East Answers West: Art Stage in Singapore

The West has Art Basel, the Venice Biennale, the Frieze Art Fair, but what big contemporary fairs are coming out of the East? Art Stage Singapore, for one.  Taking place between the 12^th and 16^th of January, 2011, Art Stage Singapore is Asia’s answer to all those fairs in Europe and the US. Boasting international galleries from both East and West, the event is anticipated to be an extravagant affair, especially considering the wealth of the financial markets in Asia.

Organized by the Former director of Art Basel, Lorenzo Rudolf, the goal is to support and stimulate the exploding Asian art market. Anyone who follows art has seen a turn to Asia Pacific for collectors, publications, and galleries. The inaugural fair will host a carefully curated selection of about 90 international galleries.  The fair recognizes that Asian art still remains a separate market from the rest of the world, and the goal of Art Stage is simple – to mix a selection of top Western galleries with top Eastern galleries, strengthening the position of the galleries worldwide.

Events like Formula One and the Asia Fashion Exchange have established Singapore as a destination, Art Stage intends to continue this development. Although the event is private, it has strong public support as a catalyst for the Singapore’s ongoing transformation. The event has several parts: the Project Stage will feature over 20 special projects from emerging Asian artists, which have been specially curated for the fair.  Educational Programmes is a series of special lectures for art insiders, Western collectors and potential buyers. There is also a range of fringe events planned, the highlight being the exhibition of pieces from private collections at the Singapore Art Museum.  Just a few of the names in this huge event include: Ai Wei Wei (China), Shilpa Gupta (India), Liu Wei (China), I Nyoman Masriadi (Indonesia), Nam June Paik (Korea), Yoshitomo Nara (Japan), Shen Shaomin (China), Agus Suwage (Indonesia), L.N. Tallur (India) and Zeng Fanzhi (China).

More information can be found at the official Art Stage website: www.artstagesingapore.com

Images Courtesy of:

Richard Koh Dine Art (Kuala Lumpur / Singapore)

Megumi Ogita Gallery (Tokyo)

Everything about Art Stage Singapore has been developed with a careful attention to detail and a consideration for the perfection that can be found in a fusion of East meets West. The same could be said for White Line member hotel The New Majestic. Which is, by the way, the perfect place to stay during your trip to Art Stage.

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Categories: Singapore, Art, Events

Contributing writer: Alicia Reuter

Adam Neate, London

Hundreds of thousands of illegal paintings, scrawls, tags, and pieces cover the streets
of London, but there are only a handful of these artists worldwide
that you’re likely to remember: Banksy, Keith Harring, and Blu, to
name a few. You can probably go ahead and add London native Adam
Neate to that list. The self-taught artist started out by leaving
thousands of paintings on the streets of London, free for the
taking, before finding gallery representation in the last few
years. He’s represented by the Elms Lester Painting Room, which
heralds him as “THE painter of his generation.” Press release
boasting aside, this is definitely an artist to keep an eye on. His
first one-man exhibition, “Paintings, Pots, and Prints” in 2007
sold out, subsequent events and exhibitions have generated an
unforeseen public enthusiasm. Critics and collectors eagerly follow
Neate’s consistently evolving development. Take, for example, the
public participation event “The London Show” in 2008. In one night
he and his team left over 1000 works scattered over London’s 33
boroughs, an estimated 50,000 hopeful collectors turned out to
search for them. What may have started out as street art has
developed into a more “aesthetically and stylistically rich plane,”
generally falling into three categories: self-portraits,
three-dimensional narrative works, and social documentaries. His
latest works are an impressive combination of vibrant colours and
dimensions using both cardboard and canvas as the working surface.
The painting use a range of challenging materials to attain 3
dimensionality: Perspex, metal, and fabrics can all find their way
into the pieces. They hint at knowledge of movements, such as
Expressionism, from the early 20th century, but they are bold,
gripping, and completely unlike anything we’ve seen before.
More information about Adam Neate can be found on the Elms Lesters website at www.elmslesters.co.uk

Images courtesy of Elms Lesters

An appreciation of the bold and unique is a quality
of White Line Hotels, and it’s one you can find at Ampersand Hotel London. From the originality of the original
structure to the careful renovations that were carried out to turn
it into a hotel, you’ll appreciate the careful attention to design
details, just like a work of art.

A sense of disquietude concerning the existing order of things

Herbert Hinteregger / Koenraad Dedobbeleer: A sense of disquietude concerning the existing order of things

Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna

The Christmas season is underway, the New Year is lurking around the corner, and in between those countless parties you’re probably doing some reflecting on a year quickly coming to a close. Maybe you’re feeling a need for change on a personal level, or maybe the current state of social and economic affairs has left you with a certain sense of uneasiness, but I’m sure plenty of people are relating in some way to the feeling, expressed in the exhibition’s title, that moved Herbert Hinteregger and Koenraad Dedobbeleer to their collaborative exhibition A sense of disquietude concerning the existing order of things.

