Prudential Singapore Eye at the ArtScience Museum, January 17–June 28, 2015
Each Prudential Eye exhibition showcases the contemporary art talents of a particular city. This year it’s Singapore’s turn, coinciding with celebrations in the Lion City’s 50th year of independence. Around 25 artists, including Ichwan Noor, Christine Ay Tjoe, and Genevieve Chua have been selected by an international curatorial panel for the exhibition. A comprehensive book featuring 75 Singaporean artists will also be published as part of the Eye program.
Liu Kuo-sung, “Revolution. Renaissance” at Singapore Museum of Contemporary Arts, January 2015
The Father of modern ink painting, Liu Kuo-sung may now be 82 years old, but he’s still creating new works. Throughout his 60-year-long career, Liu has pioneered many innovative new techniques for applying ink to paper and has crafted new types of paper with surprising textures. A hugely respected figure in the Chinese community and among ink-lovers abroad, Liu will be touring southeast Asia in 2015. The first stop is at the Singapore Museum of Contemporary Art in January. Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur follow.
Singaporean artist Ming Wong will be mashing Cantonese opera with sci-fi at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in June 2015.
Photo via: ucca.org.cn
Ming Wong at Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art Beijing, June 12–August 9, 2015
Summer will see the spotlight shine on Ming Wong at the non-profit Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art in Beijing. This fascinating contemporary Singaporean artist takes inspiration from world cinema and traditional Asian culture. He will present work from his ongoing research in the modernization of Cantonese opera and the history of science fiction in formerly Communist countries, which manages to find a continuity of utopian imagery from these two seemingly very different areas of cultural production.
“Murakami Takashi: The 500 Arhats” at the Mori Art Museum, October 31, 2015–March 6, 2016
Darling of the international contemporary art world and a frequent collaborator of fashion houses and pop stars, Takashi Murakami has toured the world with his “Superflat” paintings (see “Takashi Murakami Enters His Skull Period at Gagosian“). Now the artist returns to his native Japan for his first large-scale solo exhibition there in 14 years. The Mori Art Museum will play host to “Murakami Takashi: The 500 Arhats,” curated by Akiko Miki and Fumio Nanjo, the museum’s director. The central feature of the show is the work The 500 Arhats (2012), a three-meter-tall, 100-meter-long painting of 500 enlightened followers (Arhats) of Buddha. Murakami created the work in response to the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. Several large sculptures and abstract paintings will also be on display.
Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, November 21, 2015–April 10, 2016
The eighth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art will be presented at the Gallery of Modern Art and Queensland Art Gallery. The program is the only one of its kind that focuses on the contemporary art of Asia, Australia, and the Pacific. The triennial features a list of around 75 emerging plus established artists, filmmakers, and performers from more than 25 countries. Among the highlights are four Mongolian artists who work in the unique Mongol zurag style of painting, as well as artists from Nepal and the Solomon Islands, countries from which artists will be participating in the Triennial for the first time.