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Jan 17 2014

Preview: Art Stage Singapore

by Marybeth Stock
At the China Platform, 10 eclectic projects were curated by Huang Du under the theme “The Status of Chinese Contemporary Art: Transformation in Concept and Language.” Here, artist Zhang Zuerui’s Pulling Sweater (2011).
At the China Platform, 10 eclectic projects were curated by Huang Du under the theme “The Status of Chinese Contemporary Art: Transformation in Concept and Language.” Here, artist Zhang Zuerui’s Pulling Sweater (2011).
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During its preview this past Wednesday, Art Stage Singapore was hectic and crowded—not only with deadline-frantic media, but with eager collectors who, according to several local galleries, had already snapped up over a quarter of a million dollars’ worth of paintings and photographs by Singapore artists alone.

Now in its fourth incarnation, Art Stage is featuring 158 international galleries at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre. Some 75 percent of these participated last year, including White Cube (London, Hong Kong, São Paolo), Galerie Krinzinger (Vienna) and Galerie Perrotin (Hong Kong, Pari and New York), along with nearly 30 Singapore galleries. Art Stage, a quasi-commercial venture, is supported heavily by Singapore government arts and development agencies, but with well over 40,000 visitors anticipated during its three-day run, and considering the current investment enthusiasm for the region’s arts market, this venture may well be poised to succeed on its own.

The fair has clearly gained conceptual depth since last year. At the risk of eclipsing the independent gallery spaces, Art Stage founder and director Lorenzo Rudolf has established eight country and regional “Platforms” as the event’s pivotal nodes. Each of these presents a savvy mix of emerging and established artists from Southeast Asia, India, China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Australia and Central Asia. The largest of these, the Southeast Asia Platform, is experienced as an exuberant labyrinth of painting, installation, photography and multimedia projects by over 35 artists. The Japan Platform is perhaps the most astute of the platforms, with a half-dozen coherent and beautifully integrated installations. Rudolf is banking that the “risk-free” curatorial approach of the eight Platforms will not only educate collectors unfamiliar with these markets, but will create opportunities for young galleries and artists while at the same time encouraging greater academic—and commercial— awareness in Southeast Asian visual arts. 

Art Stage Singapore is on view January 16–19, 2014 at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Singapore.

Marybeth Stock is a writer, researcher and editor based in Singapore and Japan.