December 2025 Round-Up
Dogma Collective, ANNEXE, Semarang Gallery, Asian Civilisations Museum, National Gallery Singapore and more
El Galeón Acapulco – Manila SOMOS PACÍFICO El Mundo que emergió del Trópico
Patrick Ng Kah Onn, Self-Portrait, 1958, oil on paper, 49.3 x 75.3cm. Collection of National Gallery of Singapore. This acquisition was made possible with donations to the Art Adoption & Acquisition Programme © Family of Patrick Ng. Image courtesy of National Gallery of Singapore.
Marking 50 years of diplomatic relations between Singapore and Mexico is the exhibition El Galeón Acapulco – Manila SOMOS PACÍFICO El Mundo que emergió del Trópico (The Acapulco-Manila Galleon — We are the Pacific, a World Born of the Tropics). The showcase draws from longstanding curatorial research by the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) and National Gallery of Singapore, displayed as independent exhibitions back in 2023. Held at the Colegio de San Ildefonso in Mexico City, the current exhibition will display 80 works from Singapore’s National Collection shown in dialogue with loans from leading institutions and private collections in Mexico and beyond. Presented as a prolific and unprecedented exchange between institutions, Somos Pacífico represents years of dedicated research into the artistic parallels between Southeast Asia and Latin America. Heralding the start of the exhibition will be an exhibition conference featuring curators and experts from ACM, the Gallery, and other institutions.
El Galeón Acapulco – Manila SOMOS PACÍFICO El Mundo que emergió del Trópico runs from 3 December 2025 to 31 May 2026 at the Colegio de San Ildefonso, Mexico City, Mexico.
The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye: The Exhibition
Sonny Liew, Prime Minister (from The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye), oil painting. Image courtesy of the artist.
Celebrating the 10th anniversary of The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, Sonny Liew’s award-winning graphic novel that retells the “Singapore story”, The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye: The Exhibition will unfold at three sites in Bras Basah.Bugis. Across Chaos Gallery, Basheer Graphic Books, and InkInk Collectibles, original ink and oil paintings created by Liew for the graphic novel will be on display alongside reinterpretations of Liew’s characters by other artists. Through an exploration of comics as a medium, visitors will have the opportunity to glimpse at behind-the-scenes stories and processes, as well as the interwoven narratives that have surrounded the work. A commemorative risograph print created in collaboration with Knuckles & Notch will also be on sale for the duration of the exhibition.
The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye: The Exhibition will be on display from 6 to 28 December 2025 at three locations around Bras Basah.Bugis, Singapore: Chaos Gallery (Waterloo Centre), Basheer Graphic Books (Bras Basah Complex), and InkInk Collectibles (Bras Basah Complex). More information here.
For the Love of Cats and A Charitable Christmas
Salvador Dali, Purgatory - #8 from the Divine Comedy series, 1959-1964, woodcut in colour on BFK Rives vellum surface paper, 33 x 26cm. Image courtesy of ANNEXE.
ANNEXE will round off their year-end sales with two charity auctions, For the Love of Cats and A Charitable Christmas. For the Love of Cats offers a selection of 19th to 20th century decorative Chinese ceramics alongside shipwreck ceramics recovered from Indonesian seas. Generously donated by a cat-lover, the sale will benefit a Singapore-based independent cat rescue group, look.at.these.cats. A Charitable Christmas is an estate sale of decorative ceramics, timepieces, silverware and spirits in support of various charities in Singapore. All lots from both sales are available for viewing at Art Agenda Singapore.
Bidding for For the Love of Cats is now open and will close on 7 December 2025, while bidding for A Charitable Christmas will begin on 2 December, and close on 14 December 2025. Lots are available for viewing at Art Agenda in Singapore. More information here.
Dogma Prize Exhibition
The Dogma Prize has spent over a decade championing artists in Vietnam and the greater region. As Vietnam’s first private art prize, it has grown along with Dogma Collection, evolving from an award for self-portraiture into a platform that celebrates the diversity of artmaking across the region. The twelfth edition of the Dogma Prize Exhibition will feature the works of this year’s nine awardees. Hailing from across Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, the artists, Hà Đào, Đỗ Văn Hoàng, Lê Tuấn Ry, Willie Xaiwouth, Hằng Hằng, Hul Kanha, Nguyễn Đức Tín, Thuỷ Tiên Nguyễn, and Bi Tuyền, represent a deliberate range of career stages, mediums, and concerns.
The Dogma Prize Exhibition is up for view from 5 December 2025 to 28 February 2026 at Dogma Collection, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. More information here.
The Space Between Arrival & Discovery
Agus Putu Suyadnya, Wildlife Tourism (On the Planet Walter Spies series), 2024, acrylic on canvas, 150 x 130cm. Image courtesy of Semarang Gallery.
Inaugurating the new Jakarta branch of Semarang Gallery is a group exhibition, The Space Between Arrival & Discovery. In step with the gallery’s fresh arrival into the capital, the exhibition invites viewers to navigate the threshold of understanding, moving from the unfamiliar to insight and transformation. Curated by architect Dennis Levy, the showcase will feature the works of 10 Indonesian artists—Agus Putu Suyadnya, Bestrizal Besta, Edrike Joosencia, Fika Leon, Gula, Kanoko Takaya, Rudy Murdock, Wisnu Aji Sasaka, Zita Nuella, and Zulfa Zuppe—whose works press at the importance of process, time, and the ambiguities that lie within those transient moments.
The Space Between Arrival & Discovery will be on display from now until 18 January 2026 at the Jakarta branch of Semarang Gallery, Indonesia. More information here.