The Arts in Singapore

I think I've mentioned before that one of the wonderful things about living in Singapore is the range of awesome art events you can attend. It is truly a microcosm of many popular art and cultural events famous around the world. Over the last few months I've:

• Watched an Elton John concert
• Watched the brilliant Kevin Spacey in the wonderful staging of Richard III
• Visited the 100th anniversary artifacts exhibit of The Titanic
• Watched Cirque Eloize
• Meandered through the "Dali: Mind of a Genius" exhibit  
• Watched, listened and experienced a slew of acts during the "Voyage Night Festival"
• Saw grand old masterpieces in "Musee d'Orsay: Dreams and Reality" exhibit

There were a number of other things I really wanted to see but missed (ie: The King's Singers Christmas Concert). Moving forward, there are also a few more things I've booked that are coming up soon (ie: Wicked the Musical). 

I also really like how art is very public here - from architecture to installations. 

Whether it be the size of Singapore or the budget I finally have to treat myself to these small luxuries, I'm happy to be living in a country where these wonderful events are so accessible. 

Wonderful what other great art events I'll get to see this year?

Voyage: Night Festival 2011

Over 2 Saturdays, some friends and I checked out Singapore's "Night Festival", themed "Voyage" for this year. It was an awesome mix of free exhibits, light installations, theatre & music performances and film showings.

Google it - you'll find lots of  references that give better info as to the goings on and rationale behind the festival. I'm just hear to share my photos :)

I think what amazed me most was that it was ALL FREE and really out in the open for everyone to enjoy. And in fairness, the festival was very well attended. Many of these acts flew in from all over the world, and yet, ALL THE PERFORMANCES WERE FREE. Amazeballs. One of the plus sides I would say about living in a tiny country that give major props to culture and the arts.

We didn't stay too long both nights - just enough to catch little snippets here and there. That, plus kain and catch-up, always make for a good evening.

 I love my burgers! (Meat Works @ ION) 

 Details (MeatWorks @ION) 

In Parking Mad (Le parking en folie), Benedetto Bufalino explores the surrealist possibilities of our environment by introducing the driveway with a row of parked Volvo cars that have gone wild. Flashing lights from their windows, they seem to be engaged in frenzied conversation with one another, having been given a life of their own by the artist. (blurb from http://www.singaporeartmuseum.sg/)

The Shin's flutist (who looks like Tony Bourdain) 

More of The Shin (fusion jazz band that combines Georgian folk melodies with jazz, famous native polyphonic singing with scat, and tunes of the near Orient and flamenco with a modern Western sound. (blurb from wikipedia)

Corazon de Angeles in Paradise: In a cinematic journey which combines music, dance, film,
acrobatics, live performance and  pyrotechnics, Belgian group Theater Tol consisting of sculptors,
musicians, dancers and actors, takes the audience through a world of voyages and encounters,
fascinating and magical, akin to summer night dreams.
(blurb from http://www.nationalmuseum.sg/) 

More of Corazon de Angeles in Paradise. Spectacular spectacular
using facade of the National Museum as its backdrop 

Corazon de Angeles in Paradise

Niyaz's tabla player (who looks like Seinfeld, hehe)

Performance by Niyaz "mystical music with a modern edge", a blend Sufi mysticism
and trance electronica (blurb from wikipedia)

Out and about the Night Festival

Visitor!

Lyrical Perspective is a visual projection that relies on the public's voice to
distort the SAM façade. Through the interaction of light, sound and architecture in their installations,
1024 Architecture aims to cross the boundaries between real and virtual space.
Courtesy of Fête des Lumières de Lyon (blurb from http://www.singaporeartmuseum.sg/)

More of Lyrical Perspective

Singapore Art Museum 

Singapore Art Museum

In Curiositiés, architect Alain Benini transforms the SAM courtyard into a dwelling for
luminous jellyfish, creating an imaginary realm which the artist invites you to lose yourself in.

