LuxArtAsia

What Will They Bring? A Sneak Peek at Art Basel Hong Kong

2013-05-11T07:48:00.000+08:00

Art galleries participating in the upcoming Art Basel Hong Kong are probably wondering which high-profile collectors will come this year and whether the new management of the fair will be able to leverage on its brand name to bring a new flock of collectors from outside the region. But meanwhile, collectors are probably also wondering: “What will the galleries bring?”

With about 245 exhibitors participating from around the world, diversity is likely to be the key word, with the usual mix of high-profile international names already announced (think Damien Hirst, Louise Bourgeois, Subodh Gupta, Murakami and Yayoi Kusama) with a good crop of young and emerging artists from the region.

ARTINFO selected a few artworks from around the world to look forward to. Click on the slideshow to see them all.

Art Galleries Association to Hold Joint-Exhibition at Helutrans in July

2013-05-11T07:45:00.001+08:00

The long dormant Art Galleries Association of Singapore will hold a joint exhibition to include representations from its members at Artspace@HelutransJuly 19 to 28.

The non-profit association was first set up in 1995 to help promote professional gallery practices, however, in recent years the organization had become rather inactive. It is now being revitalized and will soon re-launch with a new official website, a Facebook page to which its 21 members can post, and has plans for an Art Walk during the Singapore Biennale.

“We don't have a title just yet, but the theme will be exploring processes of cultural convergence,” curator Kamiliah Bahar told ARTINFO referring to the planned joint exhibition.

“The intent of the exhibition is to hopefully breakdown ideas of discrete national and cultural identities, of authenticity, of a linear past, present and future, to highlight the fluidity, flexibility, and creativity of various actors and agents, including the artists, to respond to changes and influences,” she explained, adding, “As the exhibition can't explore everything, we've narrowed it down to convergence in relation to the formal elements of art, e.g. styles, mediums, etc., and convergence of socio-cultural factors.”

The Association members currently include: Art-2 Gallery, Art Forum, Art Galleries At Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Art Seasons, Cape of Good Hope, Gajah Gallery,HaKaren Art Gallery, Indigo Blue Art, Linda Gallery, Red Sea Gallery, Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Soobin Art International, Wetterling Teo Gallery, Art Plural Gallery, Collectors Contemporary, Chan Hampe Galleries, Galerie Steph, Ikkan Art Gallery, Richard Koh Fine Art, iPreciation, and Partners and Mucciaccia. Each gallery will provide two to three works for the exhibition.

“Singapore has a lot of galleries and we can do a lot more working with different partners. (The opening of) Gillman Barracks has really prompted us to realize we do have a gallery landscape here with a lot of young galleries,” says Emi Eu, director of STPI and the Vice-President of the association. “We want to promote good ethical practices as dealers and accountability, and we also want to nurture and pave the way for young people to open galleries,” she added.

First Peek at Singapore Biennale 2013

2013-05-11T07:44:00.000+08:00

The Singapore Biennale 2013 announced its selection of the first 52 out of the 80 or so artists planned for its fourth edition coming up in October.

Eko Prawoto

They mainly hail from Southeast Asia and were chosen to demonstrate the breadth of art styles and practices in the region. Many are little known and have never exhibited before, a deliberate decision reflecting the grassroots approach the 27 co-curators of this Biennale decided to take.

Around forty percent of the works have been especially commissioned for the Biennale, which will run from Oct 26 until February 16, 2014.

Suzann Victor

ARTINFO selected a few of the more promising art projects announced, such as Suzann Victor’s “Rainbow Circle” (working title) that will be created in the rotunda of the National Museum of Singapore, Eko Prawoto’s dramatic bamboo installation “Wormhole” which will be installed outdoor, and Prateet Suthathongthai’s “Stillness of Reflection” (working title), a collage of photographs and silk-screen creating an optical illusion that will be situated in the Singapore Art Museum’s courtyard.

Click on the slideshow to see these and more.

Christie’s HK Holds Private Sale of Chinese Contemporary Ink May 23-27

2013-05-11T07:39:00.002+08:00

Chinese contemporary ink has been a fast rising sub-category of contemporary Asian art at many auctions.

Xu Bing

With many Chinese artists influenced by Western art practices, Chinese ink painting has evolved and developed a new language.

Last November, Christie’s Hong Kong presented its first dedicated Chinese Contemporary Ink Exhibition to collectors. “Beyond Tradition” featured 18 works by leading artists, such as Qiu Zhijie, Zu Bing, Gu Wenda, Xu Bing, and Yang Jiechang.

