National Gallery Singapore open its doors on the 24th of November with a bang, welcoming the public whom eagerly waited for that day to arrive. Upon hearing about the interactive art carnival located at the Padang field and the spectacular lights show on the city hall building itself got me excited. It happened early this December and by the time I have completed this post, it became a ‘throwback’ event. Let this be my last post of year 2015 then, since it would be 2016 in a few hours time!
Lately, I got really interested into art related stuffs such as gallery tours and workshops. Please invite me along as I want to blog about these! (Check out my last few blog posts as well, as they were all art related!)
I have also uploaded a short video of the lights show against the building below. Pardon the incompleteness of it.
After squeezing with the crowd for the show, my friend and I headed to explore the various segments of the art carnival. I just love how the entire place was littered, I mean decorated with ‘dust’ or maybe sawdust?
The activities available were catered towards children and in the mean time educating them on arts based on a particular painting theme. We just browsed through the place, bought some snacks from pop-up stores and my friend wanted to experience some childhood fun by joining the kids to shoot a lotus seed coated with paint using a hand-held catapult against the black wall.
The weather was humid and I could not wait to get into the gallery spaces itself.
The very first time I visited National Gallery Singapore, a imaginery ‘Instagram Alert’ sign appeared already. Such huge place with beautiful historical architectural – the pillars, flight of steps as well as the corridors and of course the art pieces to capture using one’s camera. Definitely a favourable place to have your ootds taken too.
Anyway, I really love to admire artworks, despite not knowing what was painted on some or by whom. It doesn’t really matter since I have a mind of my own to interprete what I think. If I were so keen on the details, I would have gone for a docent tour or download the gallery explorer application to take me around.
After scanning through the gallery spaces, I found my favourite masterpiece! A painting located in Southeast Asia Gallery 4, probably the smallest gallery that I have encountered.
Firstly, the painting was so large that it would be quite impossible to miss. Large paintings normally packed a whole lot of fine details within which intrigued me to look closely and observe every corners of it. Being a foodie like myself, I am usually drawn towards food related subjects such as the marketplace (source). I felt that I have stepped into the street as the scent of spices and dirt filled the air.
What’s so interesting about it then? I felt that this painting has many points to debate about. Which country or culture is this? I see different people such as the Vietnamese lady wearing a hat and a Chinese lady in qi pao. The next moment, my eyes would be scanning through the stocks or should I say the ingredients used by the local chefs. I couldn’t help but to wonder what cuisine would it be or even how would the dish taste like.
As for the other paintings below, they were also some of my favourites which I would blabber on other time. That would be all for now and Happy New Year once again in a few hours time!!
Another post on Reframing Modernism Exhibition at National Gallery Singapore.