(blurb from http://www.singaporeartmuseum.sg/)

Courtesy of Fête des Lumières de Lyon 

Singapore Art Museum

Boo

Singapore Art Museum

Art corner for kiddies at the Singapore Art Museum

Animation/movie showing held inside the "Chapel" of Singapore Art Museum.
SAM used to be an all boy's school back in the day

Kulit

Even more kulit

Testing the boundaries of sexuality...

.. but quickly foiled by a kiddie! S'pore society not ready perhaps? :)

Interactive art: creating "pixelated" Mona Lisa

Kiddie face painting at SAM 

Inspired by the world-renowned architect lamp, art collective TILT populates the walkway 

walking through the street. Through the collective’s work on stage lighting and set designs,
TILT offers the possibility of experiencing public spaces in a new light 

with Lampounettes
that illuminates and renew the experience of 

Courtesy of Fête des Lumières de Lyon 

(blurb from http://www.singaporeartmuseum.sg/)

Neat Freak

I love things that are uniform and organized. Nothing thrills me more than seeing books neatly stacked and arranged by height and color. Or spools of ribbon organized from darkest to lightest. Or pails over-flowing with taffy, split up by color. Or clear boxes each full of one particular button shape. Groupings of similar items or.. things organized in rows.. or.. or.. or... ya.. shut me up before I froth at the mouth.

I have absolutely no idea why I am so amused and delighted and absolutely tickled by this. Thought it was a strange fixation. Turns out, I'm not alone.

A friend reblogged a photo from a a tumblr site called: thingsneatlyorganized.tumblr.com.

As a friend said when she saw it, porn for the obsessive compulsive... orgasmic organization. Check it out and tell me.. are you not writhing with so much giddiness that you don't know what to do with yourself?!?!

Pipe Cleaners

Visited a huge crafts store for the first time in the US back in 2003. I love paper, scrapbooking anything, pens, and arts and crafts stuff - pretty much anything that you use to create with your heads. You can image my reaction when I stepped into the store. I was both dumbfounded and giddy. Have you ever seen Scrooge McDuck swim in his pool of coins and throw them up in the air with glee? That's what I felt like doing.

So I had myself a field day and bought whatever my budget would allow me at the time - all sorts of colored and textured paper, googly sticky eyes, colored wire, these poofy sparkly pom poms and all other sorts of stickies used for embellishment, colored sand (yes.. colored sand), photo corners, etc.

I still have a bunch of this stuff with me today - partly because I haven't gotten around to putting together a huge number of scrapbooks (they're time consuming! and expensive!) and partly because I used to have a weakness for hoarding pretty things that I thought I'd never see again if I used it up.

I do have one item stored that makes me wonder what I was thinking when I purchased them: pipe cleaners. Not literally pipe cleaners (I think) - but could very well be a pipe cleaner I suppose? They're basically long pieces of wire wrapped in all sorts of colored.. ehm.. fuzz? Being wire, you can basically bend them into any shape you want. I guess seeing them reminded me of my child hood and art classes in school. Though come to think of it, I don't remember actually using them for anything as a child. Lol.

So yes, I have this bag of pipe cleaners which I guess I intended to use for scrap booking but found out later on that they're pretty hard to glue down. Had no idea what to use them for after that so they kind of sat in storage for years.

Decided to give half of my stash away. Thank goodness for friends with kids who still like arts and crafts. Better off in that home than in mine.

Hmmm.. maybe I oughta add the colored sand to that list. Lol.

Pencil

(photo of art piece taken at "Art in the Park" in Salcedo Village, 2010)

I had a a number of meetings one week where all my corporate clients each had a mug full of finely sharpened pencils sitting on their desk, ready to be plucked and used at their disposal.

The other half of my two person team at work also prefers to use a pencil.

I on the other hand, use a pencil maybe... never? Unless I am circumstantially forced to do so, I haven't actually used a pencil in goodness knows how many years. Tool of choice is always a pen. Come to think of it, I actually don't know why I prefer a pen over a pencil. To think I used to LOVE bringing back to Indonesia boxes of number 2 Mongol pencils! Though I also remember with equal fondness my love of pens. I can spend a lot of time rummaging through carousels of pens, testing each one (always with "hello my name is" over and over again!) until I find THE perfect pen that feels great in the hand and writes like a dream. And don't even get me started on fountain pens - my favorite writing tool growing up was this wonderful Body Shop fountain pen that came with this big tub of ink cartridges in all sorts of Care Bear colors.

