知己 l MCA

昨天与YK去看 《歌剧魅影》， 有一点感触。
近年发现老友与从前不同了。不知是不是岁月让大家不介意拆下面具。 以真面目示人并不是不好，但有时让人觉得不知所错。 也许有一些朋友应该疏远，也许 美国作家切波斯基在《壁花男孩》说的是：“物换星移，朋友离去。人生不会为任何人而停留。” - 美国作家切波斯基，取自《壁花男孩》

"Things change. And friends leave. Life doesn't stop for anybody."
 - Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower 

Well, it's kind of funny how the opening paragraphs lead to a post about the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (MCA). Well, I guess a museum is a place where I like to visit without friends. Although I visited  MCA with a group of friends. LOL.





 

Our guide for the day who took us through various artwork that were contemporary in a nice way. Not sure if you know what I mean but some contemporary art can be too overwhelming! 

At the entrance facing the harbour...Maybe this man was waiting for the rain to stop too... 

A peek at The Rocks from MCA :)

 

And here's a peek into MCA via below video. I like how the museum show glimpses of its surrounding through the windows. It feels so integrated, like how art should be integrated in life :) Guess I would have lingered longer if I was not travelling or if I was travelling solo... and I really look forward to my next solo trip...

 

Princely Treasures@National Museum of Singapore

It was Open House at the National Museum of Singapore last weekend and admission was free for all exhibitions. So I went to see the exhibition Princely Treasures - with pieces from Liechtenstein. As I shared in my Instagram, it made me missed Europe. Very much.

  

Beautiful Saturday morning :) One of my favourite places in Singapore :)

It was to see Princely Treasures this time. The Open House saved me $10 :P See Raphael?



Cannot remember the details of these two paintings. But I like them :)

Neo-classical pieces, I think

Not many sculptures on display...

Got to see more pieces from Netherlands artists.

Quite interesting.

Van Dyke, I think. Like taken off a camera. With technology, we will probably never ever see such fine works in the future...

Symbols of Rome. I miss Italy.

Venice - Clock Tower.

Discovered a new kind of art genre - Biedermeir Art. More high brows.

Found it kind of gothic...

Definitely worth a visit :)



The National Museum of Singapore has changed so much. Food for Thought is there. So is Kerbside. Interesting retail mix.

Go catch Princely Treasures if you can - it's on till September. Rare to see such a nice collection of European art in Singapore. Was actually quite surprise that it was not crowded for free admission last week... I did listen in to the guided tour on and off and I thought the guides were good. Might go again if there is another open house :P

Brick & Mummy

Was at the ArtScience Museum on Vesak Day with YK! Wanted to see The Art of the Brick exhibition. The combo tickets for both on-going shows (the other was Mummy Secrets of the Tomb) was $20 (for Singapore citizens), we decided to go for both and had fun :)

 

This was taken at the entrance as no pictures allowed in the exhibition built around a priest - his authentic mummy was also on display. Not as intensive (and scary :P) as some of the mummy exhibitions I have seen. A bit scientific, in fact. Interesting nonetheless.

Wanted to see this exhibition for a long time but never got down to it.

 

Dare to bare your heart? Yellow - One of the most well-known Lego artwork of Nathan Sawaya.



Love how the artwork interacts with being :)



Cannot remember the title of this piece. I remember it is about diversity.



Writer.

 

Grasp : No matter where your heart wants to lead you, there will be hands that try to hold you back. Life's challenge is to find the strength to break free. I created this sculpture in response to so many people telling me 'No' in my life. I wanted to break free of those people - 2007



Mask. Nathan Sawaya has this uncanny ability to use Lego to reflect life. I also like how his captions captured the essence of his artwork and life :)



Dinosaur.



ArtScience Museum in LEGOLAND :)

  

My Lego Portrait - like the uncanny resemble :)

The Art of the Brick ends today while Mummy Secrets of the Tomb will be on until November. 

Thai Transience

Went to the Christmas Open House at Singapore Art Museum (SAM) today. It's been a while since I visited the exhibitions (was at Dome to celebrate my birthday with the gals earlier this year). SAM will always have an important place in my timeline - it is my first company where I worked straight after university!

