Impressive new art center for Asia! On Oct. 6, 2012 afternoon, I made my first visit to Singapore's Gillman Barracks art area and spent over 3 hours there.






This art lover is so very impressed with the visionary, entrepreneurual and cultured government of Singapore for this new project to convert the former British colonial era Gillman Barracks into a complex for international and Singaporean art galleries and other artistic establishments.

Economic progress indeed isn't enough without cultural and spiritual renaissance!

This city-state of Singapore is serious about its bid to outshine Hong Kong an d others to become the arts hub of Asia.

Not all the art galleries and facilities have opened, but from what I have already seen during my October 6 afternoon visit, this Gillman Barracks will be a great success!

By the way, not many Singaporeans know yet the exact location of this place whether young or old, because it is a new redevelopment. But I was lucky to ride a taxi with a middle-aged driver who knew exactly the address I gave him, when I asked why he knew the place, he replied that he used to be a soldier and those were their military barracks! :)



Gillman Barracks
Address: 9 Lock Road, Singapore 108937
Opening Hours: 11:00-20:00 (Sunday until 18:00)
Closed on Monday
http://www.gillmanbarracks.com








Here are some of the galleries and works I saw in the Gillman Barracks complex (I went to all!):


This is a work by a Japanese artist inside a hall, all by itself....

Space Cottonseed

Address: 47 Malan Road, #01-24, Singapore 109444

This South Korean gallery has an on-going exhibit titled "Prelude" and will last up to today October 21, 2012. One of the artists I admire there based on his beautiful works is that of Lee Sea Hyun. Below is one of his works:

LEE SEA HYUN
Betweenn Red-84, 2009

Sundaram Tagore Gallery Singapore

Address: 5 Lock Road, #01-05, Singapore 108933

New York's Sundaram Tagore Gallery has numerous impressive works in Singapore, like some works below from "The Big Picture" photography exhibit now on-going up to Nov. 10, 2012. The photographs range from images of Hollywood and other celebrities to landscapes of various places worldwide, etc. Astounding variety, range and quality of works!

Photograph by SEBASTIÃO SALGADO
Sahara, Algeria (Man Praying), 2009




Photography by ANNIE LEIBOVITZ
David Bryne, Los Angeles, 1956





Hiroshi Senju at Sundaram Tagore Gallery Singapore
Photo below of his work by Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop




ROBERT LIDORI
Salle de Crimée Sud, (99) ANR.02.036, Salles de I'Afrigue, Aile du Nord - 1er étage, Château de Versailles, France, 1985

Mizuma Gallery

Address: 22 Lock Road, #01-34, Singapore 108939

This Tokyo-based gallery's Singapore branch in Gillman Barracks was showing a Korean artist Hyung Koo Kang's works when I visited, and I lingered on for quite a while to admire the paintings. I even bought an autographed book! Titled "Crossing Gazes", the solo exhibition of the newest pieces in Korean painter Hyung Koo Kang’s series of huge bigger-than-life portraits was quite impressive. Among my favorites were the paintings of Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and others.

HYUNG KOO KANG
Audrey Hepburn, 2012

HYUNG KOO KANG
Gandhi, 2012

Partners & Mucciaccia

Address: 6 Lock Road, #02-10, Singapore 108934

From Picasso to the New Roman School The never-ending cult of beauty in contemporary art

This exhibit of European works awed me not only with the beauty of the paintings, but also due to such world-famous names as Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall. The show is up to Nov. 30 2012

GIORGIO DE CHIRICO
Italian Square, 1947/1972

The Drawing Room

Address: 5 Lock Road, #01-06, Singapore 108933

Exhibition

Short Memory

Now - 24 Oct

This event surveys most of the artists exhibiting with The Drawing Room, and gathers major works that represent dynamic inquiries into artistic formats and practices that happen within the mingling of cosmopolitan and arcane cultures in Manila. The artists' critical and experientially-grounded methods portray a specific Philippines in constant flux.

KAWAYAN DE GUIA

Self and the Other (2012)

Silverlens

Address: 47 Malan Road, #01-25, Singapore 109444

Silverlens' first art exhibit, which I was able to see on my visit, was that of Philippine artist Luis Lorenzana.
Photo below of his work by Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop




Other Gillman Barracks images below...