Should anyone ever establish the evolution of man and his writing tool, I would say that the "pencil -> pen" movement is a natural progression, a shift that you naturally do without stopping to think about it or looking back. A pen was something you were lucky to use as a kid if you were ready and confident to go forth with your work and not make a mistake. As a kid, I remember doing drafts of work in pencil before I'd go over my answers in pen. Even in art, unless you're fabulous at free hand, pencil is always the first level of work you before you go over your work with a more permanent writing / coloring tool.

So I guess that kind of stuck. A pen feels and looks more professional, at least in my eyes. And doesn't ink last much longer than graphite? Doesn't pencil eventually get all smudgey? I like keeping my notebooks so I don't want to open my keepsakes years down the line only to find pages of unintelligible grayness. Accordingly to a friend though, he says pencils DON'T smudge and that yes, they do last. Dip a piece of paper in water, the pen runs but the pencil marks don't.

Regardless, I was curious to experience the sensation of writing with a pencil again. So today, I sharpened an old pencil lying around and brought it with me to a meeting along with a small white rubber (love new clean white erasers!).

And the verdict?

Well, I gotta say, it was strangley, a lovely and very freeing experience! As weird as it sounds, using a pencil seems to really lend itself to jolting the mind and getting those creative juices to flow. There is something delicious about feeling the soft crushing of the tip of a finely sharpened graphite as it glides across the paper- like it's working for you by also putting in the extra effort to document whatever it is you need to document. I may now permanently convert to using a pencil for note taking or brainstorming.

Back On Stage!

So it's all set; jumping last minute into a show next month.

Was excited to see my script. I love getting a new script- reading it over for the first time, getting to know my character for the first time.. even highlighting my lines is such a joy for me.

It's a short skit (about 15 minutes long apparently) and an ensemble piece. The past shows I've done with them were either monologues or two-person plays, so this will be something different!

Curious about who the other cast members are. They've had a few more rehearsal together so I'm hoping I have immediate rapport with them off and on stage.

Exciting!

Back On Stage?

Made a small return to the stage 2 years ago after I auditioned for a show produced by this new theater and events group. I've been quite lucky with them as since that first show, I've been involved in a number of their shows, both off and on stage.

This year, I didn't get around to audition for their annual theater event due to a personal conflict in schedule. I reasoned that I needed to focus on what was (and is currently still!) on my plate, and was convinced I couldn't do both.

A few weeks after the auditions (that I didn't attend), I started feeling differently. I planned on getting in touch with them and letting them know that I wanted to help out with the show, as a actor or otherwise. Though I dwelt on it for a while, I kept putting it off. I eventually gave up on the idea as with the show dates fast approaching, I thought it would be too makapal for me to ask.

Today though, I randomly bumped into the group's president. The first thing she said to me after a hug was "I need you!". She told me how she was looking for someone to fill a role and had thought of me. She figured since I didn't audition, I was busy with the job I was telling her I'd have by now during last year's show. She put the message out into the universe in hopes it would conspire to help her.. and conspire it did! For the both of us!

Now I have no idea if it will work out logistically; we still need to talk specifics. Not that I want to turn a deaf ear to opportunity knocking but I'm a bit overwhelmed as it is right now with what's going on in my life. Hopefully all it will take to get me through the next few weeks is diligent focus, hard work, baby steps, self confidence and prayers.

Nonetheless, I'm thrilled! The surprise source of income is as welcome as it is needed, as is the chance to pour my energies into a creative outlet I've always loved. Acting freaks me out as much as it exhilarates me so it's definitely an opportunity to stretch my realm of self-awareness. I always come out of a show feeling like I know myself just a little bit more.

So fingers crossed!

