LuxArtAsia

The clear advantage of an actual art fair is that you can walk around, scan through with your eyes very quickly and stop and spend some time at what interests you. The VIP fair requires you to spend a lot more time, in some cases like gallery Limoncello you have to click and zoom on each single image to see them. There is a lot of double clicking. Still there are rewarding gems:

Yoshihiro Tatsumi is considered the godfather of alternative comic in Japan and is widely credited with starting the gekiga style back in the 50s - a darker, grittier cousin to the fantasy manga style that instead engaged with the social issues of the day. His life and five of his stories (which have never been put into film before) will be at the center of Eric Khoo's latest film, Tatsumi, due to be ready mid-February. I got to see a 10m sneak preview today, one of the stories, and it left me disappointed: I wanted to see more!!! immediatly!!.

Khoo is arguably one of the best Singaporean film makers (Be with Me is my favorite film of his), but it must have taken some convincing to prompt Tatsumi to agree to the film. The legendary graphic novelist is even doing some voice-over on the biography part, while a famous Japanese actor is narrating the stories. The film is extremely faithfully to his comic strips style.

The film is being sold in Europe by the same company which pushed the Thai film Uncle Boomee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (which won the Palme d’Or in Canne). First stop will be Berlin (if the film is ready), then possibly Cannes.

Trained as a painter, Wang Qingsong turned to photography in the late 1990s in order to convey a distinctive and often acerbic vision of Chinese society during the country's current economic boom. Working in the manner of a film director, he stages elaborate scenes involving dozens of models and his large-scale color photographs often combine references to classic Chinese art with ironic nods to China's new material wealth and rapidly growing consumer culture

The Beijing-based artist is now enjoying a solo exhibition, "Wang Qingsong: When Worlds Collide” at the International Center for Photography in Manhattan, which should the evolution of his practice, from the first digital photomontages (such as Requesting Buddha) to his extravagant set arrangements. The exhibition presents a selection of photographs and videos meant to introduce three of the most important themes that run through his substantial body of work: the artist’s continuing development of ideas that emerged in the Gaudy Art movement; the impact of China’s post-Mao economic opening to the West and the arrival of global consumer culture; and a dramatization of the acute social tensions associated with the influx of millions of migrant laborers to China’s cities.

Filipino artist Benedicto Cabrera, better known as BenCab, has done an unprecedented second residency at Singapore Tyler Print Institute and produced new works, which are now on show in the STPI gallery. The works are beautiful, although thematically very much similar to what he had done 5 years ago during his first residency. There are beautiful “Sabels,” his now iconic representation of a vagrant bag lady whose memory still inspires him 40 years after he saw her. Her billowing plastic bags have long morphed into beautiful, dancing fabric that almost make her look like a Geisha or sort. There are also several works that would fall into his Larawan series, based on colonial photography of the Philippines, that the artist first started to collect when he was living in London in the 70s. Here again, the artist juxtaposes with representation of a beautiful half-naked native with a working Filipino of today. There are also works from his latest series inspired by the world of dance. The Sabels are still my hand-down favourite, I have to admit

An extremely rare and unique Queen Victoria 96c. olive-bistre block of four achieved an impressive HK$6.4 million at Spink’s two-day auction series of rare stamps, coins, banknotes, bonds and shares which took place at The Landmark Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong. This highly sought-after block of four stamps sold to an anonymous buyer and became the most expensive Hong Kong stamp ever sold at auction in Hong Kong. Olivier Stocker, Group Chairman & CEO of Spink, commented after the sale: “This Hong Kong auction series has achieved a total in excess of HK$70 million. This fantastic result demonstrates the enormous strength of the collectables markets in Hong Kong and China."

Christies will auction in New York on Mar 24 works from the Gordon Collection which include several vivid Qing monochrome porcelains. Morton and Grace Gordon were passionate American collectors who assembled a comprehensive collection of Chinese ceramics and works of art. Acquired primarily at auction in New York in the 1970s and early 1980s, their collection comprises a rich diversity of works ranging from archaic ritual bronzes of the Shang dynasty, to painted pottery vessels and figures from the Han to Tang dynasties, to fine ceramic wares from the Song to Qing dynasties. The Gordon's collecting interest reflects a particular fascination with monochrome ceramics from the Song to Qing dynasties, and includes an especially strong group of finely potted Qingbai and Longquan celadon wares of the Southern Song and Yuan dynasties, and an outstanding selection of Qing Imperial monochrome porcelains from the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods. The striking and unusual form of this magnificent blueglazed vase (Left) is based on Yueyao celadon-glazed stoneware prototypes from the Jin dynasty, 3rd-4th century, and is a vivid reflection of the Yongzheng and Qianlong Emperors' fondness for archaic shapes and designs. The charming bird-form handles are a fanciful Qing alternative to the small double-lug handles applied on the narrow sides of the Yueyao prototypes. Qing vases of this form are exceptionally rare, and include two in the Palace

Museum, Beijing: a celadon-glazed example, Yongzheng mark and period, and a flambé-glazed example with a cover, Qianlong mark and period; and a teadust-glazed Yongzheng mark-and-period example in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The shape of this  celadon-glazed baluser vase was inspired by Western Zhou bronzes and is representative

of the archaistic style frequently seen in porcelain vessels the Qianlong period. The antiquarian interest of the

Qianlong Emperor influenced the efforts of the potters at the Imperial kilns to interpret the shapes and designs of archaic bronzes and antiquities of all types in porcelain.

I can't believe but some of the Singaporean museums that were offering complimnentary red packets have already SOLD OUT! that's just a few days after the offer started. The funny thing is that they're really now the museums you would expect people to rush to!!

