![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/551894bc0b38392d7638c4625b40f3eb17598e6b4417a5a69afe436bc37d71ee.webp\")
<\/p>\nThis show by Opera Gallery in Ion Orchard condenses 20th- and 21st-century Western art history into a capsule exhibition tightly packed with masterpieces at every turn.<\/p>\n
Arguably Singapore\u2019s most beloved artists, Colombian Fernando Botero \u2013 his corpulent figures always easy on the eye \u2013 and Japanese Yayoi Kusama, of polka-dotted pumpkin fame, make for kid-friendly starting points.<\/p>\n
But stop also before the canvases of quieter painters such as American Alex Katz and German-French Hans Hartung. Close up, their abstract daubs and scratches assert a dignified grace as culminations of life-long experimentation and control. <\/p>\n
The highlight for many, however, will be a carpeted cocoon deeper in the gallery, where paintings by French art royalty Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Edouard Manet hang. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Opera Gallery\u2019s The Singapore Masters Show. <\/p>\n
PHOTO: OPERA GALLERY <\/p>\n
These give a little teaser of the enduring allure of impressionists ahead of National Gallery Singapore\u2019s bigger show in November \u2013 no photo will do the luminosity of Renoir\u2019s white paint justice. <\/p>\n
And lest these leave you with a too-cloying sweetness, American artist George Condo and Spanish artist Manolo Valdes\u2019 deconstructed faces supply a raw vulnerability and brutish edge. Valdes\u2019 sculpture wears a headgear of wires and saw blades bundled together, recalling Jesus and his crown of thorns. <\/p>\n
Where:\u00a0Opera Gallery, 02-16 Ion Orchard, 2 Orchard Turn str.sg\/aopx <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n The More We Get Together pairs Singapore creatives with their counterparts from countries such as Malaysia, India, Germany, New Zealand and the Netherlands. <\/p>\n PHOTO: GRACE BOEY<\/p>\n In a mammoth private initiative, 76 creatives from 14 countries have been paired up to create eclectic works ranging from speculative letter correspondence to linen scrolls to a 3D-printed rock. <\/p>\n The project is by not-for-profit arts organisation Global Cultural Alliance (GCA), which also runs Battlebox at Fort Canning. Artists involved in the project come from Singapore and 13 other countries that recognised Singapore as a nation in 1965, including Malaysia, as well as India, Germany, New Zealand and the Netherlands.<\/p>\n Head of GCA Nicholas Tee says his team reached out to Singapore creatives spanning playwrights, visual artists and therapists, who were then paired with a creative partner overseas and given an open brief. <\/p>\n A small-scale exhibition at Orchard Central showcases some of the more materially striking combinations. They include Singapore woodcut artist Zhang Fuming and Indian printmaker Sangita Maity\u2019s centring of migrant workers; and a comic strip spin on Ferris wheels by Singapore playwright Myle Yan Tay and British comic artist Tyrell Osborne; as well as the larger-than-life insect model by Singapore watercolourist Wendy Zhang and Canadian crocheter Alexandria Masse.<\/p>\n The commemorative publication, The More We Get Together ($60), is a gem that is both catalogue and zine. <\/p>\n Apart from conversations between the artists and beautiful process photos, buyers will also be able to read textual works such as couple Teo Xiao Ting and Milton Lim\u2019s imagined letter correspondence between their grandmothers, and the heartfelt visual essay on development and loss by Cambodian artist Choulay Mech and Singapore journalist Toh Ee Ming.<\/p>\n Where:\u00a010 Square@Orchard Central, 10-01 Orchard Central, 181 Orchard Road The six selected winning artists of the UOB Painting of the Year award: (from left) Afiqah Suhaimi, Chan Miki, Om Mee Ai, Yong Wee Loon, William Goh and Stephy Chien.<\/p>\n PHOTO: UOB<\/p>\n Six UOB Painting of the Year winners are given a chance to showcase their works at Tanjong Pagar Distripark, for a taster of how to pitch their works to commercial galleries and collectors. <\/p>\n The gentler pen-and-paper contouring of Afiqah Suhaimi \u2013 derived from slow observations of nature in New Zealand \u2013 meets the angular penknife scratches and frustrated brick-and-rust rubbings of William Goh. The latter\u2019s paintings, which he calls \u201cfound objects\u201d, rail against the loss of places he loves. <\/p>\n There is similar personal connection in the works of Stephy Chien, the youngest at 22, who has made a career out of painting the huddle of motorcycles along the Causeway. The Malaysia-born Singaporean student uses these to speak of her \u201cconfused\u201d identity, recently pushing these two-wheelers towards greater abstraction on Chinese rice paper. <\/p>\n In another room, Yong Wee Loon\u2019s scenes of Penang and Om Mee Ai\u2019s geometric abstractions are the most mature, while Chan Miki, a marketing manager by day, is inspired by Spain painter Joaquin Sorolla and plays with light. <\/p>\n All About Art Gallery founder Jonathan Toh says prices have been kept reasonable so artists can gain confidence through sales. More than a couple were already reserved on opening night on Oct 15.<\/p>\n Where:\u00a0All About Art Gallery, 02-01E Tanjong Pagar Distripark, 39 Keppel Road str.sg\/9aXp<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Arts PicksExhibitionsSingapore artistsVisual arts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This show by Opera Gallery in Ion Orchard condenses 20th- and 21st-century Western art history into a capsule…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-87204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
MRT:\u00a0Orchard
When:\u00a011am to 8pm daily
Admission:\u00a0Free
Info:\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/cdc4495e1ce8bca8669524b5fa595946aa21b83010d433dbba4a1ec6bb0803c8.webp\")
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MRT:\u00a0Somerset
When:\u00a0Till Oct 25, 10am to 7pm (Mondays to Saturdays)
Admission:\u00a0Free <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/e978c1e037264023a39d36a53624d70fe5d480227fb18b19c2173f487c6648f5.webp\")
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MRT:\u00a0Tanjong Pagar
When:\u00a0Oct 18 to Nov 30, noon to 6pm (Thursdays to Saturdays), by appointment only (Sundays to Wednesdays). Closed on Mondays
Admission:\u00a0Free
Info:\u00a0<\/p>\n