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SHOOSHIE SULAIMAN turned Tomio Koyama Gallery’s whole booth at the inaugural SEA Focus fair into an installation covering the floor with soil and plants. A series of five portraits of well-known curators, including Ute Meta Bauer and Anca Rujoiu, resonated with five head sculptures placed on a table, creating a ritualistic setting. All images by Hilary Tsui for ArtAsiaPacific unless otherwise stated.
Singapore’s inaugural SEA Focus, a home-grown initiative led by STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery dedicated to spotlighting modern and contemporary art from Southeast Asia, featured 26 galleries from across the region, For keen fairgoers, SEA Focus filled the gap left by Art Stage Singapore’s abrupt cancellation in spite of the former’s comparatively modest size. SEA Focus’s parallel program had three main pillars: “SEAcity,” featuring events hosted at the fair’s partner institutions and art spaces in Singapore throughout Singapore Art Week; “SEAcommunity,” an education and outreach program targeted at a younger generation of visitors; and “SEAspotlight,” a curated series of talks and performances.
The boutique art fair was spread across four blocks in Gillman Barracks, including two pop-up tents especially built for the fair. All of the galleries gave pride of place to artists from Southeast Asia and its diaspora, with a mix of established artists and emerging talents. Most of the galleries opted to show paintings and works on paper; only a small fraction of participants catered their booths’ limited space for sculptural works, notably Sullivan+Strumpf (Sydney/Singapore), which displayed four of Dawn Ng’s engraved sculptures.
Solo booths were prevalent, such as The Columns Gallery (Seoul)’s display of Timoteus Anggawan Kusno’s black-and-white drawings reimagining colonial-era imagery. Another highlight was Yavuz Gallery (Singapore)’s presentation of Filipina artist Yeo Kaa’s brightly hued drawings of grotesque headless torsos accompanied by sarcastic lines of text. At the vernissage, Kaa staged a performance in which she smashed three piñatas filled with neon paint and glitter, with the splashes adding a final touch to the paintings on the wall.
The VIP preview night was jammed-packed with collectors, dealers, and cultural practitioners active from the region. With champagne flowing freely and lively conversation between visitors and showcased artists at most of the booths, the fair started on a high note. All in all, the first edition of SEA Focus was an engaging attempt to drive greater international appreciation of Southeast Asian art.
SEA Focus, at Gillman Barracks, Singapore, runs through to January 27, 2019.
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