The First Edition of ART SG – Singapore
– Presented by Founding and Lead Partner UBS and organized by The Art Assembly, ART SG is Southeast Asia’s largest–ever art fair and the biggest art fair launch in Asia–Pacific in a decade
– Featuring over 160 galleries, from 35 countries and territories worldwide
– Four gallery sectors presenting exceptional artworks by artists from Southeast Asia, from across the Asia–Pacific and around the world: GALLERIES, FOCUS, FUTURES, REFRAME
– ART SG PLATFORM presents dynamic, site–specific installations and large–scale sculpture around the Fair
– ART SG FILM presents a selection of video art and film from Southeast Asia and beyond, screened in collaboration with the ArtScience Museum
– ART SG PERSPECTIVES, a series of panel discussions and conversations from industry experts across all fair days
– NEW/NOW, a salon–style presentation within the fair to introduce new collectors to emerging talents at more affordable price points
The Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Singapore.
©Marina Bay Sands
SINGAPORE – ART SG, the new international art fair for Southeast Asia, opened with a VIP Preview at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Singapore. Presented by Founding and Lead Partner UBS and organized by The Art Assembly, ART SG opens to the public from 12 – 15 January 2023.
ART SG – First Edition – Impresions
©Courtesy ART SG
The fair presents over 160 international galleries from 35 countries and territories around the world. Magnus Renfrew, Co–Founder, ART SG said:
‘The opening of ART SG today represents a new chapter in the evolution of the art scene in Asia. We have gathered an exceptional line up of galleries who share our vision that Southeast Asia deserves a world–class international art fair. ART SG is a fair that celebrates the incredible creativity of artists from the region, and connects collectors from Southeast Asia with the very best galleries from around the world. Singapore is the acknowledged meeting place for the Indo–Pacific, and its increasing role as home to Asia’s wealthy sets a strong foundation for the development of its status as a major art market and cultural hub over the coming years. This is the Singapore moment.’
SCAI THE BATHHOUSE
Kohei Nawa
PixCell-Reedbuck (Aurora) 2020
h. 113.1 x w. 114.2 x d. 38 cm mixed
©Media credit; Nobutada Omote
*The actual work for the fair will be different.
©Courtesy of SCAI THE BATHHOUSE
©Courtesy ART SG
Shuyin Yang, Fair Director, ART SG commented:
‘ART SG will bring together substantial showcases of Southeast Asian art, alongside the best of global contemporary art presented by leading international galleries. Visitors to the fair will not only experience significant artworks by important names, but also discover emerging talent within the fair’s curated sectors and other critical programming such as installations, talks, and film. Within this rapidly changing global landscape, ART SG will create an opportunity for cultural dialogue, conversations, and new ideas through showcasing the most vibrant and innovative art practices of our present time.’
Yavuz Gallery.
Grace Wright
Finding You Here Again 2022
Oil on linen 220 x 180 cm
©Courtesy of the artist and Yavuz Gallery
©Courtesy ART SG
UBS is proud to be the Founding and Lead partner of ART SG, particularly during such a significant moment for Southeast Asia’s art scene with the launch of its biggest art fair yet.” said August Hatecke, Co–head Global Wealth Management APAC and Country Head Singapore at UBS.“As seen in our recent collector survey, the appetite for contemporary art in Singapore is growing significantly. It has a promising role as a key art market in the region and globally, bolstered by its excellent trade infrastructure.”
Tina Keng Gallery.
Su Meng-Hung, ‘Golden Efflorescence’, 2022, Acrylic on canvas, image
©Courtesy of the artist and Tina Keng Gallery.
©Courtesy ART SG
Keith Tan, Chief Executive, Singapore Tourism Board said,
‘We’re pleased to welcome the inaugural edition of ART SG to Singapore as a highlight of Singapore Art Week. The event – which is Southeast Asia’s largest art fair – is testament to Singapore’s ability to host world–class marquee events, adds to our robust leisure events calendar, and reinforces our position as a compelling leisure destination. The strong list of galleries participating in ART SG, numbering over 160, is also a show of confidence in Singapore as a regional arts hub.’
Tomio Koyama Gallery
Makiko Kudo
Plum Trees and Black Swans 2021
227.3 x 181.8 cm – Oil on canvas
©Makiko Kudo, Courtesy of Tomio Koyama Gallery
©Courtesy ART SG
ART SG programme highlights
GALLERIES
The main sector of ART SG showcases outstanding presentations by leading international and regional galleries. highlights include:
– David Zwirner (Paris, Hong Kong, London, New York) presents a significant line–up of major international artists from the gallery’s programme, including Oscar Murillo, Josh Smith, and Neo Rauch.