The auction house held a private-sale exhibition New York in March with 25 works, and this exhibition is now moving to Hong Kong.

“A good percentage of works were sold at the New York exhibition and we achieved optimistic results,” said Carmen Shek, the specialist in charge of contemporary ink works at Christie’s Hong Kong. She declined to disclose further financial details.

For the Hong Kong sale, there will be about 60 works split between Chinese ink artists who are active since 1980s and a group of Hong Kong-based artists who began to work towards innovating the ink tradition as early as 1960s. Price range from HK$120,000 to HK$5.5millon.

Qiu Zhije

“It is an emerging market that we hope to build over a period of time. We are building this private sales exhibition platform to enable collectors new and old to learn more about the artists and the works,” she explained.

Shek added that contemporary ink definitely has a wide appeal to international audience. “This is also reflected from the visitors and buyers from our exhibition in New York. Given so many artists in the group had a very global exposure themselves, their creations are no doubt cross-cultural,” she noted.

The sale exhibition will run May 23-27 in Hong Kong at the Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Gu Wenda

Do-Ho Suh Working on New STPI Residency, Planning Major Installation in Seoul

2013-05-08T22:40:00.002+08:00

London-based Korean artist Do-Ho Suh was recently back at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute for two days to continue and expand the work he first did there in 2010.

Suh is internationally-renowned for his large-scale fabric installations that explore the issue of cultural displacement. Thread, fabrics, and sewing have always played an important role in his practice.

During his first residency at STPI, Suh had created works using red threads laid over paper pulp. This time, he continues in the same direction, but using multi-colored threads in projects that are on a much bigger scale.

“The first time, I was pleased about discovering that way of working, and while I was working I had different ideas and that’s what we’re exploiting this time, just pushing the medium,” the artist explained.

Several works portray figures with shadow-like forms hovering over them. “It’s a reflection of oneself, but it’s also about history, something that has passed, is not tangible,” he explained.

Suh is currently working on a commission for the new Seoul off-shoot of the National Museum of Contemporary Art, due to open on November 12. “It will be my largest fabric-architecture to date. It’s an 18th century building in New England, a three-story mansion on a 1:1 scale, with the Korean house I grew up inside,” he explained, adding the piece is likely to be on display for six months.

A fabric installaion by Suh will be shown at the Lehmann Maupin booth at Frieze New York, laster this week. He’s also working on a new solo show at Lehmann Maupin in Hong Kong that will open mid-November, two days after the museum exhibition in Seoul.

The artist is planning to return to Singapore later this year to complete his current STPI residency that should include about 20 new works. An STPI exhibition will follow in 2014

Bonhams HK to Offer Rare Japanese Single Malt Whisky May 23

2013-05-08T22:36:00.002+08:00

Productions of single malt whisky at the Japanese Karuizawa and the Hanyu distilleries stopped in 2000. This has made bottles of their whisky increasingly rare on the market, and more valuable at auction.

“The prices have been increased 100% on some of the early release, and have certainly room to appreciate further,” says Daniel Lam, a wine specialist at Bonhams Hong Kong, “The scarcity stirs up demand, and its quality fascinated many whisky drinkers who look for any of these bottles.”

On May 23, Bonhams’ Spring Fine & Rare Wines, Cognac and Whisky Auction in Hong Kong will include several lots of these rare Japanese whiskies that are bound to attract some interest from in-the-know collectors. The auction carries an overall estimate of HK$12 million and will include 30 bottles from the two distilleries from a Hong Kong collector.

Whisky production in Japan began around 1870, though the first commercial production dates back to 1924 with the opening of the country's first distillery, Yamazaki by Shinjiro Torii, the founder of Kotobukiya which later became Suntory.

According to Lam, Torii choose the location, in a suburb of Kyoto, because the area was famed for having excellent water. The legendary tea master Sen no Rikyu also built his tearoom there.

“Broadly speaking the style of Japanese whisky is more similar to that of Scotch whisky than Irish, American, or Canadian styles of whiskey,” notes Lam.

“For these two distilleries, the style of their whisky is reminiscent of the well-integrated sherry matured single malt in Scotland. Interestingly both distilleries were highly praised by world-renowned whisky connoisseurs and critics,” he adds.

The Karuizawa Distillery was established in 1955 in the foothills of Mount Asama, an active volcano, and the low temperature and high humidity there were seen as ideal for whisky production. The influential whisky critic Dave Broom in his “The World Atlas of Whisky” wrote: “It's like a throwback to a mostly forgotten Scotland. Yet in taste Karuizawa could only be Japanese. There is a depth and intensity of focus to its malts — resinous, scented with cardamom, thick with beeswax, spotted with blood — that only Japan can produce."

