Gillman Barracks: March Must Sees

Posted by Wai Lin Coultas on Saturday, March 1, 2014

The galleries at Gillman Barracks continue with their tradition of offering the culturally well heeled in Singapore a delectably cutting-edged spread of artworks that span the globe: March’s repertoire gives a very good representation from South-East Asia, without neglecting East Asia, Europe and North America.

To give you a solid feel of the diversity, these are SingArt’s picks of a few must sees in March at Gillman Barracks:

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Artist : Eddy Susanto

Exhibition: Albrecht Durer and the Old Testament of Java

Ends : 12 April 2014

Emerging Indonesian artist, Susanto, drew inspiration from his research into European history between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, when he found parallels to the development of Christianity’s influence on that continent’s culture and psyche with the entrenchment of Islam in Java and Sumatra from the 11^th to 16^th centuries.

That motivation got translated into his appropriation of images with Old Testament biblical motifs German Renaissance artist, Albrecht Durer, had completed between 1497 and 1523: Susanto used a pen and black ink to translate the Old Testament’s Hebrew-written books into Java’s Carakan script, which formed the lines he used to reconstruct Durer’s woodcuts and etchings onto large scale canvases.

His choice of Indonesian language is determined by the fact that the Carakan script is considered by the Javanese as a natural rule of life and so sacred in nature. This makes his translation valuable, sublime and sacred as well; adding deeper meaning to Durer’s images while opening up the opportunity to explore the concept of what is sacred with Javanese culture.

Gallery : Michael Janssen Singapore

9 Lock Road, #02-21, Singapore 108937

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Artists : Nona Garcia & MM Yu

Exhibition: Space & 2 Points

Ends : 6 April 3014

Nona Garcia teams up with firm friend MM Yu by melding her photo realistic paintings of wrapped and x-rayed objects with Yu’s mix of paintings and photographs, which are all conceptually conceived anthropologically to highlight the everyday clichéd Filipino psyche.

Garcia’s chosen medium, that mixes science with the Catholic religion, stems from an upbringing by parents who are doctors in a small hospital in the Philippines, while Yu’s scientific take of making the familiar unfamiliar renders her subjects secondary.

“Hallow/Hollow” is one outcome of this ingenious collaboration by this Filippino dynamic duo. The blending references Garcia’s existing work “Hallow” – an assemblage of negative images of santos in x-ray light boxes – with Yu’s contributing through photographs of kitschy religious figurines

Gallery: Silverlens

47 Malan Road, #01-25, Singapore 109444

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Artist : Entang Wiharso

Exhibition: Trilogy

Ends : 4 May 2014

Wiharso’s works of art references the interconnected ideas he had previously examined in 3 recent solo exhibitions: namely “Love Me or Die”, “Untold Stories” and “Geo-Portrait”.

The first focused on human greed through material gain and power struggles that lead to violence and murder. The second waxes lyrical about how the people close to former Indonesian president Pak Harto tried to refashion the harsh image he gained as a result of the many negative realities during his time in power. The last are Wiharso’s cartoonish self-portraits of his own experiences in relation to Indonesian and western folklore and literature, as well as contemporary culture and current events.

So “Trilogy” brings us “Perfect Mirror”, which looks at Wiharso’s country’s leaders’ failure to regret about and admit mistakes, even though this has had incredibly terrible impact on Indonesian life. His “Timeless” contrasts his own relationship with his American wife to the selfishness that motivated “Love Me or Die”, while “Fake & Real” dwells on how terrorism in Indonesia and America has made their residents question what in one’s life is false or genuine.

Gallery: Arndt

22 Lock Road, #01-35, Singapore 108939

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Artist : Heman Chong

Exhibition: Of Indeterminate Time or Occurrence

Ends : 4 May 2014

Singaporean artist, curator and writer, Chong, continues to be artistically energized by the 400 odd books of fiction he is concurrently reading for inspiration in developing his unfinished novel, “Prospectus”, by 2015. The resulting by-products in the visual arts are his 335 paintings of imaginary book covers, in his series “Cover (Versions)”; of which 66 are displayed in this current exhibition.

They are selected to portray situations where we can’t place our fingers on something that has happened as the boundaries between the figment of our imagination and the real world have overlapped. Yet we will continue to live our lives in these layers of ambiguous contradictions.

Further encapsulating this concept of living is Chong’s take on the fact that each artistic production may be a new attempt, yet his “Never/Again” shows that a creative product can never be birthed without an existing source of stimulation.

Gallery: Fost Gallery

1 Lock Road, #01-02, Singapore 108932

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Artist : Pizzi Cannella

Exhibition: Interiors and Landscapes

Ends : 30 May 2014

Well established Italian painter, Cannella, continues with his beloved signature style of setting objects against unspecific, non-descript backgrounds in this current exhibition: his subject matter are yet again scraped and reworked to finished surfaces thick with paint and objects that stand alone, like fragments of a memory that had emerged involuntarily; so juxtaposing the representational against the abstract, as well as the recognizable against the unrevealed.

As such we do not see the sitter for his “Regina”: just her dress. But it is a garment that is elegantly presented in extraordinarily plainness and simplicity; without perspective and proportions – very much like what has been long established by the Eastern artistic tradition. Think Chinese calligraphic paintings.

Undoubtedly, his exhibited works hint at his interest in hidden, intimate and secret places as his chosen subject matter takes him on a personal journey of creative self discovery: his “View of Cathedral” entices us to see glimpses of Rome, Paris and as many other European countries as far flung as our imagination would take us. Hence, embarking on a self discovery of our own.

Gallery: Partners & Mucciaccia

6 Lock Road, #02-10, Singapore 108934

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Artist : Edward Burtynsky

Exhibition: Water

Ends : 6 April 2014

Ukranian Canadian photographer, Burtynsky travelled the globe to document water: where it originally comes from, where it ultimately goes; how it has been harnessed, adapted and transformed by man’s desire for a better life.

Using a super high resolution camera with a registration of 60 mega pixels, he rented bucket lifts and chartered airplanes to take breath-takingly beautiful aerial shots of natural rock and water formations, as well as man’s persistence in diverting rivers, streams, oceans and underground water to better agri- and acqua-cultural endeavours and support his diversification of preferred life-styles.

The magic Burtynsky has captured through his camera lens is digitally and manually untouched, except to give colour clarity and light to images of China’s acqua-farms, which have been obscured by the country’s rampant air pollution.

Gallery: Sundaram Tagore Gallery Singapore

5 Lock Road, #01-05, Singapore 108933

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Explore these and other exhibitions in greater depth by joining a guided tour round the Gillman Barracks on select Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

The historically and artistically well versed docents from the well-established Friends of the Museums will give you deeper insights into the various artists, their myriad of artworks in choice galleries while regaling you with the colourful history of this former British camp.

Top Photo: Eddy Susanto’s “Genesis of Durer #1”

Right Photo: Eddy Susanto’s “Exodus of Durer #2”

Photo credit: Michael Janssen Singapore