BCA Gallery (Out of Stock)

Fu Tak Chi Museum (Out of Stock)

Mint Museum of Toys (Out of Stock)

National Library Singapore (Out of Stock)

red dot design museum (Out of Stock)

S’pore Discovery Centre (Out of Stock)

Singapore Philatelic Museum (Out of Stock)

Eli Klein Fine Art has just opened a exhibition of photographs by Cui Xiuwen, one of China’s foremost female photographers. Her latest series, Existential Emptiness, which was previously shown in Beijing, pursues her reflection on the woman as individual in modern China. It involves a girl protagonist, considered the artist’s alter ego, accompanied by a life-size doll resembling her. Inspired from her own experiences, the appearance of the puppet without strings recalls Japanese Bunraku theatre, which the artist discovered on a recent trip to Japan. The scenes take place in the snow-covered mountains of Northern China and the digital photographs are mostly monochrome with the palette and format inspired by traditional Chinese ink painting. The quiet, ethereal landscape acts as a perfect setting for exploring the mind. Cui Xiuwen was born in Heilongjiang, China in 1970 and now lives and works in Beijing. This is the artist’s first solo exhibition in New York.

Visitors to Piccadilly's Southwood Gardens will encounter Mona Lisa, though not as they know her. The most famous and enigmatic personality in the history of Western art has undergone a double makeover: Da Vinci's muse wears a moustache and goatee — courtesy of Marcel Duchamp's infamous 'L.H.O.O.Q.' of 1919 — and she has increased in scale, becoming a larger-than-life sized sculpture realised in black bronze. This transformation is the work of Indian artist Subodh Gupta and is both a homage, as well as the beginning of a dialogue, inserting Gupta into an imaginary conversation between the heavyweights of art history.

TWG Tea will open on Friday a small space at the Marina Bay Sands. The luxury tea salon is tucked right above one of the canals, with a small boutique across. A larger space is due to open later this year by the new Louis Vuitton island store. TWG Tea, which has already opened internationally in Japan, is now slated to open a new boutique in Dubai, most likely in May.

Cartier is probably better known as one of the world’s top jewelry brands, but it also has a long history as a watchmaker, having designed its first pocket watches in 1853. The house’s Santos model, with its distinctive square bezel, still produced today, was first designed in the early 20th century for the Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont, after he complained of the unreliability of pocket watches in flight. Its Tank, Baignoire and Tortue models, also still in production, date from the 1910s. For all its beautiful and much-sought designs, however, the jeweler never quite won the cachet reserved for true haute horlogerie names, partly because its timepieces, however opulent or exquisite, often used movements developed elsewhere.

From the TAG Heuer Monaco, made famous by Steve McQueen in the 1971 film Le Mans, to the Richard Mille RM011 Felipe Massa, watchmakers have long enjoyed a tight partnership with the world of motor sport. The influence of fast cars has often been most obvious in dial design, with, for example, the incorporation of subdials suggesting the speed counters on racecar dashboards. Usually, the aim is to emulate the design smarts of the latest racers. But this year, the fashion designer Ralph Lauren is taking a few steps back in time to embrace a bygone era of gentlemanly thrills. Mr. Lauren teamed up with the luxury brand powerhouse Richemont in 2007 to create Ralph Lauren Watch and Jewelry, which introduced its first watch collection in 2009. In its newest version, which will be presented in Geneva this week, the RL Sporting Watch uses elm burl wood around the dial for a look directly inspired by the wooden dashboard and trims on Mr. Lauren’s 1938 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic coupe, one of the rarest and most fabled machines in the designer’s classic car collection. True to the spirit of its original, the watch displays Arabic numerals on the dial for clear readability, while the matte black center of the dial and the strap of black calf leather recall the juxtaposition of wooden dashboard and black leather upholstery in the prized vintage automobile. The watch runs on a manual winding, mechanical caliber, the RL98295, made for Ralph Lauren by IWC, featuring a power reserve of 45 hours. This is not the first time Bugatti has inspired watchmakers. In 2004, Parmigiani Fleurier, which has been the official partner of Bugatti since 2001, released the elegant and unusual looking Bugatti Type 370, inspired by the Bugatti Veyron. This was the first watch to use a barrel-shaped movement reminiscent of a transversal auto engine block, with the dial positioned perpendicular to the strap, allowing a driver to see the watch face more easily with his hands on the steering wheel. Parmigiani produced 200 of the watches before winding down production last year in preparation for the introduction of a new version. Read the whole story in IHT.

The inaugural Men’s Fashion Week 2011 Singapore, scheduled for March 30 through April 3, is branding itself as the first dedicated menswear week in Asia — an event that will combine established international brands like Etro and Canali with Asian labels like Shanghai Tang of Hong Kong DressCamp of Japan. It will be the first time participating in a fashion week for some brands, like Shanghai Tang, while others that are showing their autumn-winter 2011 collections in Europe will use the event to present them in Asia.

Was Art Stage a success? yes. Could it have been better? yes. Will it help Singapore get on the art map? possibly, much will depend on next year...

The fair was cohesive in its approach and there was some good quality works (and some not so good either, but that's to be expected everywhere). Interestingly, the latest works by established Asian artists showcased shifts in their career. MAD presented Zeng Fanzhi's wooden covered Madonna sculpture, a clear departure from the artist's "disordered brush" painting. Most people walked by having clearly no idea this was a piece by the top Chinese artist at auction. Li Chen now uses wood planks to "construct" his sculpture (see previous post). I saw some very interesting Masriadi paintings that seem to have a clearer, more pointed message.

More importantly, some of the world's top collectors (with big pockets) did make the trip. Lekha & Anupam Poddar, Don & Mera Rubell from Miami and Guy Ullens (all ranks within the top 10 most influential collectors in contemporary art attended, and so did other important Asian collectors like Robert Chang and Budi Tek.

 

 

Here are some more works that caught my eyes: