Done and Started

Just Done

Just Started

Currently at the Singapore Art Museum

SAM

Is It Tomorrow Yet? – Highlights from the Daimler Art Collection
27 Nov ‘08 – 1 Mar ‘09

An extensive showcase of Daimler’s art collection. This traveling exhibition currently takes over the space used to display the museum’s permanent collection. Mostly modern contemporary art from the last 80 years or so with emphasis on minimalism, Bauhaus, and the like.

Recommended route: start from Gallery 1.3 (oldest works, basis of the collection), then go upstairs to cover Galleries 2.1 – 2.6 and finish in Gallery 1.1 (latest works). Not to be missed.

Transcendence: Modernity and Beyond in Korean Art
8 Nov ‘08 – 15 Mar ‘09

The exhibition examines Korean contemporary art development over the last five decades and features over 40 works by 12 artists. I like this one, especially the earlier works.

Recommended route: start from Gallery 1.10 (across the courtyard, near the glass hall), climb the stairs up to level 2, and don’t miss the gallery on the 3rd floor (just follow the arrow).

APAD: Tradition, Innovation and Continuity
13 Dec ‘08 – 5 Apr ‘09

This exhibition showcases works by current and former members of APAD (Angkatan Pelukis Aneka Daya), a society of artists with Malay heritage founded 46 years ago.

The galleries are quite hard to find, make sure you cover Galleries 2.8 – 2.10 and take the lift next to 2.8 up to level 3.

8Qsam

This is Not a Print!
10 Jan ‘09 – 26 Jul ‘09

A play on Magritte’s “Ceci nes’t pas une pipe” – this exhibition features a selection of over 70 multiples and prints from the SAM Tyler Art Collection; presented to the museum from master printer Kenneth Tyler’s collection in conjunction with the inception of the Singapore Tyler Print Institute. Don’t miss works by Jasper Johns, David Hockney, Richard Hamilton, and Roy Lichstenstein.

Doodle of Me Dog

Another Doodle from the Doodlebook

More People Should Know About This Place

The NUS Museum.

Yes, NUS has a Museum. For those working or studying in NUS and still now realise that the campus has a museum, go there now!

It’s located inside the University Cultural Centre Building, which also happen to house a theatre with a Conservatory located right next to it. The building is located at the first entrance to NUS from AYE, you can’t miss it.

The museum has three levels of exhibition galleries (again, not many people realise this). The street level main gallery currently houses great example of Southeast Asian art, including paintings, prints, and sculptures. There are also 2 other galleries adjoined to it, each housing running exhibitions.

In the bottom level you can see a collection of historic chinese artifacts and also gifts & donations, most of them chinese calligraphy. The top level of the museum houses Ng Eng Teng’s sculptures, displayed chronologically from his early years up to his latest works.

A nice find is La Libreria, a small cute bookshop behind the frosted glass doors on the top level. The bookshop features limited edition artist books and book arts. They also run a bookbinding workshop every Saturday.

It’s a pity that not many people realise the museum’s existence, as it is located quite far from major art schools or gallery clusters. For those who’ve not been there, go there. For those who’ve been there, go more often!

Exhibitions currently displayed at the NUS museum:

Lee Kong Chian Collection: ways of seeing Chinese art
Ng Eng Teng Collection: sculpting life
South & Southeast Asian Collection
Archives & Desires: selections from the Mohammad din Mohammad collection
Mapping the Corporeal: Ronald Ventura
Bound for Glory: Wong Hoy Cheong

Eye Candy of the day

Wire Sculpture by artist Fritz Panzer. Link.

8Q-rate at 8Qsam

Last weekend we went to explore the new contemporary art wing of the Singapore Art Museum, 8Qsam. Quite obviously, the name 8Q refers to its location at 8 Queen Street. Continuing on with the word play, it is currently hosting its inaugural exhibition 8Q-rate: school which displays 8 installations by 8 local contemporary artist, curated by 8 different curators who work with each artist individually. Not to mention that 8Qsam was opened on the 8^th month of the year 2008.

