 978-9-81081-384-0 USD 23 | GBP 20 | SGD 25
Light & Movement Portrayed: The Art of Anthony Poon
290 × 250 mm 262 pages, paperback/hardback 200 colour and 3 b/w illustrations ISBN: 978-981-08-3545-3 USD 35 | GBP 28 | SGD 45 (paperback) USD 60 | GBP 45 | SGD 75 (hardback)
Latiff Mohidin: Pago Pago (1960–1969)
Edited by Shabbir Hussain Mustafa and Catherine David 320 × 220 mm 214 pages, hardback 85 colour illustrations ISBN: 978-981-11-4517-9 USD 45 | GBP 35 | SGD 55
Latiff Mohidin: Journey to Wetlands and Beyond
Edited by Francis Dorai and Ibrahim Tahir 287 × 257 cm 160 pages, hardback ISBN: 978-9-81426-002-2 USD 48 | GBP 38 | SGD 60
The Artists Village: 20 Years On
Thrice Upon A Time: A Century of Story in the Art of the Philippines
Written by Tan Boon Hui, Joyce Toh, Patrick Flores, et al. 125 × 179 mm 160 pages, paperback ISBN: 978-9-81084-383-0 USD 45 | GBP 35 | SGD 55
Manit Sriwanichpoom: Phenomena & Prophecies
Written by Tan Boon Hui, Dr. Wiroon Tungcharoen, Ark Fongsmut, et al. 177 × 250 mm 140 pages, paperback ISBN: 978-9-81086-693-8 USD 18 | GBP 13 | SGD 20
Ming Wong: Life of Imitation
Written by Tan Boon Hui, Tang Fu Kuen, Russell Storer, et al. 287 × 257 mm 120 pages, paperback ISBN: 978-9-81085-546-8 USD 70 | GBP 52 | SGD 85
Natee Utarit: After Painting
Written by Michelle Ho, Tan Boon Hui and Iola Lenzi 286 × 258 mm 172 pages, paperback ISBN: 978-9-81086-692-1 USD 45 | GBP 35 | SGD 55
Singapore Contemporary Artists Series: Vincent Leow
Written by David Chew, Tan Boon Hui, Gilles Massot, et al. 250 × 180 mm 80 pages, paperback ISBN: 978-9-81426-041-1 USD 28 | GBP 22 | SGD 30
Amanda Heng: Speak to me, Walk with Me
Written by Tan Boon Hui, Michelle Ho, Lee Weng Choy, et al. 250 × 180 mm 228 pages, paperback ISBN: 978-9-81070-087-4 USD 28 | GBP 22 | SGD 30
Hyung Koo Kang: The Burning Gaze
Written by Tan Boon Hui and Jungkwon Chin 260 × 285 mm 84 pages, paperback ISBN: 978-9-81089-994-3 USD 23 | GBP 20 | SGD 25
Terms & Conditions
Edited by Savita Apte 257 × 185 mm 93 pages, hardback ISBN: 978-9-81076-842-3 USD 23 | GBP 20 | SGD 25
Thai Transience
Written by Tan Boon Hui, Apinan Poshyananda, M.R. Chakrarot Chitrabongs, et al. 282 × 260 mm 144 pages, paperback ISBN: 978-9-81074-850-0 USD 23 | GBP 20 | SGD 25
Time of Others
Edited by Hashimoto Asuza, Murakami Juri, Sano Meiko and Furuichi Yasuko 240 × 178 mm 148 pages, hardback USD 23 | GBP 20 | SGD 25
After Utopia: Revisiting the Ideal in Asian Contemporary Art
Written by Tan Siuli, Louis Ho and Dr Farish A. Noor 257 × 185 mm 112 pages, hardback ISBN: 978-9-81110-215-8 USD 28 | GBP 22 | SGD 30
