Five great shows at Gillman Barracks

HAVE you been to Gillman Barracks lately? The current crop of shows at the gallery cluster is impressive, with some of Singapore’s best established and emerging artists pulling out the stops to deliver something special during the country’s birthday month. Many of the shows have only just opened and will run into the first week of September at least.

If you’re not sure where to begin, we suggest starting your journey at Blk 47 Malan Road with Richard Koh Fine Art where 7 local artists are showing 3 to 4 works each. They range from the geometric beauty of Ash Ghazali’s folded fabrics to the artfully chaotic collages of Ivan David Ng, from the quietly potent sculptures of Faris Nakamura to the melancholic minimalism of Lin Mengju’s paintings. 

Newcomer Samuel Xun displays sass with his wall sculptures made out of glitter ribbons expressing queer identity explorations, while Hu Qiren cleverly skewers contemporary art by turning ubiquitous items of the pandemic (such as face masks and fan filters) into minimalist artworks. The most established of the 7 artists, Melissa Tan, has 3 works that continue her in-depth exploration into mythological goddesses, and all 3 have been snapped up.