20/52 - SAM

Week 20 of 52
Singapore Art Museum
Singapore

Friday evening I went to the Singapore Art Museum (SAM).  I had a teleconference until the early evening and then didn't have any plans so thought I would take advantage of the free admission on Friday evenings.  It is a place that I have walked past many times but have actually never ventured inside. 

The museum is housed in a former Catholic school and the building is really interesting.  

They have done a good job of utilizing the space inside.  However, I was a little less impressed with the contents of the museum.  I'm not sure if it was because it was Friday evening or just poor timing on my part but quite a few of the galleries were closed indicating that the exhibitions were under construction.  I walked all throughout the museum and was unable to locate a gallery with any sort of permanent collection.  It was a bit disappointing.

I did see two of the current exhibits by Asian artists.   

The artist in the pictures above is Liu Kang who was one of the most influential artists in Singapore.  He occupied three different gallery halls and his paintings and sketches were colorful and and were the types of pictures that if you stood back from them you saw the beauty of them but when you got up close you could see all sorts of detail that wasn't noticeable before.  He also used a lot of Indonesian influence in his painting which I liked having just been to Bali.

One of the interesting things about the exhibit was the notice/warning upon entering the gallery that there was nudity.  I am fine with there being a 'notice' but I guess in my head there is always a possibility of nudity in art museums.  Just something a little different about Singapore...