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Featuring 106 exhibitors from 30 countries, the fair acts as a catalyst for transforming Singapore into a global art destination through presentations by blue-chip galleries such as Gagosian, White Cube, Thaddaeus Ropac, and Lehmann Maupin, alongside local and regional names like Ames Yavuz, STPI, Sullivan+Strumpf, Richard Koh Fine Art, Fost Gallery, and Ota Fine Arts. Newcomers Haridas Contemporary, Baik Art, and Galerie Gmurzynska complete the lineup, accompanying a smorgasbord of citywide events, including exclusive tours of private foundations and collections and immersive art and dining experiences. Shuyin Yang, Art SG’s Fair Director, gives us the low-down.
DESIGN
ART SG: Putting Singapore on the Map
By Y-Jean Mun-Delsalle
Photos courtesy of ART SG
31 Dec 2024
Photos courtesy of ART SG
31 Dec 2024
ART SG, Singapore’s biggest art event of the year, is back this month for its third iteration, highlighting the city-state’s growing role as a regional art hub.
ART SG, Southeast Asia’s leading international art fair, returns for its third edition from 17 to 19 January 2025 at Marina Bay Sands, coinciding with Singapore Art Week. Supported by UBS and cultural partners Bangkok Kunsthalle, Delfina Foundation, M Art Foundation, and Art Outreach, it’s a chance for art enthusiasts, collectors, curators, museum directors, and the general public to discover established and emerging Southeast Asian artists and enjoy a carefully curated film and talks programme.
Magnus Renfrew, ART SG Co-Founder and Shuyin Ang, ART SG Fair Director
Tell us about ART SG’s origins.
Presented by Founding and Lead Partner UBS and organised by The Art Assembly, ART SG was co-founded by Magnus Renfrew, Sandy Angus, and Tim Etchells. The inaugural ART SG took place in January 2023 at Marina Bay Sands, quickly establishing itself as a critical platform for contemporary art with a focus on Southeast Asia and global connections.
What unique qualities do you feel ART SG brings to Singapore’s art scene, and what role do you see it playing in the larger Asian art fair circuit?
ART SG brings a fresh perspective to the Asian art fair scene by carving out a dedicated space for Southeast Asia’s vibrant and growing art market. As Southeast Asia’s premier art fair, ART SG leverages its base in Singapore – a global hub with excellent infrastructure, a rich cultural landscape and a dynamic collector base. The fair is uniquely positioned to serve the region, which encompasses one of the world’s fastest-growing economies and a population of 650 million.
What potential do you see for the development of Southeast Asian contemporary art?
Southeast Asian contemporary art holds tremendous potential for global recognition, with increasing interest from international collectors. This is reflected in the growing presence of global art enthusiasts at events like ART SG, alongside the rise of a new generation of collectors eager to invest in the region’s artists.
Which emerging or mid-career artists should collectors be paying attention to?
Young galleries featuring emerging artists working across diverse disciplines are on an exciting trajectory. Notable names include Bangkok CityCity, presenting work by Korakrit Arunanondchai, Alex Face, Nawin Nuthong; Fost Gallery, showcasing Kray Chen, Lec Cruz, Nilo Ilarde, Jodi Tan, Wyn-Lyn Tan, Eng Tow, Ian Woo, Yeo Tze Yang; Cuturi Gallery, featuring four young Singaporean painters: Aisha Rosli, Faris Heizer, Shen Jiaqi, and Khairulddin Wahab; and Haridas Contemporary, presenting a new work by Melissa Tan, in addition to paintings by Jeremy Sharma and a new body of work by Esmond Loh.
What is the fair’s outlook, and what long-term goals do you hope to achieve?
Ultimately, our vision for ART SG is to become a cultural destination, not just during the fair, but as part of Singapore’s broader role as an arts and cultural hub in Southeast Asia. A key goal is to champion Southeast Asian artists and galleries, and we’re committed to showcasing the richness of the region’s artistic diversity.
3 RISING STARS TO WATCH
Shavonne Wong (Singapore)
Shavonne Wong, a digital artist with a fashion and photography background featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia, explores themes of personhood, love, and identity in a fast-evolving digital age. Known for collaborations with Bang & Olufsen and Sotheby’s, her latest project Meet Eva Here debuts at ART SG.
A social experiment and mirror of society, the interactive installation invites audiences to engage with Eva, an AI companion, shaping a narrative through anonymous real-time conversations. It examines boundaries of trust, intimacy, and connection in the era of artificial intelligence in a blurring of lines between human and machine and reality and artifice.
Khairulddin Wahab (Singapore)
Painting lush, vibrant scenes, Khairulddin Wahab’s art draws on cultural geography, environmental history, and post-colonialism in Southeast Asia, working from archival imagery and iconography.
A UOB Painting of the Year award winner, he has exhibited globally, including at the Jogja Biennale and Abu Dhabi Art, and his work is collected by the Singapore Art Museum and Fondation Thalie in Brussels. For ART SG, The Lands Below the Winds, composed of three shaped canvases inspired by indigenous shipbuilding, plunges into maritime history and the sea’s dual role as a life-giving and destructive force through Wahab’s examination of the Malay Archipelago’s ties to surrounding waters.
Nakrob Moonmanas (Thailand)
A graduate in Thai language and literature from Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, Nakrob Moonmanas was recognised as GQ Thailand’s Artist of the Year 2023 and has collaborated with Thai Airways and Jim Thompson. Influenced by historical archives and fiction, he focuses on humanity’s destructive impact on the planet and 18th- to 19th-century Siam, when the country’s adoption of Western culture paralleled deforestation and environmental exploitation.
Siamese elites coveted forest treasures like animal horns and fragrant woods, echoing Western traditions of amassing exotic objects for wealth and prestige. Moonmanas’ ART SG presentation uses digital collage printed on canvas or paper to examine our fascination with the plants, minerals, animals, and indigenous peoples who call the forest home. His dream-like works transcend historical records, offering alternative interpretations and opening the narrative to imagined histories and possibilities.
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