– A curated selection of new artworks featuring Imi Knoebel, Ibrahim Mahama and Mona Hatoum among others, at White Cube (London, Hong Kong, New York, Paris).
– Thaddaeus Ropac (London, Paris, Salzburg, Seoul) features a group presentation including renowned artists Tom Sachs, Georg Baselitz, Alex Katz, Robert Rauschenberg, Martha Jungwirth, Robert Longo, Oliver Beer, Sylvie Fleury, and Cory Arcangel.
– Xavier Hufkens (Brussels) presents major artists from their gallery programme, such as Louise Bourgeois, Tracey Emin, Antony Gormley, Thomas Houseago, Cassi Namoda, Sterling Ruby, and Zhang Enli.
– Lehmann Maupin (New York, Hong Kong, Seoul, London) creates an in–depth presentation of Malaysian bornartist Mandy El–Sayegh, alongside other highlights such asacclaimed Korean sculptor and installation artistLee Bul and rising talent Tammy Nguyen, a Vietnamese American painter.
Lehmann Maupin,
Mandy El-Sayegh,
Performance – Rehearsal Still, UTA
Artist Space, Los Angeles, 2022.
©Photo: Josh S. Rose
©Courtesy the artist, Lehmann Maupin, and UTA Artist Space
©Courtesy ART SG
– Almine Rech (Paris, Brussels, London, New York, Shanghai) showcases a diverse group show of important Western and Eastern masters in dialogue: Kim Tschang–Yeul, Turi Simeti, large scale sculptures by Alejandro Cardenas and Ryan Schneider; as well as young talents such as Ceěsar Piette, Szabolcs Bozoě, and Thu Van Tran.
– Richard Koh Fine Art (Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Bangkok) presents a curated Southeast Asian group show with a special focus on art practices emerging from the Indochina region, featuring established and new names such as Natee Utarit, Svay Sareth, Wah Nu, UuDam Tran Nguyen, Ha Manh Thang, Fasang Navaaran.
– TKG+ (Taipei) features a three–artist presentation of institutionally recognized names from Thailand, Myanmar, and Taiwan: Mit Jai Inn, Sawangwongse Yawnghwe, Chiu Chen–Hung, whose works form a tripartite dialogue across different themes such as socio–political concerns, history, nostalgia and memory.
TKG+
Sawangwongse Yawnghwe
‘Shan State Army–N’,2017, oil on linen,
©ourtesy of TKG+
©Courtesy ART SG
– Yavuz Gallery (Singapore, Sydney) presents a group show featuring Southeast Asian and Australasian artists, including multi–disciplinary works by one of Southeast Asia’s most respected female artists, Pinaree Sanpitak (who was most recently featured in the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, “The Milk of Dreams”).
– Ota Fine Arts (Tokyo, Singapore, Shanghai) shows a curated presentation of leading Southeast Asian and Asian contemporary names, including Maria Farrar, Chris Huen Sin–Kan, Hilmi Johandi, and Guo–Liang Tan.
– SCAI the Bathhouse (Tokyo) presents a curated exhibition, “Notional Spheres”, exploring formalistic strategies that artists deploy to reconfigure our perception of the world, featuring important Japanese contemporary artists such as Kohei Nawa, Mariko Mori and Daisuke Ohba.
– An exciting selection of new paintings by artists Yann Gerstberger, Shinpei Kusanagi, Oscar Murillo and Makoto Saito, juxtaposed against lighting sculptures by Michael Anastassiades at Taka Ishii Gallery (Tokyo).
– FOST Gallery (Singapore) brings together a tightly curated selection of works which feature different aspects of life in Southeast Asia by Kray Chen, John Clang, Phi Phi Oanh, Donna Ong, and Yeo Tze Yang.
Taka Ishii Gallery
Oscar Murillo
“manifestation”, 2020-2021
Oil, oil stick, cotton thread, graphite and spray paint on
canvas and linen 135 x 115 cm
© Oscar Murillo – Courtesy of the artist and Taka Ishii Gallery
©Photo: Tim Bowditch and Reinis Lismanis.
©Courtesy ART SG
FOCUS
A contextualised sector featuring galleries presenting in–depth solo or duo artist programmes, or curated thematic presentations, with an emphasis on Southeast Asian and Asian artists, as well as emerging to mid–career international names, with an aim to showcase the range and development of their practice across different mediums and provide a foundation for insights and discussion of the artists’ work. Highlights include:
Albertz Benda
Devon DeJardin [American, b.1993]
Confrontation, 2022
Oil on canvas 84 x 120 inches 213.5 x 305 cm
©Courtesy of the artist and albertz benda, New York and Los Angeles
© Photo: David Katzinger
©Courtesy ART SG
– Kukje Gallery (Seoul, Busan) presents an engaging solo showcase of new work by respected indigenous Australian artist, Daniel Boyd, who is known for questioning and challenging the pre–existing romanticist notions behind Australia’s colonial history.
