The National Gallery may only have been around for a couple of years, but it’s already established itself as the go to national institution to look to for any and all information on the local and regional visual arts scene. With their latest exhibition (Re)collect: The Making of Our Art Collection, the National Gallery takes a look back on some of the key art pieces that make up our national collection, the world’s largest collection of Singapore and Southeast Asian art.
Says exhibition curator Horikawa Lisa: “It’s been almost three years since the opening, and each day we have about 700-800 works from our collection on display on a regular basis. But I’ve always wondered about the history of the collection, and having joined the Gallery from another museum where the history and evolution of their collection was articulated regularly and clearly, I knew this was an exhibition we’d have to tackle someday, and beyond this, continue to clarify our past and where we come from in order for us to move forward.”
Running from 11th May to 19th August 2018, the exhibition is split into seven sections, and chronologically follows the growth of the national collection from its beginnings in the 60s to its current state. Everything began with philanthropist Dato Loke Wan Tho, donating over 110 works from his personal collection to Singapore in 1960, nursing the hope that it would eventually be housed in a national art museum. This dream came to fruition in 1976 with the opening of the National Museum Art Gallery, the very first time a state level institution decided to collect and display works of art on such a degree.
(Re)Collect is also a look back on the many significant exhibitions that have been held over the years, collecting catalogues and journalism on various shows over the years, showcasing significant works such as Cheo Chai Hiang’s And Miles To Go Before I Sleep (1975), an abstract sculpture piece which was featured in the aforementioned first show by the National Museum Art Gallery.
Other featured artists and key contributors to the local arts scene who will be featured during the exhibition include Affandi, Georgette Chen, Latiff Mohidin, Lim Hak Tai, Lim Yew Kuan, Navin Rawanchaikul and S. Sudjojono. Of interest would be Georgette Chen’s Family Portrait, a part of the donations by the artist’s estate in 1994 and one of the largest watercolours she painted.
Along the way, one can also find out more about the National Gallery’s collection and acquisition practices, and reveal the tales behind many of the shows and artworks over the years. Artfully displayed and well organised in glass cases, read personal documents and view vintage photos from the past. The exhibition will also display recent important acquisitions, such as Kim Lim’s Abacus (1959), Pegasus (1962) and Naga (1984), shown together for the very first time.
In the exhibition’s final segment, the Gallery will also display the many regional, contemporary acquisitions that highlights the Gallery’s selective approach towards historicising the contemporary. Highlights include Navin Rawanchaikul’s haunting Asking For Nothingness, an exhibition comprising 11,000 medical bottles, half of which display black and white photographs of elderly the artist personally documented, and which took the Gallery five days to set up.
Lisa adds: “There were a lot of things I wanted to add to the exhibition, like a timeline of our collecting history, but was limited by the fact that from the 80s to 2000s, there was no record in our database that shows when the works were exhibited. Maybe I’ll do that sometime soon, if we could make this a regular exhibition, or carving out a space within the permanent galleries, and make our collecting process more visible to the public so they understand it better.”
She concludes: “It’s fascinating to think that this collection started because of one individual. Nobody ever asked him to start doing it, and he had such a big dream of opening a museum when the infrastructure to create one in Singapore wasn’t even available yet. Now, it’s developed into what has become one of the largest collections of Southeast Asian Art, and hopefully, as visitors walk through the Gallery, they’ll find it remarkable just discovering the origins of the collection and works.”
For anyone who’s ever been interested in exploring our own history through the lens of art collection and curatorial practices, (Re)Collect is the exhibition for you to visit. But even beyond that, Lisa and her team have quite simply, curated a stellar exhibition that charts the process of acquisition in a high digestible format, with plenty of standout pieces and smaller, unexpectedly powerful works for visitors to discover, and (Re)Collect becomes an important, must-see exhibition for those looking to know the fascinating story behind our national collection.
(Re)collect runs at the National Gallery from 11th May – 19th August 2018, available with a general admission to the gallery. For a full list of upcoming activities and more information, visit their website here
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