The exhibition theme, School, is apt considering that the wing occupies the former Catholic High School building. They even invited its former principal to the opening! Oh yeah we were there at the opening, too. It was fun and took the School theme up another notch. The staff were all dressed up in their old school uniforms, and some of them also dressed up as school-mistresses, carrying around sticks of rotan and feather dusters. The guest book was disguised as an attendance list, and we all got buttons to pin on our shirts. Mine says “so Q!”. It was reminiscent of a school bazaar. We received coupons which could be exchanged for bottles of Tiger (I don’t think they actually serve beer in school now, do they?), cups of popcorn, potong ice-cream, and free flow of cotton candy and Mamee. It was kinda weird seeing crisply dressed executives licking noodle crumbs off their fingers.

Keeping up the spirit of the theme, throughout the exhibition you’ll see information labels printed on blackboard-green stickers, just like the banner above here. When we entered the lobby, we were welcome by a chrome-clad military Jeep with the phrase “In God We Trust” pasted over its windshield. It’s the deeds of two Filipino artists, Alfredo and Maria Isabel Aquilizan. The jeep isn’t actually part of the 8Q-rate exhibition. Unlike paintings or sculptures, these installations occupy more space. Thus on each gallery only one or two works are displayed. Talking about space, many contemporary installations utilise different media as extension of the traditional form of sculpture. A good example is the sound installation by Chu’an. He reworked the Catholic High school-song into a 25-minute composition that you can hear throughout the three levels of exhibition as a reminder of the spirit of the former school. Somewhat creepy, though. Like in those horror movies where the (scantily-clad female) character walks into some empty old building and some piano in some corner starts playing on its own.

The theme “school” is not explicitly referred to in the installations, but the artists played around with the idea that surrounds school – discipline, boyhood, idealism, rigidity, play, classroom, etc. I don’t want to give a spoiler and tell you about each and every installation, it’s only fun when you experience them yourself . My favourite is Grace Tan’s stitched cloths. It may not sound interesting but wait till you get to see it. Other participating artists are Jason Wee, :phunkstudio, Jahan Loh, Ahmad Abu Bakar, Donna Ong, and Tan Kai Syng.

Over last weekend, there were also public workshops by artists Agnes Yit and Lee Wen in conjunction with The Artist Village exhibition running in SAM. It was a pity that not many people are informed about it. Agnes’s workshop involved scribbling your thoughts on a long banner. You can also help Lee Wen create his chewing gum paintings (first created as a response to the ban) – unfortunately the gums available for us to chew were legal, pharmacy available gums. If only they were contraband from Johor, then I could’ve heard my little rebellious soul screaming “yay!”. We also drew ships. Yes, ships. With crayons. And markers. On A3-size sheets of paper. They will be used as part of the collage displayed in the Bayfront MRT station. But don’t get excited yet. First, my drawing isn’t any better than any kindergartener’s, and the station will only be opened in 2012. But hey it’s my chance to show off my (nonexistent) skill to the public!

On the 4^th level of 8Qsam you can find I Nyoman Masriadi’s exhibition, “Black is My Last Weapon” which will run until 9 November. He’s an Indonesian painter whose paintings now are much sought after and fetch amazing prices at auctions. All the paintings displayed come from collectors, since he’s sold every last piece of his work. Masriadi paints almost comical figures inspired by commentaries on daily life (fights, bodybuilding, the arts, even popping pimples and batman) complete with speech bubbles. I couldn’t help but smile and feel tickled by them.

I’m pretty sure many of the visitors to 8Qsam leave with the question “Is this art?”. Just keep in mind we shouldn’t think too hard and try to find the meaning of each and every piece of artwork or what the artist intends to imply! You can like an artwork (or not) for many different reasons – which is perfectly fine as there is no right or wrong. But most importantly, it has to have a message, or provoke your mind, or gets you inspired. I think 8Qsam is a good effort to reach out and educate the community about contemporary art. So do come down to 8Qsam and experience something different!

Keep yourself posted with happenings at SAM here.

I Nyoman Masriadi

It’s a long entry, be prepared.
On the occasion of I Nyoman Masriadi’s “Black is My Last Weapon” exhibition in Singapore Art Museum’s 8Qsam wing – this article is translated (by me) from Rustika Herlambang’s interview with I Nyoman Masriadi. You can find it in her blog and the August 2008 edition of the Indonesian fashion magazine, Dewi.

