South-east Asian art gains traction globally

Singapore

SOUTH-EAST Asian art is catching the eye of the world and Art Stage Singapore is partly responsible for that. So says Lorenzo Rudolf, the founder and fair director of Art Stage Singapore, the country's biggest and more prestigious art fair.

"We have a momentum. Europe, the United States and North Asia are showing interest in South-east Asian art. Museums are beginning to collect South-east Asian art. We have art here you don't see anywhere else," he says.

For the upcoming Jan 2015 edition, Art Stage will feature at least 135 galleries, of which 70 per cent are from the Asia Pacific region and 34 are Singapore-based. The galleries come from 29 countries and 49 cities, and a third of these are new to the fair.

Art from almost every Asian country, says Mr Rudolf, is represented at the fair, which will take place once again at the Marina Bay Sands' Sands Expo and Convention Centre in late January.

As per tradition, Art Stage Singapore rolled out several surprises at its first press conference. Firstly, the popular Turner Prize-winning duo Gilbert & George will create approximately five large-scale artworks that will be displayed around the fair. Gilbert & George are well-known for their bright photo-based artworks that tackle sensitive subject matters such as religion and nudity. It is not known yet what they'll be creating for the Singapore fair.

Other large-scale artworks will include those by Singapore's Suzann Victor, Colombia's Fernando Botero, India's Paresh Maity and Indonesia's Titarubi.

Also thrilling is the new 150 square metre Modern Platform where works by famous modern Asian artists such KK Hebbar, MF Husain and Zao Wou-Ki will be juxtaposed against works by modern Western artists such as Joan Miro and Pablo Picasso. The paintings will be provided by both galleries and the French art museum Pinacotheque de Paris.

The showcase of modern art, notes Mr Rudolf, has usually been "dominated by auction houses" selling secondary-market artworks. This may be a rare instance of an art fair providing a historical context to artworks produced in the Modern era, roughly defined to be between the 1860s and the 1970s.

Moving to contemporary art, one of the most anticipated features of the upcoming fair will be its Video Platform, featuring 40 or more international video artworks. Video art is generally given scant attention by both galleries and collectors because they are harder to display and fetch lower prices compared to traditional art forms like paintings and sculpture.

"But in a young country, video art is a very exciting art form," says Mr Rudolf. Hence, Art Stage Singapore will commit a sizeable area of the fair for showcasing video art in a museum-like layout.

One potentially controversial feature of the fair is its new Russian Platform which will be curated by the well-regarded Olga Sviblova, director of Multimedia Museum Moscow. Mr Rudolf says Russia is part of Asia - a contentious argument, no doubt - and wants to create a dialogue between the art of Russia and other parts of Asia.

Depending on the size of the platform, however, this may attract the ire of some gallerists, echoing the controversy of Art Stage Singapore 2013 when Indonesia had its own platform at the supposed expense of art from other countries including Singapore. This year, too, Art Stage has appointed Indonesian art collector Tom Tandio as its regional director, Indonesia, who's tasked with attracting wealthy Indonesian collectors to visit Art Stage in January.

Meanwhile, the Southeast Asian Platform, which was a hit in the January 2014 edition, will be making a comeback. Curated by Khim Ong, it will feature Singapore's Mike HJ Chang, Chong Weixin, Choy Ka Fai, Hilmi Johandi and Zaki Razak; Indonesia's Agan Harahap and Wisnu Auri; Malaysia's Chris Chong, Choy Chun Wei and Ise; the Philippine's Yason Banal, Wawi Navarroza and Gary-Ross Pastrana; Thailand's Nipan Oranniwesna; and Vietnam's Hoang Duong Cam.

Since it started in 2011, Art Stage has expanded not so much in size but certainly in stature. The buzz it's generated and the number of satellite events that have flourished around it have grown tremendously.

In 2011, there was only one other side event accompanying the fair. By 2014, there were dozens of events taking place around the fair, including gallery openings, talks and auctions - prompting the National Arts Council, Economic Development Board and Singapore Tourism Board to collaborate in branding the array of events as Singapore Art Week (SAW).

At the upcoming edition, SAW will take place from Jan 17 to 25. Its aim, says NAC's director of visual arts Paul Tan, is to "deepen the visual literacy of the Singapore public and encourage the collecting of art".

Art Stage Singapore takes place from January 22 to 25, 2015, at Marina Bay Sands. Tickets from $10 (concession group ticket) to $64 (4-day pass) are available from Sistic.