Interested to find out the connections between art and architecture in Singapore, Bangkok and Manila? Check out National Gallery Singapore's Suddenly Turning Visible: Art and Architecture in Southeast Asia, originally slated to run from November last year to March 15 this year, the exhibition has been extended after Singapore's 'circuit breaker' period. Suddenly Turning Visible illuminates the lesser-known links between art and architecture, and the role of institutions in the development of art in the region, particularly three art institutions – the Alpha Gallery in Singapore, the Bhirasri Institute of Modern Art in Bangkok, and the Cultural Centre of the Philippines in Manila.
The exhibition showcases rare artworks from the period (1969 to 1989) alongside archives, and newly commissioned and restaged works which showcase contributions made by Southeast Asian artists to global dialogues on experimental and conceptual art in the 1970s. Learn about the rapid modernisation of the region during this period, when artists and architects dreamt up new approaches that reinvented international art movements such as abstraction, realism, and conceptual art with folk and vernacular influences.
One of the first key pieces you'll see upon entering the exhibition is Khoo Sui Hoe's 'Children of the Sun' (1965), an oil on canvas painting which is closely intertwined with Singapore's architectural history. Also, don't miss Anthony Poon's 'Squa-Tri Uni' (1970s) from his 'Kite' series, regarded as one of the first explorations of geometric abstraction in the Lion City. Pratuang Emjaroen's The Orchardman's Smile (1976) hides a more sinister reality beneath its vibrant colours, addressing poverty and injustice in Thailand.
