A home for art

HE loves fossils and artworks that have dynamism to them, while she loves conceptual art. Together, Cliff Hartono and Christina J Chua, the co-founders of Metis Art, show how the different styles of art can co-exist harmoniously in their two-storey black and white terrace house in Chip Bee Gardens.

The couple started Metis Art, an art education and consultancy firm, in 2019. It runs a curriculum, The Tetrad, which covers art history; the who's who and how to navigate art galleries, fairs, and museums; how to price, evaluate and invest in art, and sniffing out art trends and mastering art lingo. Its participants are mostly working professionals such as bankers, doctors and lawyers.

The couple met a few years ago at an art gallery.

With no background in art, Mr Hartono admits that visiting galleries and museums can be intimidating and those experiences left him confused.

Seeing how there could be others like him, who have an interest in art but don't know where to start, he and Ms Chua, an art dealer who has also managed art galleries, launched Metis Art.

Ms Chua is director of education and consultancy while Mr Hartono handles business development. Mr Hartono quips that since he underwent The Tetrad, he is no longer as lost as before.

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Home to other creatives, Chip Bee Gardens is naturally the couple's neighbourhood of choice.

"As the business didn't require a conventional gallery space, the house provided the opportunity for us to make it a dual-use space - a home for us, as well as a cosy gallery where visitors can see and purchase art," says Ms Chua, who is also chief editor of so-far, a web publication and hybrid platform for experimental art practices. "As a home/gallery, visitors enjoy the casual vibe of the space."

The couple kept renovation works to a minimum since they are renting the house.

They did, however, invest in the same lighting system that museums and galleries use. "We felt it was important to best show the artworks," says Ms Chua.

The house is filled with both pieces from their own collections as well as some pieces that are consigned to Metis. There are works by South-east Asian artists as well as young and emerging ones.

There are almost no bare walls in the house. On the first floor where the dining and living rooms are, the pieces have been selected by Mr Hartono.

Taking centrestage in the dining room, the first artwork that visitors would see is what looks like a muddled piece of calligraphy, titled Wishing We Last Forever by Lim Tze Peng, Singapore's oldest artist. Over in the living room, there hangs a painting of a lion attacking a horse and its horseman, a piece by Indonesian graphic artist Uji Handoko.

"Having pieces that show movement is a way to bring life to space," says Mr Hartono.

Besides running Metis Art, Mr Hartono is also the founder of Set in Stone Gallery, which offers fossils and mineral pieces acquired from around the world. A trilobite given to him when he was five and visits to the Natural History Museum in London sparked his lifelong interest in fossils.

Contemporary artworks, natural history, emerging artists

Apart from contemporary artworks, visitors have the opportunity to see natural history up close such as that of fossilised seashells that are five million years old, and a wall art of a fossilised leaf with fish found in Wyoming, that is said to be 52 million years old.

The artworks on the second floor have been chosen by Ms Chua, a mix of emerging artists that she likes to support and work with.

Eye catching pieces include what appears like wallpaper but is actually an artwork by Scottish/Danish artist Edward Clydesdale Thomson; and an acrylic piece by Filipino artist Kristoffer Ardeña complete with a matching rug on the floor. Ms Chua shares that no one has mistakenly wiped their feet on the rug.

It is in the couple's study, where modern art and natural history come together. On the wall is a piece by Singaporean artist Genevieve Chua created using ultrasound technology that hangs above a shelf filled with fossils of dragonflies and mineral slabs.

The couple show their support not only for local artists but other homegrown brands as well. For example, they have picked furniture pieces from Roger & Sons and Nathan Yong, and dot their space with dried floral arrangements from This Humid House and decorative vessels from Pinch Ceramics.

The colour palette for the furnishing is kept neutral so as to not steal the attention from the artworks. This detail is seen in the rugs too, chosen to match the colours and patterns of the fossils.

Ms Chua says that to keep artworks from fading it is best to keep them away from direct sunlight. They do have the air conditioning on most of the time, but generally, the art works fare well in Singapore's humid conditions. "The fossils have no problems with heat and humidity," adds Mr Hartono.

Part of Ms Chua's role is also to help find artworks for their home, sourcing for the pieces after learning about their tastes. "But you can never go wrong with a piece that you immediately like," she says.