Singapore Art Week 2025: A Celebration of Vision, Identity, and Innovation

by Julius Kensan
21st January 2025
Singapore Art Week 2025 returns with a bigger lineup of art fairs, showcases and cultural programmes across the island, but it is the intimate and introspective exhibitions like S.E.A. Focus that leave the most lasting impression.

Singapore Art Week (SAW) 2025 has returned with its signature blend of art fairs, exhibitions, cultural programmes and insight that continue to draw art enthusiasts from around the globe. Over the years, the ever-expanding event has become a hallmark of the new year, offering diverse showcases spread across the island. Together, these events provide a multifaceted exploration of artistic identity, history, and innovation, underscoring Singapore’s role as a dynamic cultural hub.

At the heart of SAW is the buzzy Art SG fair that captivates visitors with its scale. Featuring over a hundred galleries all over the world, the fair showcases artworks ranging from installations to digital art and classic mediums. Yet, it’s often the intimate and introspective exhibitions across the island’s museums and galleries that leave the most lasting impressions.

One such highlight is S.E.A Focus, held at Tanjong Pagar Distripark. Organised by STPI, this annual showcase has emerged as a platform that champions Southeast Asian contemporary art, providing a platform for artists from the region to shine. Curated by John Tung for the second year in running, this year’s exhibition, titled ‘Disconnected Contemporaries’, delves into the complexities of contemporary art practice in Southeast Asia.

“Within the shifting landscape between the Modern and the Contemporary, we encounter fragmented narratives that challenge our understanding of time and cultural relevance. How we think about the ‘primitive’ and the ‘contemporary’ compels us to reconsider our biases and the frameworks through which we evaluate art,” explains the curator of S.E.A Focus 2025. 

Thai artist Natee Utarit’s series ‘The Super Unknown’ exemplifies this theme. Drawing on Southeast Asian and Western art traditions, the series critiques power structures, colonial legacies, and the commodification of art. In each painting, the female protagonist is shown confronting the dominance of Western art traditions, retaliating against the entrenched male-dominated art scene.

Presented in a comic-strip style, the series combines technical mastery with layered symbolism, appealing to both casual viewers and seasoned art enthusiasts. Utarit’s work invites critical reflection while maintaining a playful, accessible tone.

The notion of ‘primitive’ and ‘contemporary’ is also expressed by renowned Singapore artist Wong Keen in ‘Forest’. The three-dimensional installation is charged with symbolism and meaning. Using materials like rice paper and watercolour, the work evokes imagery of nude paintings displayed as meat in a butchery. The use of mixed media reinforces his thematic exploration of both cultural identity and personal expression. 

As visitors wander through the space, broken up in various triangular walls to mimic the Southeast Asian archipelago, ‘Disconnected Contemporaries’ offers a nuanced point of view into Southeast Asian art, which enthrals with its refusal to be boxed into the conventional linear narrative of established art history. Here, the thoughtfully curated works are not just visually compelling but also offer a window into the artistic discourse that both unites and confronts artists across the region.

Equally captivating in its calm intensity is the ‘Constellations’ exhibition by Suzann Victor over at STPI Gallery. Known for her innovative use of materials, Victor explores the potential of printmaking by utilising light and shadow. 

In works like ‘The Image Stammers’, ‘Cascade’ and ‘Afterglow’, transparent acrylic discs are employed to scatter shimmering patterns of light and shadow, transforming walls into celestial canvases. Visitors are invited to interact with the artworks through the use of torchlight. As light filters through them, depending on the permutations of angles as desired by visitors, it creates shifting patterns that are at once earthly and cosmic. 

“Constellations revel in what is ordinarily concealed. In this spectacle of penumbrae and luminosity, one is compelled to question how something so transparent like discs and marks, can create transient prints of light shaped by shadows. It opens up a field of participation for discovery beyond surfaces, inviting viewers to not just look, but sense, the many worlds that exist around us, and within us,” said the Singapore-born Sydney-based artist.

In many ways, the contemplative qualities in exhibitions like ‘Disconnected Contemporaries’ and ‘Constellations’ reflect SAW’s ability to merge visual appeal with profound artistic discourse––the annual art event invites viewers to not just look, but sense, the Southeast Asian identity and creativity.

 

Singapore Art Week runs until 26 January 2025, where showcases such as S.E.A. Focus and the ‘Constellation’ exhibition are part of the 10-day long event. For more information and ticketing details, click here.