– “Reality Mining” at MadeIn (Shanghai), a two–person show of artists Ding Li and Xu Zhen®. Together their mutually relevant practices suggest that we live in a reality dictated by algorithms, and the evolution of art reflects the discovery and re–invention of the physical world.
– Galerie Urs Meile (Beijing, Lucern) showcases a dialogue investigating abstraction between three female artists from China: Ju Ting, Miao Miao, and Zhang Xuerui.
– albertz benda (New York, Los Angeles) presents a solo booth by American painter and multi–media artist Devon DeJardin, his first international presentation comprising new paintings, ranging from intimate portraits to monumental tableaux, conceived specifically for ART SG 2023.
– A solo booth by acclaimed female painter from the Philippines, Pam Yan Santos titled “Building Things We May Not Know” at The Drawing Room (Manila), which explore themes such as everyday intimacy, domesticity, and the interchanging feminine roles of mother, wife, and artist.
– Yeo Workshop (Singapore) brings a tightly curated presentation entitled “From the Land of Gold Below the Winds in South Seas”, juxtaposing the historically and culturally interrogative practices of multi–disciplinary artists from Singapore and Southeast Asia including Fyerool Darma, Filippo Sciascia, Santi Wangchuan, and Citra Sasmita.
The Drawing Room
Pam Yan Santos, ‘if I Behave, Can I Go Up? (2.0)’
Acrylic, collage and serigraphy on canvas 2021
©Image courtesy of the artist and The Drawing Room Manila
©Courtesy ART SG
FUTURES
A sector dedicated to supporting young galleries under the age of six years, presenting specially created presentations for ART SG. Presentations will have been created within the past 18 months and not previously exhibited in a gallery or institutional setting. Highlights include:
Leelee Chan
Circuit (New Moon) 2021
Found plastic pallet, copper plate gifted by Filipino D’Aloise, bronze powder, Stainless steel mirror, metal hardware, gold sheen obsidian – 94 x 45.5 x 16 cm
© Leelee Chan, courtesy of the artist and Capsule Shanghai.
©Photo by South Ho.
©Courtesy ART SG
– Capsule Shanghai (Shanghai) presents a curated three–person show featuring recent works by Leelee Chan, Mevlana Lipp and Miranda Fengyuan Zhang. Under the influence of their personal and familial histories, each artist draws inspiration from nature, contemporary culture and the urban environment to create artistic statements ranging from wall sculptures to textile pieces.
– Tropical Futures Institute (Cebu) exhibits a bold and conceptually diverse presentation featuring Visayas–based painter Kristoffer Ardeña, Filipina–Canadian artist and filmmaker Stephanie Comilang, German experimental artist exploring fictional concepts and technology across a range of different media, Simon Speiser, and Adam de Boer, an American artist investigating cultural hybridity.
– LINSEED (Shanghai) shows a curation of new works by three emerging names: Sebastian Burger, Tom Howse, Li Hei Di, experimenting with imageries of nature, instinctive desires, and contemporary cultures.
Tropical Futures Institute
Kristoffer Ardeña
Ghost Painting (Cracked Category): White Flower Embrocation Painting
Elastomeric paint on woven PVC fiber 180×152 cms 2022
©Image courtesy of Tropical Futures Institute
©Courtesy ART SG
REFRAME
ART SG celebrates Singapore’s position at the forefront of technological innovation by highlighting new experimentations in digital art and works on the blockchain. The sector will showcase galleries presenting art that is engaged with, made or presented using digital technology, which includes digital painting, animation, immersive installations, augmented or virtual reality, and non–fungible tokens (NFTs). REFRAME aim showcase a range of technology–driven work and explore facets related to collecting work in this medium such as curation, presentation, conservation, and provenance, through an associated programme of talks and education.
Highlights include:
Kate Vass Galerie
Sputniko!, Nanohana Heels, 2022,
Sculpture (leather, steel, aluminum, 40 x 30x 15 cm)
Accompanied with a video work (color, sound, 0:51min.)
©Images courtesy of the artist and Kate Vass Galerie
©Courtesy ART SG
– Bitforms gallery (New York, San Francisco) presents a selection of works from Refik Anadol, one of the most acclaimed pioneers in the aesthetics of data and machine intelligence, and whose generative artworks have redefined the parameters of technology and algorithmic–based practice in this current era.
– Kate Vass Galerie (Zurich) brings together works by leading international new media and generative artists from different backgrounds and practices, showcasing the diversity of the genre, such as Sputniko!, Marcelo Soria–Rodríguez, Kjetil Golid, Kevin Abosch, Iskra Velitchkova, and Anna Ridler.
