ART STAGE SINGAPORE

Art Stage Singapore is an Asian contemporary art fair held in Singapore every January, in conjunction with Singapore Art
Week, showcasing bold contemporary art spanning 34 countries. The fairs strong Asian identity is apparent through the
emphasis on Asian-based galleries.

THE ART FAIR: A PUBLIC (AF)FAIR

Edgar Degas once remarked, Art is not what you see, but what you make others see. This
envisages a dynamic relationship between an art fair and its visitors rather than a one-way
relationship with the audience in which art serves solely as an educational tool, a two-way engagement
between the fair and visitor is created.1 The art fair is not just an event for buyers, dealers or collectors,
but is an event-based way for the general public to experience art, whether it is the worlds richest
collector or the anonymous individual with little interest in purchasing art.

Contemporary art in fairs are no longer just commodities, but a form of artistic self-expression,
communitarian dialogue and generation of ideas. In the words of Boris Groys, a famous art critic, Art
is becoming a part of mass culture, not as a source of individual works to be traded on the art market,
but as an exhibition practice, combined with architecture, design, and fashion. This quote indeed
captures the essence of what an art fair is about today.2

A PERSONALISED EXPERIENCE

To the public, the art fair does not merely encourage the exchange of art, but also of ideas. The
publics experience is more personalised than ever they have the capacity to make meaning for
themselves to fulfil individual needs and desires.3 The art fair provides the visitor with an immediate
and proximate encounter with art it is this authenticity of the artwork and encounter with it that gives
the visitor room to independently make meaning. Visitors needs may range from social engagement, to
spiritual sustenance or emotional connection, to intellectual challenge or even consumerist indulgence,
and the art fair creates a rich experience to satisfy these needs. In the 21st century, rather than being
passive receptacles for the curators knowledge, the public are active, engaged participants.

REFLECTIONS ON ART STAGE SINGAPORE

Walking into Southeast Asias flagship art fair, I was immediately hit by a flurry of activity,
with people pausing in front of works and pondering their meaning or seeking an emotional or
intellectual connection. Having explored the evolution of art in class, I was extremely excited to sample
what was probably my first dose of contemporary art in a while. Through the fair, I gained a renewed
interest in contemporary art, and a deeper appreciation of the themes the artists were channelling
through their works.

Apart from the marquee names of the art world, many galleries bank on emerging artists with
no less a surfeit of talent. It is via such art fairs that their work can be discovered and admired, creating

1 Association of Art Museum Directors, The Art Museum Today, In Discussion, Retrieved from
https://aamd.org/sites/default/files/document/The%20Art%20Museum%20Today,%20in%20Discussion_0.pdf, January 26, 2016.
2 Chan, Michele, Fair-tigued: Are there too many art fairs?, March 27, 2015, Art Radar, Retrieved from

http://artradarjournal.com/2015/03/27/fair-tigued-are-there-too-many-art-fairs/, January 26, 2016.

3 Rodney, Seph, The Evolution of the Museum Visit, from Privilege to Personalised Experience, January 22, 2016, Retrieved from

http://hyperallergic.com/267096/the-evolution-of-the-museum-visit-from-privilege-to-personalized-experience/, January 26, 2016.

a deeper public understanding and encouraging a robust art market in Southeast Asia. One such gem
was Santi Wangchuan hailing from Thailand, presented by Yeo Workshop. Through his delicate and
complex weaving works, Wangchuan seamlessly harmonises old belongings and remnants of clothes of
his family members. Not only does his work symbolise his affection towards his family, it highlights
themes of societal metamorphosis, folk wisdom and conservation of culture. These strike close to our
hearts and give us deeper insight into the broad issues that affect our lives.

MADE IN CHINA BY JOE BLACK

Made in China is a piece I chanced upon by mixed media artist Joe Black, and exhibited by
Opera Gallery. From afar, the lifelike gaze of the young Chinese soldier bore into me, and on closer
examination, I came to the realisation that close to 5,500 colourful toy soldiers were glued onto the
canvas to produce the pointillistic effect. This pointillism is reminiscent of Neo-Impressionism, where
Georges Seurat developed the technique of painting small, distinct dots of colour in patterns to produce
an image. Blacks love for experimentation with his materials is evident through his work he
painstakingly spray-painted and carved each tiny toy soldier to give gentle lines and degrees of shading
to his subject, pioneering a new form of pixelation to achieve this aesthetic. Examining the tiny soldiers
up close, I observed that they were in a variety of poses, ranging from crouching and shooting, to
advancing on the enemy. The intricate detailing of each soldier, together with the strategic positioning
and colouring to give a realistic touch, left me truly impressed.

To give some background, Joe Black was attempting to recreate a picture published on the
cover of LIFE magazine in 1938, the image of a young Chinese soldier looking off into the distance, a
look of defiance on his face, taken during the Sino-Japanese War. It is incredible how Black manages to
assemble 5,500 toy soldiers (manufactured in China) into a photographic form, and not with brush
strokes that many may initially perceive from afar. A single image can be viewed as both a whole and
small composite parts Blacks work embodies this spirit, allowing the audience to experience the
grand and intricate simultaneously. On careful scrutiny, the tiny soldier figurines materialise and give
expression to the personality of the subject, revealing the story in the work to the audience.4

This artwork struck a chord in me because of the statement it makes about the use of children as
soldiers in war. Black uses a morally controversial subject the child soldier but does not advocate
any stance, leaving the artwork open to audience interpretation. Personally, I felt a strong sense of
anger towards the use of child soldiers in war by exploiting and manipulating their trusting and
vulnerable nature. This is probaby one of the most morally repugnant practices in the world,5 and is
still rampant today. The Islamic State grooms child fighters, teaching them how to wield weapons from
a tender age. This phenomenon was also seen in Liberias civil war and the conflict in Myanmar.

However, Black reveals the other side of the coin through his work. Rather than taking an
antagonistic stance towards the use of child soldiers, through this work, he also reveals the bold and
tenacious nature of children, and their strong and resilient fighting spirit, that make them good
combatants in war, sometimes even more so than adult fighters. Moreover, titling the piece Made in
China depicts that the concepts of childhood and maturity actually varies in different cultures,6
affecting what may be viewed as ethical. I feel that this work may be interpreted differently by people
hailing from diverse backgrounds, and may evoke different emotions that is indeed the beauty of art,
that it does not judge, but guides you to judgment.

4 Opera Gallery Catalogue, Joe Black, Ways of Seeing, Retrieved from http://www.operagallery.com/media/218.pdf, January 26,
2016.
5 Kaplan, Eben, Child Soldiers Around the World, December 2, 2005, Council on Foreign Relations, Retrieved from

http://www.cfr.org/human-rights/child-soldiers-around-world/p9331, January 27, 2016.

6 Eisentrager, Stein, Exploring the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers, April 19, 2012, Retrieved from http://www.e-

ir.info/2012/04/19/exploring-the-recruitment-and-use-of-child-soldiers/, January 27, 2016.

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