by: Alvin SimPosted on:

Odyssey: Navigating Nameless Seas at Singapore Art Museum

”The sea, once it cast its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.”
                                                                                                                    – Jacques Cousteau
So much for scanning through the Instagram’s explore button which led me to notice a couple of beautifully taken pictures in Singapore Art Museum. Both exhibitions ‘Odyssey’ and ‘Imagiarium’ run concurrently in Singapore Art Museum, but in different buildings.
As usual, the highlights were the same usual paintings and art installations that the mainstream social media enthusiast would flood Instagram with. Society is all about attention grabbing and social media worthy I supposed. I know it is a sad thing for those ‘others’ being neglected, therefore the more I should find a reason to share their beauty as well.
Entang Wiharso (b. 1967 Indonesia)
Breathing Together (2016)
Acrylic, car paint and oil on canvas, resin, aluminium, plastic, thread, fabric, light bulbs and electric cables

Richard Streitmatter-Tran (b.1972, Vietnam)
A Short History of Man and Animal (2015)
Wood, iron and unfired clay
70 x 700 x 160

Thankfully the crowd wasn’t awfully packed that day at all, since it is a museum after all. People who visited that day as I noticed were mostly families with young children or people like me who do not want to spend too much on entertainment activities on a weekend.

Ever since Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey told the story of warrior Odysseus’ ten-year journey home from Troy. Basically Odyssey meant any epic journey and all the art installations simply revolves around journey, travel and water bodies as the mode of travel.
Travelling and going on a journey has always been mysterious to me since I would never know what to expect throughout the journey. The spirit of exploration and discovery could be detected in all these art installations and probably similar abyss of thoughts must be something that intrigue\ these artists.
Adrift (Time-lapse video) by Wyn Lyn Tan
Rashid Rana
Offshore Accounts-1 (2006)
C-print, Diasec
300 x 600cm
Ashley Yeo
Ceramic Whales as Part of Ocean’s Room
Mixed Media Installation
Alfredo & Isabel Aquilizen  (b.1962 ; 1965 Philippines)
Passage III: Passage Another Country (2009)
Used transport cargo boxes and wood
Una Lumino Callidus Spiritus (2016)
Metal Machinery, CPU board, motor, LEDs and polycarbonate
Feedback forms on paper fishes
Shin Lin
HDB Life (2014)
Interactive Installation
Luckily I looked like I had a slight sunburn that day (the redness on my face) since I had undergone Venus Viva Nano Fractional Treatment at Chrysalis Medical Aesthetics about an hour before. At least I could still post photos of myself with these inspirational arts…

Just a little rant from my experience that day. One of the worst type of people to meet would be a bloody shellfish (pun intended). This non local asshole got the gallery ambassador to capture pictures for him and refused to budge aside as he sat there to continue analysing his photo with a dissatisfactory look on his face. No point getting overly pissed over such a jerk. I made my way back to capture the photo below after exploring other sections.

Not wanting to end my post with a rant….

”But more wonderful than the lore of old men and the lore of books is the secret lore of ocean. Blue green, grey, white, or black; smooth, ruffled or mountainous; that ocean is not silent… ocean is more ancient than the mountains, and freighted with the memories and the dreams of Time.”

 – H.P. Lovecraft, The White Ship

P.s/ HDB Life and the picture below it is not part of Odyssey’s exhibit.

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