– Vanguard Gallery (Shanghai) presents “Suit Koo Chup Yew” by Hong Kong–based collective Jiū Society, an ongoing project across a diverse range of media including site–specific installations, sculptures, paintings, videos and crypto art, that takes its title from a 1955 Hong Kong musical comedy film which was loosely structured around the characters of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”.
Refik Anadol
Pacific Ocean A, 2022
Video (color, sound) dimensions variable, portrait orientation 16min, loop
Edition of 5, 2 AP
©Image courtesy of the artist and bitforms gallery
©Courtesy ART SG
Apart from the robust exhibitor line–up, ART SG also presents strong curation within the public spaces of the fair, insightful talks and education, and a film program screened in collaboration with the ArtScience Museum.
Xavier Hufkens
Tracey Emin
Save Me, 2018
Neon (magenta and clear red) 48.0 x 122.2 cm 18 7/8 x 48 in.
©Courtesy the Artist and Xavier Hufkens, Brussels
©Courtesy ART SG
FILM
The Film sector is curated by Thai curator Gridthiya Gaweewong, who is currently the Artistic Director of the Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok, and was on the curatorial team for the 2018, 12th Gwangju Biennale, Imagined Border. She was recently appointed the Artistic Director of the Thailand Biennale 2023. The sector will focus on showcasing new film–making practices, experimental film or film as artistic medium from artists and practitioners from around Southeast Asia and the Asia–Pacific region.
ART SG FILM is a film program screened in collaboration with the ArtScience Museum, Singapore. Fabricated Realities: Video Art and Film from Southeast Asia and Beyond is
presented in three short programs, in which the selected films address complex contemporary issues such as time, fiction–making, migration and artificial intelligence which challenge the perception of our history, and manifest the differing realities of the artists.
ART SG PLATFORM showcases dynamic, site–specific installations and large–scale sculptures interspersed throughout the Fair, providing visitors with an opportunity to experience art of scale. A significant installation created especially for ART SG is a new curation of Isamu Noguchi’s iconic Octetra series. Conceived in 1965, the series exemplifies the artist’s attention to space, nature and sensory engagement. Other works featured include Kapok, a seminal work by Cambodia’s most internationally prominent artist Sopheap Pich; a multi– disciplinary installation, Fire Deity, by Lu Yang, as well as monumental sculptures by Robert Indiana (Ben Brown Fine Arts), Ashley Bickerton (Gajah Gallery), and Jaume Plensa (GRAY).
MadeIn Gallery
XU ZHEN®
I wish I had learned more trivia, 2022
Mirror finish stainless steel, metal, 75 x 97 cm
©Image courtesy of MadeIn Gallery
©Courtesy ART SG
TALKS
ART SG’s Talks Program, sponsored by AXA XL, comprises three different modules: ART SG PERSPECTIVES: Reconnecting Southeast Asia and Asia Pacific, a series of conversations curated by Cosmin Costinas, Co–Artistic Director of the 24th Biennale of Sydney (2024) and former Executive Director of Para Site Hong Kong; ART SG FILM: On finding a home for Southeast Asian video art and film, led by Gridthiya Gaweewong, Artistic Director of the Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok; and the REFRAME talks, an extension of the gallery sector for digital art, which is focused on the intersection of art and technology.
– In a rapidly changing global environment, ART SG PERSPECTIVES: Reconnecting Southeast Asia and Asia Pacific, is conceived as a platform for the region to come together to share new strategies for relevance and collaboration, reimagining common geographies, ways of working, and future exchanges. The series includes a range of pertinent topics in today’s cultural community, including conversations around contemporary art in Southeast Asia, insights on collecting and advocacy, as well as the impact of museums and biennales today.
Notable speakers include Prof. Dr. Apinan Poshyananda, Chief Executive and Artistic Director, Bangkok Art Biennale, Rajeeb Samdani, Collector, Co–Founder and Trustee, Samdani Art Foundation and Founder, Dhaka Art Summit, Barbara Moore, Chief Executive Officer, 24th Biennale of Sydney, Michael Brand, Director, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Mami Kataoka, Director, Mori Art Museum, and more.
Free to the public, UBS and The Fondation Beyeler presents a talk titled ‘Conversation: Hans Ulrich Obristwith Hiroshi Sugimoto: Life of the artist, Life of the architect’ at the ART SG Talks Theatre on Thursday, 12 January from 6–7pm and will be live–streamed on ubs.com and on UBS Global Art’s Facebook channel. There are only a limited number of seats at this talk, to reserve your place please email program@artsg.com.
ART SG also features NEW/NOW, a salon–style showcase of artworks priced below US $10,000, featuring rising talents as well as smaller or alternative format artworks by established names across different mediums.
Gajah Gallery
©Courtesy ART SG