Conversations on Canvas

I Nyoman Masriadi

The house with the tall fence in the middle of paddy fields just outside Yogyakarta marks the home of I Nyoman Masriadi (b.1973). There, he lives with his wife, Anna, and his two children, while enjoying the peace and quiet. The cool pool, the blossoming yellow frangipani, the green grass, and the Meraja (small pura/temple) in the backyard, creates the atmosphere of Bali, the birthplace of the painter who is now hot topic among international auction houses.

The young artist has just been featured by Sotheby’s International Preview as one of the top masters and the world’s top contemporary artists. One of his works, “Jago Kandang” (Home Champion), is ranked first in Sotheby’s Top Ten Contemporary Southeast Asian Painting in the Asian Contemporary Art and Culture Magazine 2008. Within the past 2 years, the price of his works has reached new records. His last piece, “Sudah Biasa Ditelanjangi” (Used to being Stripped), was sold at a fantastic price in a Christie’s auction in Hong Kong.

His first solo exhibition is now ongoing in the Singapore Art Museum. “Since every last piece my paintings were sold, I had to borrow from collectors”, said Masriadi who’s known to be a prolific artist. He doesn’t compromise on standards and is always progressive in thoughts.

Amir Sidharta, art critic and owner of Sidharta Auction House, mentioned that the current market anticipates new works by Masriadi. They are considered to represent the spirit of contemporary art through his witty, smart, and unique characters.

Take a look at “Facial”, 2008 (Not Usually Painful). In it, a picture of a mid-age male in white headband cringing in pain while his sexy skin therapist (visualised by a mini-skirt that reveals her thighs) squeezes his pimples with a somewhat bloody consequences. In a speech balloon, “Oomnya terharu” (His uncle was touched). In “Bingkisan”, 2006 (the Package), a skinny woman in underwear holds a package that is four or five times her size while expressing longing through her eyes. The effect of his work does not only stop at the viewer’s vision but invites knee-jerk reactions, generate imagination, and conversations.

On canvas his works are rich in stories and even tend to be chatty, but Masriadi is rarely so. Gallery owners and art critics who know him personally agree that Masriadi is a quiet figure, even sometimes seemingly indifferent. Maybe Anna, his wife, could be a better spokesperson. But is that so?

“I don’t mean to be unfriendly to people, but I just need some warming up”, said Masriadi who looks filled with good humour. According to fellow painter Rudi Mantofani, conversing intimately with Masriadi requires you to tune into the same wavelength as his. “Building trust and opennes to people is not an easy task for me”. Masriadi is rarely found in art meetings or exhibition openings, he prefers to stay at home and play computer games.

He looks enthusiastic when talking about games. “Computer games are fun. There are tasks to finish and when we do, we feel like the greatest”. He also gets his inspirations from computer games. “I’m into RF now. I can spend hours in front of the computer, even spending longer time than I do for work. Ha ha ha… But clearly, it is where I can escape to”

“I like living in solitude. Ever since I was a kid I never wanted to follow my parents, like the Balinese tradition that requires me and my family to stay with my parents. I can’t imagine living with the family of my five siblings. Furthermore I’m the middle-child. Makes me a little paranoid thinking about that. Ha ha ha..”

Raised in an environment saturated with Balinese art, Masriadi eventually departed from his traditional roots although it is never completely gone. Just look at how he decorates his house or frangipanis in his paintings. His difference in style with traditional Balinese artists did make Anna question her husband. Especially when they were living in a narrow rented house and a baby was on the way. “Why do you paint such plump figures while other people paint such beautiful pictures?”

As usual, Masriadi didn’t budge. He kept producing pieces inspired by clash of cultures and inconsistencies in daily matters. Yogyakarta and its people, with its conversation puns and accepting way of life, becomes his ideal castle of imagination.

He is inspired by daily life. “There’s no particular process. Just sitting here, I’ve already got an idea for my work,” he says while smoking and sipping on a glass of orange juice and vodka. “In college I was influenced by the masters. But too many concepts stifle my creativity. I don’t want to be bound by concepts.”

Masriadi didn’t complete his degree from the Indonesian Art Institute (ISI). “I just couldn’t create 30 paintings for my final project.” For him, painting does not only mean putting ideas on canvas. He puts his heart and soul into it. “I used to be afraid of speaking in public. When I’m forced to, I get stage fright and start trembling. So instead of getting bombarded with questions on the concepts of my work, I just create paintings that are easily understood.”