Minimal interventions in the gallery space and subtle installation positions allow this feeling to extend from a title to something that creeps onto the visitor while moving through the exhibition spaces. From the entrance to the gallery, where wooden scaffolding directs movement along conscious paths of movement, visitors are led through playful, well-executed and multi-layered allusions to art history that extend through the Modernist Era. Light-hearted appropriation and ironic commentary keeps the mood from sinking into the doom and gloom that the title could suggest. Hinteregger and Dedobbeleer remind us that the movements they allude to came about through a sense of a need for change, and inspire examining the full quote they took their title from – “revivals in art spring from a sense of disquietude concerning the existing order of things: they are the strivings after truer and nobler ideals.”

November 17, 2010 – January 8, 2011 at Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Schleifmühlgasse 5, A-1040 Vienna. Opening Hours: Tuesday – Friday: 11am – 7pm, Saturday: 11am – 3pm

You’d do worse than to see out the old and in the new at the Hollmann Beletage in Vienna this year.  A mix of old school charm and playful design and service means you’ll feel connected to Vienna unlike never before.

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Categories: Vienna, Art, Exhibitions

Contributing writer: Melissa Frost

Skiing in Alta Badia

As The New York Times, The Guardian, and international travel sections begin to fill up with articles about winter getaways, we’re going to throw our recommendation into the mix. Tried and true, Alta Badia, on the border of Austria and Italy, offers unparalleled winter sports, relaxation, and cuisine.

No picture could do justice to the towering rocky cliffs of the Dolomites, this is one of those places you have to see to believe. The ski season lasts from November to April and even when there are warm temperatures on the ground, the higher elevations still have ideal conditions for skiing, tobogganing, and winter hiking.

One can find all of these events within a short distance of the Lagació Mountain Retreat. The challenging and lengthy tobogganing runs at Störes Plateau Heilig Kreuz are not for the faint of heart, or, if you really want to get your ticker racing, head for the mighty Alta Badia natural toboggan run, a 3½ kilometre journey from Piz Sorega to St. Kassian. If you’d rather spend the day speeding down the slopes upright, numerous routes are within a stones throw, ski passes can be arranged at the front desk, and ski and snowboard rental is just seconds from the front door. (Did we mention Resort guests get a 10% discount?)

If you’re not convinced by the extraordinary location, perhaps the luxury of resort life will appeal to your stressed out soul. A Finnish sauna, steam bath, and spa treatments galore in a cultivated mountain environment are all yours for the enjoying. The region has plenty of top restaurants, but if you’re seeking a cosy evening in after a full day on the slopes, and really don’t want to pop by the local supermarket, order the Lagació Shopping Crate. Once again they’ve thought of everything, and with the shopping crate, you can get the best of the region’s fresh foods and specialities. Start your day with organic produce and fresh rye-flour rolls delivered to your door in the crate. You don’t even have to pack a toothbrush – just order one with the rest of your groceries.

There are few winter activities as satisfying as spending the day in the crisp mountain air and enjoying the warm sun on your face, then heading back to the heat of a Finnish sauna, a delectable meal, and snuggling under the covers for a well deserved night of Z’s.

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Categories: Alta Badia – Italy, Stuff we like

Contributing writer: Alicia Reuter

Munich La Roca, Barcelona

Sometimes a store tries to make up for run of the mill products with impressive interior design, other shops have amazing products presented in a bland ho-hum environment. Rare is the designer that can come up with both a sought after product, presented in a manner that does justice to the creative minds behind it. If you’re in Barcelona, and want to check out one of these rarities, pop by the Bailo+Rull ADD Arquitectura designed store for Munich footwear. The shoes, despite the name, are made in Barcelona and boast every ounce of Barcelona’s flair.

What will pull you in as a passer-by are the peepholes in the front windows, allowing pedestrians to peer into the store. The walls of the shop are futuristically reflective. The real highlights are the conveyor belts, which playfully present the shoes.  At the foundation of the project was the question “How do things work?” The designers decided to created the illusion that the shoes were actually being created behind the 8 metre high wall along one wall of the store. When the shoes are ordered, the belts spring into action, turning, crossing, and rotating, to deliver the product. Traffic lights line the walls, signalling the belts to stop and start, creating an industrial atmosphere. As the shoes come closer and closer to the counter, they finally, gently, drop down, as though they were “freshly baked.”

Inspiring, fresh, and unconventional are some of the best adjectives to describe Barcelona. They can also be used for White Line Edit Hotel Omm. With one of the best locations in the city, and in convenient walking distance to the majority of the cities’ major sites, it’ll be a tough choice deciding between rambling on La Rambla or enjoying sweet, indulgent luxury at the hotel spa.

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Contributing writer: Alicia Reuter 

Photographs are by Albert Marín unless stated otherwise.