(photo of myself and a fellow actress in a show I did last year; taken by S.Purdue)

manila's metropolitan museum

i've been wanting to revisit the metropolitan museum for the longest time. last time i was there was 1st year high school.

with my two sisters and my sister's friend, we piled into a car last saturday afternoon and made our way over to the BSP Complex along Roxas Boulevard. entrance fee was an affordable P100, and made even affordable thanks to the generosity of my sister :)

we spent about 2 hours slowly making our way around the small museum. a lot of the paintings i recognized having seen during my first trip there.. i guess the museum's private collection isn't that big? they had a few other exhibits that were "new", like BSP's permanent exhibition (not my kind of art), the collection by indian artists upstairs (this was disappointing, the quality of the reproductions were really bad), a smattering of sculptures (loved the wire work.. damn should've gotten the name of the artist) plus an additional room with touchable art. they also have a gold & pottery exhibition downstairs that is unfortunately (and weirdly) closed during the weekends.

they have one section with a few paintings by juan luna i think it was. there were 2-dimensional versions displayed infront with descriptions in braille. smart though i think it would've made more sense to do them for ALL the paintings and not just a handful as you always want to make the most of the time of your visitors right?

i do feel that the met museum ought to update their shop as i find it a little sad. and what is with being closed on sunday's?! i always thought it was a museum standard (and obviously so) to be open during the weekend and be closed on mondays?! i find it a little annoying that pictures can't be taken too (so yes.. the photos in this blog were stealthily taken. lol), i don't think they harm the photos if the flash is off right?

nonetheless, i do like the met very much. while its age is beginning to show, i do love the simplicity of the layout with it's crisp white walls and high ceilings. plus i like the mix of painting genre's they have, with a special focus on filipino artists. the size is no match for the likes of the louvre or nyc's met, but any bigger and i may not have paid as much attention to each piece. you get a better appreciation of the each work's individuality here i feel. with the bigger museums, i have a tendency to quickly make the rounds of the rooms i am not so interested in and skip on to the galleries with the work i enjoy more. bigger museums are obviously meant to be explored in more than 1 day and i unfortunately never have the liberty of time. and besides, anymore than 3 hours in a museum and I pretty much want to pull my hair out.

Art for Art's Sake

While more people may know more about my love affair with the theater and the stage, or the classical voice or piano lessons I took growing up, not that many people know about my affinity for visual arts. I think I've been painting, coloring, and visually creating longer than I've been involved in the performing arts actually!

I've been fortunate enough to have taken my share of art classes, both in school and as an extracurricular activity. Oil pastels, oil paints, water color, chalk & charcoal, pen & ink, working with plaster of paris, clay, lithography.. I don't think there was one medium I didn't like. The process of creating something in your mind then translating that into something tangible has always been, well, euphoric almost.
I used to have a growing stack of oil paintings back when I lived abroad. My biggest fan was (and still is) my mom, who wasted no opportunity in displaying my work all over the home. Lol. Unfortunately, I lost all of these pieces when the warehouse that was keeping our furniture while we were house hunting burned down.

Now a day, I'm an on and off dabbler. Sometimes I go a pretty long time without doing anything creative with my hands but I always find myself going back to it for a day, or week or two. I'll churn out half, or maybe even 2 pieces and then hibernate again for months, possibly years. Painting for me is therapeutic and very personal, which is probably the reason why many people don't know I do it. I do it mostly for myself and as a way for me to unwind and relax. My mind is so focused on whatever it is I am working on and so in the moment, that it's actually pretty much blank. Lol. I've seen the talent out there and am no where near calling myself an artist. I really just enjoy the creative process.

I think one of the best decisions I ever made in high school was dropping Economics (thank you for the C+ Mr. Jones, you know I love you regardless!) and taking up Art instead. Hehehe. It was at this time where I think I finally developed a style that kind of, well.. stuck. We had to come up with a theme and create a whole portfolio based off of this theme. I forgot what mine was verbatim but it was something like finding the human body in nature, or nature in the human body. Since then, I have also since confirmed that I still suck at free hand drawing but love love love nature and colors and patterns and textures. I think from the look of some of my work, I think it's rather obvious isn't it? Could be the earthy Taurus in me I suppose. Lol.

Uploaded are some of my favorite and/or recent pieces. Sharing for posterity's sake :)