After he decided to quit his studies, he felt he has more freedom to create without having to explain the meaning of each of his painting. In the last decade, he has struggled and matured into his current style. “Life is a daily struggle. But for me, it’s just fun..”

“When people talk about business, there’s profits and loss involved. Me, I’m making art. Making art feels like being a God. I can do what I like doing everyday. Maybe this is different from other people. Can you call this a struggle?” He bursts into laughter after seeing the expression on his wife’s face.

Anna plays an amazingly big role in Masriadi’s life and work. She devotes her life for Masriadi and is unseparable from his success: she stays up with him until late at night while he paints, accompanies him to the internet-cafe and picks him up in the morning, host visits with Masriadi, and takes care of their children. Their teamwork contributes to Masriadi’s growth through time as an artist.

Contemporary Art at SAM

8Q sam is located at 8 Queen Street, Singapore,
On the opposite side of the street from the museum’s “DOME cafe” and the Church of St. Peter & Paul

EVENTS

Today, 15 Aug is the opening of 8Q, the new wing of the Singapore Art Museum, which specialises in Contemporary Art. Opening is 6.30pm onwards. A few events over the weekend will follow:

Gallery Turn Studios at 8Q sam
16 – 17 Aug (Sat & Sun) • 8Q sam Gallery Level 1 • 10am – 7pm • Free
Come interact and find out how artists work as they transform a museum gallery into a working studio space to create artworks! Do not miss this opportunity to mingle with The Artists Village artists as they create artworks, turning a gallery space that is traditionally reserved for the display and presentation of art into a creative space where art comes alive!

“Uninvited Obstacles” Install II workshop by artist Agnes Yit
Time: 2pm – 4pm
Visualise your thoughts with artist Agnes Yit, who will pose questions and set you thinking on the role that you adopt in your everyday life.
Expect an installation of punching bags, which was exhibited in Post-Ulu at The Substation in the year 2000. Post-Ulu was organised by newer members of TAV who did not experience the early phase of the group and space at Lorong Gambas.

“When The Ship Comes In” workshop by artist Lee Wen
Time: 3pm – 5pm
Express your imagination to social history of Singapore and respond by creating your own artwork. Selected artworks will be used to form a collage to be installed at the future Bayfront MRT Station.
Commissioned by Land Transport Authority of Singapore (LTA), Cultural Medallion recipient & artist, Lee Wen will be conceptualising an artwork as part of LTA’s Intergrated Art Programme.

EXHIBITIONS

School: 8Q-Rate
(16 Aug 08 – 9 Jan 09)
Tour by curator: 22 Aug 08, 7.30pm (free)
School: 8Q-Rate is a contemporary exhibition where eight curators will work with eight artists from multi-disciplnary backgrounds to present works that play on the theme of school.

The Artists Village: 20 Years On
(9 Aug 08 – 5 Oct 08 )
Tour by curator: 29 Aug 08 & 12 Sep 08, 7.30pm (free)
The Artists Village: 20 Years On addresses issues concerning the history, or rather, memories of The Artists Village (TAV). The dynamics of individual and collective social memories of the TAV artists during the Ulu Sembawang period and the Post-Ulu period offer multiple entry points to the understanding of TAV.

Masriadi: Black Is My Last Weapon
(15 Aug 08 – 9 Nov 08 )
Tour by curator: 19 Sep 08, 7.30pm (free)
Masriadi: Black is My Last Weapon gathers more than 30 paintings by Indonesian artist I Nyoman Masriadi from early 1990s to his most recent 2008 works. A first solo exhibition of contemporary Indonesian art at the SAM, the exhibition forms part of SAM’s ongoing efforts to feature significant modern and contemporary Southeast Asian artists, continuing from solo exhibitions of Affandi and Widayat in 2007. The works on display for Masriadi: Black is My Last Weapon have been borrowed from individual collectors in , and Hong Kong.

For more Info visit the Singapore Art Museum website: www.singart.com

Free Entry to Singapore’s Museums

In celebration of the National Heritage Board’s 15th Anniversary
Date: 1-15 August 2008
Time: everyday after 3.00pm
Venue: all NHB museums

This one’s not widely publicised (I’m not sure why), but another thing to watch out for is the opening of the new wing of the Singapore Art Museum at Queen Street on 15 August. It’s just next to the main building, behind POSB and opposite the church of St. Peter & Paul – it’s currently still under construction, though. But seems almost done. And in November there’s going to be the Highlights from the Daimler Art Collection (1908-2008 ) exhibition. This one is a major exhibition that’ll be pretty exciting!

Trip to Singapore Tyler Print Institute workshop

Last week, the group of Museum Volunteer trainees went for a very educational tour to the Singapore Tyler Print Institute (STPI). It’s officially our field trip, and they’re showing prints made by Matisse (never seen before outside France!). I heard that we were supposed to go to the Heritage Conservation Centre in Jurong, where they store and conserve stuff collection from NHB museums, but cancelled since they’re doing renovation works and are closed for visits for the time being. Other than the tour of the Matisse exhbition, there was also a talk on his biography, and also a tour of STPI’s workshop. I find that the workshop tour was funner than the talk! But don’t tell! Anyway, here’s a few snaps of the workshop (we were not allowed to take photos in the Gallery)

The biggest press you can find in Asia (or Southeast Asia?)

This is where you grind your slabs of stone for lithographs

They make their own paper to ensure quality, and also the artists can then play around with the texture, form, and colour of the paper they intend to use themselves

Pretty pretty rollers. They remind me of kebabs.

For Batik prints. Was kinda surprised to see these here, but hey – it’s for PRINTING

Color swatches on the wall

Artists’ work counter, with bottles of dyes

Work boots, found them cutely arranged like this

More of the pretty rollers, hand rollers

Cans of lithography ink

Art for Today – Jacques Lipchitz

This write-up was done for my first presentation for the Singapore Art Museum training. I’ve never heard of his name before I had to do this write-up on him. We all learn something new everyday

Jacques Lipchitz (1891 – 1973)

The influential 20^th century sculptor Jacques Lipchitz was born in Lithuania in 1891 into a Jewish family. At first he studied engineering, but at age 18, with the support of his mother and the dismay of his father, he moved to Paris to study art. In 1914 he joined a group of artists which included Juan Gris and Pablo Picasso. This environment played a great role in influencing Lipchitz into adopting cubism in his work and rejecting his earlier, more classical style.

The authority in Cubism is generally considered to be in painting, but unlike other artists such as Picasso and Braque, Lipchitz did not dabble in painting but worked exclusively in sculptures (of course discounting his preparatory sketches and gouaches). Lipchitz was the first sculptor to embrace cubism completely and pioneered nonrepresentational sculptures. Other cubist artists also experimented with three-dimensional cubist constructions, but Lipchitz consistently worked with traditional methods and materials in delivering Cubist ideas.

Man with Guitar, 1920, Bronze

One of the preoccupations of sculptors after the First World War was monumental pieces. Having created works for indoor environments, Lipchitz was working out how the same principles could be applied to outdoor, monumental sculptures. Man with Guitar (1920) is one result of his preoccupation with the monumental.

The sculpture combines two different views of a guitarist out of which a third, otherworldly bird-like profile emerge. Unlike any of his previous works, it is angular, blocky, masculine, and generates a sense of bulk. Its abbreviated forms are reduced into tightly integrated blocks. The sculptor said of his work:

“… is now completely frontalized, composed of massive, integrated blocks. I even eliminated the shaft of the guitar, squaring off the body and integrating it completely with the torso of the figure. The asymmetrical staring eyes give to the figure a peculiar sense of almost hypnotic power which emphasizes its specific human personality.”

Standing at only 53cm tall, it was initially visioned to be elevated on a pedestal. Lipchitz dubbed this and other small-scale works “easel sculptures”.

In the late 1920’s, Lipchitz’ style started to shift away from cubism as he got more interested in the curves of the human form. Under the German occupation of France in World War II and their persecution toward Jews, Lipchitz moved to U.S. This was where he renewed his style and introduced underlying lyrical and spiritual ideas in his work.

Sources and Readings:

Putz, Catherine. 2002. Jacques Lipchitz: the First Cubist Sculptor. London: Paul Holbertson Publishing.

