ART SG '24 poised to top last year's success

Written by JP Paul on 16 January 2024.

For the second consecutive year, Artfronts will be covering SIngapore's finest contemporary art fair, Art SG, which will take place at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands from the 19th to the 21st of January. VIP viewing and the Vernissage take place on the 18th.

Our coverage will include highlights from a private tour and special reports from as many booths as we can cover in three days. Given the importance that ART SG has placed on new media for this edition of the fair, Artfronts will also be publishing a special report on the current state of technology in the visual arts. We will conclude with a round-up of our overall impressions of the fair. We will also be visiting the S.E.A. Focus Fair and S.A.M.. during our visit.

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ART SG 2024 is the central component of Singapore Art Week. Organized by The Art Assembly and presented by founding and lead partner UBS, ART SG celebrates its second edition at the world-renowned venue. Visitors to this incredible city-state can also view special exhibits at most of the national museums, selected galleries, art institutions, and several public art projects that are dotted around the central core of the city.

The fair unfolds across three main sectors, including the GALLERIES sector for diverse, multi-artist exhibitions; FOCUS which features galleries presenting solo/dual-artist programs or curated thematic presentations; and FUTURES, a special section of the fair dedicated to supporting younger galleries that have been established within the last 10 years.

Featured at Art SG '24 will be over 114 of the finest visual art galleries in the world, including Gagosian, White Cube, Thaddaeus Ropac, Lehmann Maupin, neugerriemschneider, Xavier Hufkens, Stephen Friedman Gallery, Galerie Karsten Greve, Galerie Gisela Capitain, Goodman Gallery, Kukje Gallery, P.P.O.W, ShanghART, Ota Fine Arts, Yavuz Gallery, Sullivan+Strumpf, TKG+, Richard Koh Fine Art and more.

Thirty-nine new exhibitors from the region and around the world will participate for the first time, showcasing carefully selected artworks and curated presentations. Newcomers include Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Asia Art Center, Taro Nasu, Sabrina Amrani, Poligrafa Obra Grafica, BANGKOK CITYCITY, BASTIAN, Gathering, Nadi Gallery and Chi-Wen, and Wei-Ling Gallery among others.

The aforementioned FUTURES section of emerging artists and young galleries promises to be an exciting highlight, as will several other special presentations. PLATFORM offers dynamic, large-scale, site-specific installations. FILM presents videoworks curated by Sam I-shan and the ArtScience museum. FOCUS will feature galleries presenting single or dual exhibitions. One of special interest to Artfronts readers will be bitforms gallery (New York) by Quayola and Refik Anadol, two leading proponents of the use of machine language coding and artificial intelligence applications in the visual arts. TALK will feature a series of discussions related to the visual arts community that are always enlightening for those involved in the arts.

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Representing Malaysia once again will be Richard Koh Fine Art (Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok), a venerable mainstay in the regional and international art fair circuit for many years. Included in this year's presentation will be works by Htein Lin, Justin Lim, Ruben Pang and Yim Maline that represent the rich visual language of SE Asia art.

A home is a universe (2023) by Justin Lim, Acrylic on canvas, 180 x 160 cm. (Image courtesy of Richard Koh Fine Art and artist)

Tin Snips (2017), by Yeoh Choo Kuan, oil on linen with custom wooden frame, 122 x 164 cm. (Image courtesy of Richard Koh Fine Art and artist.)

Exhibiting for the first time at Art SG is another Malaysian gallery with a lengthy and esteemed trajectory in the SE Asia art scene. Wei-Ling Gallery will present the unique works of Wong Chee Mung that dovetail augmented reality effects with traditional painting. The works capture the kinetic effects that emanate from the doors and windows of Light Rail Transit. According to the artist, the windows represent "the Malaysian ethos of openness, inclusivity, tolerance, and communal unity. The complex compositions are multi-layered and heavily painted, with the artist's singular vision impediment serving to infuse the illusion of additional depth in the works.

Together Towards Growth (2022), by Wong Chee Mung, acrylic on canvas, 122cm x 183cm. (Image courtesy of Wei-Ling Gallery and artist.)

At Artfronts, we hold a special affection for emerging artists, many of whom may not have had the opportunities to break through in competitive markets. While most international art fair headlines focus on the major artists and their galleries, we also like to acknowledge the efforts by art fairs to promote local and regional grassroots art movements that encourage young artists and newer galleries in their efforts to carve their niche in new markets.

For the second consecutive year, Art SG will not disappoint. In the FUTURES section, eleven galleries with less than ten years of operation will showcase presentations specifically created for ART SG. Participating works will have been created within the past eighteen months and have not been previously exhibited in a gallery or institution. Making FUTURES even more exciting for us this year is the inclusion of two of our favorite KL galleries, The Back Room KL and Rissim Contemporary.

Monyet Merah (2023) by Marcos Kueh, assemblage of woven posters, recycled PET. (Image courtesy of The Back Room and artist.)

The Back Room (Kuala Lumpur) presents large, textile-based works broadly revolving around themes of identity and independence by three emerging talents from Southeast Asia and Central America: Antonio Pichillá Quiacaín (Guatemala), Marcos Kueh (Malaysia/Netherlands), and Red Hong Yi (Malaysia). Central to the booth will be a multi-segment woven fluorescent installation about postcolonialism by Marcos Kueh. Also featured will be woven works by Antonio Pichillá Quiacaín inspired by his indigenous heritage and Red Hong Yi’s exploration of womanhood.

With a knack for spotting highly touted emerging Malaysian artists, Rissim Contemporary (Kuala Lumpur) will showcase paintings by Paul Nickson Atia from his series “Torun Tana? (There Is Something About Home)” which delves deep into the artist’s relationship with Sarawak and his Bidayuh heritage. Also featured are collage works by Saiful Razman from his series “Apartments”, made from medical gauze and rolled tissue paper that are inspired by the design of low-cost apartments in Kuala Lumpur from the 1990s. Artfronts recently attended an exhibition by Saiful Raizman at Rissim in Kuala Lumpur and look forward to reacquainting ourselves with his compelling works.

Untitled (2023) by Paul Nickson Atia. Chinese ink/canvas, 184.5x120cm. Image courtesy of Rissim Contemporary and artist.

Artfronts would like to thank all galleries, artists, hosts and fair organizers who have provided images and information included in this abbreviated introduction to ART SG '24. Stay tuned for in-depth reviews in the upcoming days.

JP Paul

Senior Contributor / Editor-at-Large

Artfronts

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