Arts...Travels...Writing

I've always wanted to check out what's brewing at Gillman Barracks after having read a few articles about the place and yesterday I was glad of the opportunity - an artist/painter relative is in town and where better to take her than the latest artist colony in the Red Dot! Gillman Barracks is made up of a cluster of galleries spread all over the compound that cuts across Lock Road and Malan Road near Alexandra. As of yesterday, 13 of them have already opened, with a few more coming up early next year. We started our gallery trek with Block No. 5 which houses the Drawing Room and the Sundaram Tagore Gallery.  Here's a sampler of the things I saw: Framed Art at the Drawing Room  Block No. 6 as seen from Block No. 5 Hiroshi Senju's Waterfall at Tagore. Natural Pigments on Japanese Mulberry Paper Still at Tagore Block 5 as seen from Block 6  Across the block from Tagore is a modernist gallery (Miucciaccia) which consists mai...

Two years ago, Taatu started talking about saving and greening the planet earth. I was quite impressed that her school started inculcating this consciousness that early (she was in nursery at that time - never too early to start I would say!). Every now and then, she would talk about recycling and making use of throw-away objects - which she does in her own little way, like making use of old boxes and papers and creating what-nots from them, though many times in the process, she would generate more recyclables, leaving behind a mound of mess in the drawing room! (She happily claims she belongs to the messy team in the house, while I, on the other hand, belong to the clean-up brigade).  When I told her that I'd be going to an exhibit of artworks from recycled items, she excitedly said she would go along. So off we went on a wet Saturday afternoon to Ronald Ventura's Recyclables at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute. We managed to catch the latter part of the opening day...

'A maelstrom is a very powerful whirlpool or large swirling body of water.' Maelstrom, part of the Philippine Art Trek series, successfully brought in monumental works from Philippines, and I was hugely awestruck by the immensity of it all! After all, on exhibit are works of art in epic proportions (214x427 cm or bigger)...not the typical drawing-room variety. If paintings could literally speak, then this batch is on super loud-speaker mode albeit the type that vibrates and echoes only with pleasant sound. The messages are rich and multi-layered too - the exhibit being a cross-sectional and cross-generational representation of Philippine art. Altogether Maelstrom leaves a wonderful and uplifting sensorial experience. I've always been in awe at the knack of Pinoy artists in creating deceptively simple visual arts, but which upon closer inspection have profound messages. 'Line Up' (shown below), for example, is neat, neutral, and symmetrical. It is suppo...

The last time I got into the F1 scene was when Beyonce and Black-Eyed Peas headlined one of the nights at Fort Canning, and I must say it was an awesome experience that got me paying attention to BEP more after that. But that concert seemed detached or independent of the F1 race itself, held a few throws away. This year, the F1 set-up seems different, with all the activities centralized around the race tracks. I will call this the F1 ville - upon entry one is greeted by all the buzz and the electrifying scene... and the smell of barbecue wafting out from somewhere, which made me realize I was starving so I promptly told my husband that it should be our first stop! A few bands and acts were playing last night - unfortunately I didn't recognize the names. But I must say the one we chanced upon played well in a folk-rock kind of way (read: not my genre anyway! I could relate more to the music that my millenial nieces and nephews listen to:-). Jay Chou was supposed to be the bigges...

Sharing some snaps I've taken during my recent trip to Buenos Aires - right before the battery of my very old and super heavy camera conked out. Good thing my ever-reliable camera phone saved the day. But that would be material for Part II of this series. In the meantime, enjoy this batch! Let's start with possibly the most well-known attraction in Buenos Aires, the Casa Rosada and its balcony, where Evita famously sang that song The lady immortalized in this iron/wire sculpture in one of the gov't buildings where she used to serve as department minister Correntes Avenue - one of the more happening streets in BA which literally comes to life the moment the street lamps light up. This stretch is littered with theatres, coffee shops, and bookshops. The popularity of the latter totally impresses me. The publishing industry seems very active.  Argentina seems to be one of the few countries in the world with better regard and respect for ...