Wilkinson, Alan G. 1996. The Sculpture of Jacques Lipchitz: a Catalogue Raissone Vol.1, the Paris Years 1910-1914. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd.

Jacques Lipchitz: Biography. http://www.answers.com/topic/jacques-lipchitz?cat=entertainment

Marlborough Gallery, NY. http:// www.marlboroughgallery.com/artists/lipchitz/Lipchitz%20pr-2007.pdf

Jacques Lipchitz: His Life in Sculpture. 1972. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New Series, Vol.30, No.6. pp.284-288.

Singapore Night Festival

Date: 18 – 26 July 2008

Venue: National Museum, SMU lawn, and its vicinity

Time: at night

There’s gonna be some fun happening the next two weekends. Singapore is holding a Night Festival which includes performances spectacular (imported, of course) some outdoor Zouk-ing and a slew of other performances and installations.

The Italian aerial Performance, The Dancing Sky by Studi Festi, will be on 18 and 19 July at 9.00pm at the National Museum with a second performance at 11.30pm. It’s gonna involve suspended stuff and people flying around. There are also other performances around the venue.

The highlight on 25 and 26 July is the Zouk Beatnik Picnic outdoor party (do I hear PARTY? Yeah!!!!) A number of heritage-related events will be held in museums and and vicinity, and watch out for the light installation that will paint the facades of the National Museum and the Art Museum. They’re also going to screen (the John Travolta) Hairspray and Willy Wonka (the 1971 version) outdoors, under the huge banyan tree outside the National Museum.

And.. and.. they’re all FREE!!!! And the 5 museums in the civic district (Asian Civilisation, National, Peranakan, Art, Philatelic) will be open to the public until 2.00am on both weekends the 25th, and.. and.. it’s FREE admission from 6.00pm onwards! Now how cool is that?

I picked up a pamphlet with all the performance schedule but apparently they don’t have an online version of it. The National Museum website lists the programmes but the website isn’t really that friendly – but anyway it’s better than nothing, so if you wanna know more you can visit their website then click on the Night Festival link at the bottom of the page and then click on the respective dates to view the programme line-up.

Fragonard painted with his buttocks, Renoir with his maleness

Last week during the Museum Volunteer training session each of us were given a copy of “The Annotated Mona Lisa“. It a comprehensive, compact, easy-to-read book (no academic arty farty terminologies) – which I’ve been reading day in – day out. I really think I need to catch up on my art, especially in this training period, as I’ve abandoned almost any (visual) art related activity and readings the moment I stepped into Engineering School. Then I got distracted by the textbooks and gathering enough ECA points and all the other things that preoccupies a Singapore university student. Luckily we got heaps of art books at home that I flipped through diligently when I was back in Jakarta, but I can’t remember most of the stuff I read, although some did stick in my head and all the artists’ names sounds just so familiar. I would say this Museum Volunteer thing is a really good opportunity to revisit my interest in art (it was never gone in the first place, but it did diminish) and also I’ll be surrounded by people who are also genuinely interested in art (environment). It’s like being married to a woman, then moving out to live with the girlfriend, and then after a few years rekindling the romance with the wife. You can feel the joy of reminiscing memories and the novelty of another newfound romance.

Anyway, back to the Mona Lisa book – I’ve been reading it day in and day out, on my way to the office, during my solitary lunch hours, on my way back from work, as a bed time reading. And this morning I was waken up by names of random Italian artists swimming around in my head. And I tried to fall back to sleep but all I could think about was who these people were and what they painted! This is becoming an obsession. And I still have a binder of excerpts to read. And I need to do a writeup on Jacques Lipchitz, the cubist sculptor. Went to the central library to look up books on him, but apparently most books on Cubism explore paintings almost exclusively. Found a few books written about his work, too. But I need some explanations on a specific, preferrably representative, artwork. Guess I’ll have to spend some time this weekend squatting in the library. *hooray for studying!* I so miss my studying days.

