Singapore Arts, Beauty and Inspirations Male Blogger

I am obviously not someone who have any form of knowledge in regards to the pottery industry but when it comes to art, anyone could be an admirer of them. 

From what I have read, Iskandar Jalil appears to be one of Singapore and Southeast Asia’s most prominent and recognised ceramic artists. He had about 200 pieces of his ceramics being exhibited at National Gallery Singapore till 28 February 2017. 

''Kembara Tanah Liat (Clay Travels) in the exhibition title refers to his life-long dialogue with clay and belief that the material is imbued with the identities and characteristics of the land from which it comes.''

Something I learnt from his impressive collection of ceramics would be that whatever we do, we should stick to our passion. He started from the 1960s till today, a journey that continues to perfect his craft.  

This short blog entry would probably act as a sneak peek since individual descriptions of each art are group-cramped into a little square and I would not know which is which. 

These creations would definitely make perfect decoration for admiration or interpretations. I just love to 'macro' zoom in using my eyes to have a closer look at those textures besides their shapes and forms. I also noticed that the colours were mainly earthy tones, nothing vibrant or too colourful. Just antique and subtly mysterious.

The exhibit is divided into 2 areas which you may want to approach the staff if you could not find!   

An impromptu visit to Singapore Art Museum the other day since I was poke hunting nearby to check out what was currently on exhibit.

It definitely was refreshing and enlightening to find out that 'From Night to Light' actually highlights the rehabilitative journey the inmates had embarked through the involvement in art. They are guided by artist mentors who assisted them in the exploration of different mediums as well as themes revolving around 'home', 'hope' and 'transformation'.   

Some concepts I definitely find rather creative and inspiring as well. (Note that all works are really great but I only select a couple to blog about.)

Using the chess set as well as the 4 chess pieces as a metaphor, 'Making The Right Move' illustrates the artist's reflection on his life as one wrong move in the game of chess could cause one to lose the entire game.  

'Passages Beyond' made use of windows as a metaphor as well, representing the countless opportunities that would await him upon his release from incarceration. 

Apart from using metaphors, most (if not all) the works here uses vibrant colours to depict 'leaving the past behind', 'bright future ahead' as well as the 'journey towards the light'. It was really amazing to indirectly experience the emotions of these inmates that were being portrayed through their artworks.  

Beside paintings, there were also many beautifully made ceramics as well. It was difficult to read those descriptions due to their placement but for all I know, they too contained those similar emotions welled up within each of them.

Anyway, end of post till I could dig out some time to visit other themed exhibits that would interest and inspire me! 

The first interpretation that came to mind when I first came across of the word Imaginarium would be the combination of the words Imagination and Aquarium. The gallery space probably houses creative installations of artists' imagination, constructed and showcased in tangible forms.

It was rather deterring that the first exhibit that greeted me was a locked room of isomalt sugar created by Chef Janice Wong whom is a well known pastry chef in Singapore. Perhaps not the best shot to be taken from outside due to reflections. Just too bad I couldn't get a closer view of her creations.

My friend and I probably spent at least 20 minutes in the above space, re-experiencing the joy of being youthful/kiddy once again. 

White clean space casts by shadows of overhanging sponge-like fishes and jellyfish looking sea monsters. There were even little islands of hand sewn coral reefs and huge cushion whales which I refused to get up once I laid on them. Everything in there was just so soft and cushiony that I wanted to enter my La-la land form there Zzzz....

Maybe due to time constraint and us getting a bit tired since we headed over to Imaginarium from the other building where the other exhibit Odyssey was held. I felt Odyssey was still better in terms of layout as the exhibits were not all over the place and they were nicely spaced out. Was that why my previous blog post on Odyssey was much more detailed? Perhaps I just could not find any useful data online to blog about this exhibit?

''The sea, once it cast its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.''

                                                                                                                    - Jacques Cousteau

So much for scanning through the Instagram's explore button which led me to notice a couple of beautifully taken pictures in Singapore Art Museum. Both exhibitions 'Odyssey' and 'Imagiarium' run concurrently in Singapore Art Museum, but in different buildings.

As usual, the highlights were the same usual paintings and art installations that the mainstream social media enthusiast would flood Instagram with. Society is all about attention grabbing and social media worthy I supposed. I know it is a sad thing for those 'others' being neglected, therefore the more I should find a reason to share their beauty as well.

Thankfully the crowd wasn't awfully packed that day at all, since it is a museum after all. People who visited that day as I noticed were mostly families with young children or people like me who do not want to spend too much on entertainment activities on a weekend.  

Ever since Homer's epic poem The Odyssey told the story of warrior Odysseus' ten-year journey home from Troy. Basically Odyssey meant any epic journey and all the art installations simply revolves around journey, travel and water bodies as the mode of travel.

Travelling and going on a journey has always been mysterious to me since I would never know what to expect throughout the journey. The spirit of exploration and discovery could be detected in all these art installations and probably similar abyss of thoughts must be something that intrigue these artists.

Luckily I looked like I had a slight sunburn that day (the redness on my face) since I had undergone Venus Viva Nano Fractional Treatment at Chrysalis Medical Aesthetics about an hour before. At least I could still post photos of myself with these inspirational arts...

P.s/ HDB Life and the picture below it is not part of Odyssey's exhibit.

There is just something I have always liked about Japanese art and design and that would be the term minimalist. Think of the brand Muji and you would get what I meant. It wasn't surprising that I had to make my way down to Esplanade to view these 8 artworks by individual Japanese artists whose works are modern interpretation of traditional art forms.

Check out their large panel board below!

As usual, I couldn't resist taking #artootd shots with installations such as this one. Tell me how often you get to pose with 9 identical umbrellas at once or even having unique art pieces that compliments well with your outfit (first image)?

Thankfully I dragged my friend along to visit this small scale yet insta/blog worthy art exhibition so that he could be my photographer for that day! He was so wrong when he thought that I would leave within 15 minutes! Sorry, that do not include photography time.

I had a great time immersing myself in the simplistic art concepts. From the cute katadori (miniature) to the fine detailing of nagame (diorama). From the precise positioning and echoes of shizuku (drop) to the abstract ku (vanity). From the unusual kodama (echo) to the story-telling shirushi (symbol). From the aesthetic figures of irou (decoration) to the inspirational sawari (texture).

These were the keywords that described my first impression while admiring these works.

How about yours?