Julius Baer Next Generation Art Prize, Sàn Art, A+ Works of Art, UP Vargas Museum, National Gallery Singapore, STPI and Art Agenda, JKT
By Alana Malika

Fajar Riyanto, ‘Family Portrait - Ditha’s Family’, 2020, photograph. Image courtesy of Yeo Workshop.

Julius Baer Next Generation Art Prize
In the inaugural edition of the Julius Baer Next Generation Art Prize, winners Mark Chua and Lam Li-Shuen (Singapore), Kanel Khiev (Cambodia), Arief Budiman (Indonesia), Robert Zhao (Singapore), Shwe Wutt Hmon (Myanmar), and Fajar Riyanto (Indonesia) and finalists have been selected to share their works in a virtual exhibition. Open to young, emerging artists from Southeast Asia, the digital image competition sought art that reflects the megatrends shaping the future of the region. The competition aims to recognise young artists while also centering Southeast Asian artistic narratives.

Yeo Workshop and Singapore Arts Club, 30 April to 30 June 2021.

Installation of ceramic works by artists Lê Triều Điển and Hồng Lĩnh. Image courtesy of Sàn Art.

Impressions Unearth
Bùi Công Khánh, Lê Triều Điển, Hồng Lĩnh, and Nguyễn Đức Phương join together in ‘Impressions Unearth’ at Sàn Art. The show celebrates ceramics and their contested position in fine art as more novel art practices move to the digital space. The artist invites us to not fixate on individual projects, but rather to consider each body of work within the context of the artists’ practices and their distinct craftsmanship in recontextualising ceramics.

Sàn Art, 23 March to 29 May 2021.

Mella Jaarsma, ‘Kosala Kosali I’, 2021, painting, 180 x 105 cm. Image courtesy of A+ Works of Art.

The Size Of Rice
Indonesian artist Mella Jaarsma presents ‘The Size of Rice’, a solo exhibition at A+ Works of Art. Inspired by the use of rice grains as a measurement unit in ancient agrarian societies in Southeast Asia, Jaarsma invited four performances representing different ethnic groups in Indonesia and made an object for each of them based on their culture’s ontological understanding of measurements. The artworks from this series capture each performer’s instinctive interactions with their respective objects. ‘The Size of Rice’ uses the metaphor of grain as a foundational tool in our ancient heritage to make a commentary on our inherent attributes that have been concealed because we have forgotten tradition.

A+ Works of Art, 13 April to 15 May 2021.

Nontawat Numbenchapol, ‘Mr Shadow’, 2016-17, C-Print mounted on archival paper, 111x167 cm. Image courtesy of UP Vargas Museum.

Homecoming/Eventually
In ‘Homecoming/Eventually’ by Thai artist Nontawat Numbenchapol and Filipino Ryan Villamael, the duo exhibition contemplates ideas of ‘home’. After more than a year of closed borders, a wave of Southeast Asians will return home from abroad. Numbenchapol and Villamael expands the definition of ‘homecoming’ beyond this physical migration in a mixed-media showcase renegotiating the themes of belonging and metaphorical homes.

UP Vargas Museum, 27 April to 4 June 2021.

Details of 'Singirl Online Project' by Amanda Heng. Image courtesy of Singapore Art Museum.

Wikicliki: Collecting Habits on an Earth Filled with Smartphones‘
Singapore Art Museum presents ‘Wikicliki: Collecting Habits on an Earth Filled with Smartphones,’ a group exhibition featuring Singapore artists from different practices. Presented via six artist-curator pairings, the exhibition questions the role of museums during the current period of rapid digital transformation. Six artist and curator pairs including Heman Chong with Selene Yap, Chua Chye Teck with Cheng Jia Yun, Debbie Ding with Shabbir Hussain Mustafa, and more collectively reflect on the nature of collecting, presenting, and creating as dematerialised artforms continue to emerge.

The Ngee Ann Kongsi Concourse Gallery, National Gallery Singapore, 22 April to 11 July 2021.

Suzann Victor, ‘Strike (representation)’, 2021, Water/rainwater, glass vessels, strikers, stainless steel wires, dimensions variable. Photo courtesy of the Artist and STPI.

Suzann Victor: Of Waters
STPI collaborates with collective group Galleries Curate to present ‘Suzann Victor: Of Waters’. The immersive exhibition comprises three seminal works from the Singapore artist which investigates the properties of water. Victor encourages her audience to contemplate on water and its distinct states, unique potentials, and transformations.

STPI, 25 April to 9 May 2021.

Widayat, Adam dan Eva, 1987, oil on canvas, 93 x 97 cm. Image courtesy of Art Agenda, JKT.

Rimba Magis
Presenting artworks created from the 1960s to the 1990s, Art Agenda, JKT presents ‘Rimba Magis’, featuring artworks from a single Indonesian private collection. Featuring the works of seven leading artists of the 20th century: Widayat, Zaini, Arie Smit, Rusli, Nashar, Popo Iskandar and Lee Man Fong, the show emphasises the wonder and mystery of Indonesia’s natural environment. Highlighting the different aspects of nature; while some draw attention to the enchanting landscapes, others show the living creatures that reside within them, the show allows us to contemplate the vastness of nature and reflect on our own relationship with the earth.

Art Agenda, JKT, 15 April to 15 May, by appointment only.