Considered to be the first major art fair of the year on the international cultural calendar, Art SG, which successfully wrapped up last Sunday the 21st of January, is Southeast Asia’s leading international art fair and is a part of Singapore Art Week, the city’s annual celebration of the visual arts.
Over two floors at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre, the fair saw 45,303 visitors from Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Australia, Japan, Korea, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan as well as Europe and the US. The fair showcased 114 booth presentations by participating galleries from 33 countries and territories around the world. Here are some highlights from the fair:
1. White Cube
White Cube is one of the world’s leading contemporary art galleries with spaces in London, Hong Kong, Paris, New York, and West Palm Beach. They presented a thoughtfully curated showcase featuring Tracey Emin, Isamu Noguchi, Marguerite Humeau, Theaster Gates, Ibrahim Mahama, Christian Marclay, and Danh Vo, among others.
Mona Hatoum’s ‘Fossil Folly (group of 2) II (2023)’
Notable works include Mona Hatoum’s Fossil Folly (group of 2) II (2023). Her installation comprises old and beaten red oil barrels with plant shapes and shadows emerging from their surfaces. At Art SG, White Cube sold works by Hiroshi Senju, Jane Lee, Miya Ando, and Zheng Lu garnering a combined total of £1.5 million.
2. Waddington Custot
Waddington Custot, formerly known as Waddington Galleries, is a London-based art gallery specializing in modern and contemporary art. At Art SG, abstract painter Ian Davenport’s installation of Lake turned heads. Utilising an estimated 120 litres of paint in a space spanning 25 square meters, Davenport showcases one of his signature “poured” works.
Ian Davenport with a visualization of ‘Lake’
This work was sold for US$360,000. By the end of the four days, Waddington Custot sold Davenport’s installation, two sculptures by Barry Flanagan, and two sculptures by Yves Dana.
3. Lehmann Maupin
Established over two decades ago, Lehmann Maupin represents a diverse range of contemporary artists and estates from around the world. Art SG featured their group presentation foregrounded by Nari Ward, Dominic Chambers, and Lee Bul.
Lee Bul, ‘Study for Aubade V (1/5 scale)’
Widely recognized as the foremost Korean artist of her generation, Lee Bul’s work crosses genres and disciplines, exploring themes of beauty, corruption, and decay. Themes of utopian modernity and the historical avant-garde in art and architecture were deeply informed by her experience of growing up as the daughter of political dissidents in Korea. Her installation Study of Aubade V (1/5 scale) pays homage to those themes through her use of casted steel, glass beads, electronic components, and more.
Lehmann Maupin sold several works, including a painting by David Salle for US$250,000, and multiple works by Lee Bul and Kim Yun Shin.
4. The Back Room
The Back Room is a gallery based in Kuala Lumpur exhibiting works by emerging and alternative artists. At its debut presentation as part of Art SG’s Futures sector, three rising stars were spotlighted to represent the domain of textile and fiber arts: Antonio Pichillá Quiacaín, Marcos Kueh, and Red Hong Yi.
‘Monyet Merah’ (2023) by Marcos Kueh
Focusing on Kueh’s work, his woven installation centers around the postcolonial subject. Themes of identity and independence interweave the artwork, as seen through his perspective as a Malaysian Bornean living in the Netherlands. This work was priced between S$50,000 and S$100,000.
5. Thaddaeus Ropac
Founded in 1983, Thaddaeus Ropac has galleries across Europe and an expanding team in Asia, specializing in International Contemporary Art and representing over 60 artists. At Art SG, they featured artists such as Georg Baselitz, Robert Longol, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Jules de Balincourt.
James Rosenquist, ‘Source for Untitled’, 1995
James Rosenquist’s oil painting Source for Untitled, 1995 was a piece you couldn’t miss. This collage piece of acrylic, graphite, and masking tape on plywood spanned 192 square inches. Without a doubt, Rosenquist remains a seminal figure in the Pop art movement, best known for his colossal collage paintings. After four days, Thaddaeus Ropac sold a work by Anselm Kiefer for €1.1 million, alongside works by Lee Bul, Miquel Barceló, Jules de Balincourt, Alex Katz, Oliver Beer, Mandy El-Sayegh, and James Rosenquist.
6. Johyun Gallery
Since 1989, Johyun Gallery has sought to define the present and future of Korean art within critical and historical frameworks of global contemporary art. At Art SG, they featured a collection of recent works by Korean artists, including Lee Bae, Park Seo-Bo, Lee Kwang Ho, and Jin Meyerson. These works offered a unique reinterpretation of traditional materials and techniques in contemporary art.
Kang Kang Hoon, ‘Nosebleed’, 2019
Kang Kang Hoon’s paintings are almost photographs. The Korean artist intended to capture the people and places that he witnessed through his hyper-realistic paintings. The oil on canvas, Nosebleed, depicts Hoon’s daughter in staggering detail. As Art SG concluded, a painting by Park Seo-Bo was sold for US$250,000, and multiple works by Lee Bae for prices in the range of US$50,000 – US$180,000 each.