I chatted with a visiting professor during lunch yesterday. He teaches Music Technology in Australia and he’s into experimental music. He’s also created an interesting performance that uses Bluetooth enabled phones (16 of them, swung around the head of students) as instruments. So he mentioned that he got his degree in Music, and reality struck him – he couldn’t make money out of music! At least not decent enough money. So he became an engineer instead. The new occupation had better capability of paying the bills. But it got interesting that now he’s exploring technology (engineering) to create music. So I asked him if people ever wondered what the point of swinging phones was, after a performance. He told me he’d simply reply, “Why are you still here, then?”. But to avoid people who grumble about “what’s the point?” he’d prepared a slide that lists the reasons:

• It’s easier than swinging those huge loud speakers around
• *something I can’t quite recall*
• It gives a spatial sense of sound without the need of fancy DSP
• It’s fun!

Art for Today : Surrounding David

This gigantic duplicate of Michelangelo’s David clad in pink kebaya brocade is currently in the rotunda of the National Museum of Singapore (NAMOS). It’s the deeds of Indonesian artist, Titarubi. I believe people’s reactions would vary, including “This looks like candy”, “What is this?”, “Who is this?”, “Gotta be someone with fucked up brains”, “What next? Rodin’s The Thinker clad in Hello Kitty decals?”, “This is an eyesore”, “Heeheehee look at his dick”. I just thought it was a bit frivolous at first. Anyway, I found a writeup done by its curator, Enin Supriyanto.

Subverted David, Subversive Beauty
…
By choosing David, Titarubi is jumping directly into a maelstrom of intertwining problems: the canon and model of genius (male) artist and his masterpiece, gender, idealization of masculinity and nudity. This is why, although there are other existing statues, which are generally considered in Western tradition as the ideal figure of a human (male), the hero and also the symbol of knowledge, such as exemplified by Apollo Belvedere, David provides more space to problematize not only conceptual debates concerning to the ideal canon of human body—the masculine beauty—but also how the concept is realized within a specific context: the contribution of modern art history in constituting the dominant discourse of the ideal human body (male). And how all of them are contextually represented to Indonesian or to Asian society in general.

At least there are three visual, as well as conceptual, strategies that Titarubi applied to approach David in her current work. First, she amplifies the size of David, almost two times larger than the original one. The 5,5 meter tall David in Michelangelo’s version is already in larger than life size, gigantic even, added to its arrangement on top of it’s plinth. Titarubi enlarges it even more. She transforms David into Goliath’s size, soaring up to 4 to 5 times taller than the average height of average Asian men. At the present, David truly becomes monumental by filling up the space as if reaching out to the pinnacle of rotunda above. The historical synchronism between David and the structure of the space and building ostensibly reveals the conjuncture of civilization that has merged the two. But on the other hand the colossal figure has transformed it from the ideal form of man into a giant. Hence it diverts from objective representation into pure abstraction. David’s image as ‘small, ordinary man’ is presently abstracted and idealized—complying with its mythological grandeur: a mighty man turns into a gigantic towering figure.

And, second, Titarubi covers David’s body with brocade fabric, a type of fabric that is weaved with patterns of tendrils and flowers, which is commonly used as kebaya material in combination with women traditional outfit in Indonesia, mainly in Java and Bali.
…
Titarubi sees that brocade fabrics and the design of kebaya outfit contain a manipulative nature towards female (body): fabrics and clothes are intentionally worn to cover up women, protecting them from nudity. But because the fabrics transparent nature and the skin-tight design of kebaya tend to expose the curves of female body, the clothes ironically work by stripping women off. Brocade fabrics have put woman’s body and identity under the gaze.

Titarubi thinks that male nudity is uniquely positioned or separated from the attribute of ‘beauty’—which in the context of female body is reduced into sensuality and sexuality. In contrast, male nudity is represented as an attribute of masculinity and power.
…
David, the ideal male which was originally naked, is now covered with brocade in bright color. He became a visible object, placed right at the center of a room with a rotunda dome on top of it, surrounded by huge pillars. Although stand towering in immensity, David’s body is now covered with an all feminine attribute. He is no longer indestructible bulges of solid muscles and tissues. His muscular body looks weightless, transparent, with beam of lights coming out from the inside. He turns perfectly—through the surface of his body devoid of any organs— into an object of gaze from certain proximity.
…
Titarubi’s act of covering up David is an intervention that intentionally infiltrates his whole appearance with ‘feminine aesthetics’, smearing him with the sentiment of beauty. In our socio-political context today, regarding to gender polarization and anxiety towards bodily exposition, to say nothing of nudity, the act of representing beauty in such an open and lucid way is one subversive act.