SAM has changed so much over the last 10 years. I thought it used to host more blockbusters with masterpieces by Rodin, Leonardo Da Vinci etc. In recent years, I could sense that it is focusing more on Asian art, especially modern art, and also showcasing more from its collection.

Free photo-taking. The backdrop kind of spoof the ongoing exhibition - Thai Transience. Wanted to capture how the instant photo transcend via my smart phone - kind of blur but it's my little piece of art! :)

Instant photo - turned out very nicely. I'm looking good! haha :P Maybe because I'm happy to be at SAM on Christmas day :)

Guess it's a good thing to share the art of our region, and I'm very proud that our museums are doing so to tell the world about our heritage. Thought it's interesting that the National Museum of Singapore and the Art Science Museum is hosting more blockbusters now though. It is a good thing for Singaporeans who may not have the chance to travel widely, as this will give them the chance to see the masterpieces. Well,I'm always excited to see Picasso/Rodin/Leonardo/Van Gogh wherever I am, be it Australia or Europe!

Dreams & Reality

Went to Dreams & Reality at the National Museum of Singapore - Masterpieces of Painting, Drawing & Photography Musee D'Orsay Paris. I must say it was intensive (not in a negative way), with so many work of art by the likes of Cezanne, Van Gogh etc. When I visited the museum in Paris, I relied very much on Rick Steves audio guide. So it was kind of a tour of his highlights. No audio guide in Singapore ( I did not want to spend $3 on it) but good captions (I don't really remember seeing captions in Paris and even if there are, they are probably in French/Italian so I am 'illiterate' over there :P). That's probably why it felt heavy. Kind of surprise to see the crowd but go see - for $11, it's worth it. I might go again if there's a free open house although the thought of so many fellow visitors kind of puts me off....

Highlight - Van Gogh's Starry Night. I think it's stunning his usual way.

See the quote by Gauguin - maybe that's why they are all 'artists' :)

ArtScience Museum

Finally visited the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands. The entrance kind of reminded me about the Louvre in Paris (much smaller, less crowded version). It was launched on my 32nd Birthday - I didn't know when I decided to visit MBS on the same day :)



Taken today. ArtScience Museum is in a very modern setting, surrounded by one of the most stunning landscape - CBD, Esplanade and MBS.

Taken earlier in the year. Construction was still ongoing on the day of launch. Architecture reminds one of a lotus flower and a hand reaching out to the sky!

Visited the Van Gogh Alive - The Exhibition (ending tomorrow) and the Dalí: Mind of a Genius – The Exhibition. The former reminds me of Museum D'Orsay in Paris when I saw some of Vincent's original works - both impressionism and post-impressionism. Think dark beautiful paintings. This exhibition was more of a audio-vidual display of his works in 1880-1890 and I enjoyed sitting in the gallery watching his works flash before my eyes :) It was overwhelming in a peaceful way.

I read about Dali in a visual communications class in university. Think surrealism and Freud. It's quite surreal to see his works (which kind of reminds me of Tim Burton movies). I always thought he was more of a painting/drawing artist. It was a surprise to see sculptures (which I like) and consumer works like furnitures and glass displays. I always thought he was more of a psycho-analysis guy and not so much one fascinated with science. And I so want to visit Dali Musuem in Figueres near Barcelona!

Alice in Wanderland. Once of Dali's fave characters. Not surprised :)

Symbols. Snail. Crutch. Very Dali.

Venus + giraffe. Beauty and love take a new spin.

Melting watch and clock. Dali's take on permanence and transcience. I closed my eyes and listened to the ticking of clocks. I seem to have frozed in this picture. Carpe diem - hear the time go by.

Voyage Night Festival 2011

We visited many museums when we were in Italy and Paris in March. I was amused that we needed to book tickets in advance to visit the museums and there were so many visitors. In some museums, like the Vatican City, it was so crowded that you just moved along with the guide and get pushed along by visitors. I really hope that one day, the museums in Singapore will be like those in Europe - so vibrant and sought-after. Perhaps that inspired me to volunteer for the Voyage Night Festival 2011 so I can contribute in some ways.  For me, it was a different experience, a voyage of some kind to see our museums transformed at night ...



National Museum of Singapore



Singapore Art Museum