Other highlights of the sale include a bottle of Macallan-1946-56 year old Masters of Photography series by Irish photographer Albert Watson, complete with a one-off signed platinum print; Macallan Royal Marriage editions; and a Louis XIII Black Pearl cognac.

Bonhams HK to Auction Large Jade Belt Hooks Collection May 26

2013-05-08T22:31:00.001+08:00

Bonhams Hong Kong will be offering a large collection of jade belt hooks on May 26.

The “Jason Chen collection,” part of Bonhams’ Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art auction, comprises 150 belt hooks of various shapes and sizes offered in 71 lots with no reserve price on any of the lots. The owner acquired all the hooks over the last 15 years, primarily at auctions around the world.

Jade belt hooks date back to the Liangzhu culture (3300 to 2250 BCE), which placed great value in the green stone, and many were found by archeologists in burial sites. The tradition of using belt hooks, worn by dignitaries, was further developed during the Western Han dynasty. “It was really a sign of status, a bit like jewelry. The wealthier you were the more elaborate the carvings. Most of the time they have a dragon head,” explains John Chong, Bonhams’ specialist for Chinese Works of Art.

Though they became less fashionable during the Eastern Han dynasties, losing their practical function, they rose back in popularity throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties, becoming purely decorative ornaments. They continued though to be made in the traditional shape, which had become fashionable during the Han dynasty, but were also made in more fragile materials like porcelain and glass.

The collection offered for auction includes hooks dating back to the Yuan dynasty and continues to the republic period. One highlight of the sale is a rare white jade “butterfly” belt hook dated to the Qianlong period, which was once in the Alan and Simone Hartman collection and was exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 2004. Chong estimates the overall value at HK$3-4 million.

In addition to exquisitely carved white and Khotan spinach-green belt hooks, the collection also features belt hooks crafted from other materials such as lapis lazuli, rock crystal, huangyang wood and agate.

David Chan Returns with First Solo Show in 4 Years

2013-05-03T22:17:00.002+08:00

A graduate of Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, David Chanwon the UOB Painting of the Year in 2004 and is known for his humorous art works that portray human-animal hybrids to ponder human behaviors. But in last couple of years, the artist had been noticeably absent from Singapore’s art scene.

The artist says his lower profile was the result of preferring to concentrate on his new-born daughter and explore new artistic avenues. “I was trying to come up with something different and recalibrate some of the ideas that I had. My new direction is a little bit more interactive, it requires the viewers to participate rather than to read and interpret. So the viewer has to perhaps move around, or engage in a way of looking at the details,” Chan explained in a short telephone interview.

“Every Trick Only Needs One Truth,” to open on May 16 at Art Seasons Gallery, will be his first solo show in Singapore since 2009.

The exhibition includes a mix of oil paintings and sculptures with the artist no longer looking at hybrid subjects, though the world of animals still dominates his works.

In “Molly,” the sculpture of a cat inside a cracked white casing is created or reconstituted by compiling thousands of small plastic animal parts.

“Every Trick Only Needs One Truth,” Arts Seasons Gallery, May 16-Jun 15

Singapore Icons Inspire Japanese Ceramic Ware Collection

2013-05-03T09:41:00.003+08:00

What are the most recognizable icons for Singapore?

Many people might think of the national flower or the Merlion, a mythical half lion half fish statue, both of which are heavily promoted by the Singapore Tourism Board, but when five designs studios were asked this question they included a couple of surprising answers to their list. The chosen icons have now been used in a new collection of ceramic ware for the Singapore Icons Studio Project, a collaboration between Singaporean retail gallery Supermama and Kihara Inc, a Japanese ceramic company.

The limited edition sets comprise a plate, a saucer, and a chopstick holder.

Designer Chang Shian Wei took inspiration from photographic images of HDB tower blocks, which provide homes to more than 80 percent of the Singapore population; Designere chose the majestic tembusu tree with its distinctive sweeping low boughs, while Quiet Studio offers a Dancing Joaquim, and Relay Room chose to depict the construction crane.

Finally, Ampulets chose the lightning bolt, in reference to the constant storms the island faces as well as a symbol of Singapore's rapid development and the political ruling party’s iconic logo.

The Singapore Icons Studio Project ceramic collection is available from www.inventory.sg and Supermama, 8 Queen Street, Singapore Art Museum.

Reckless Ericka on A/W Collection 2013, Plans for New Label in June

2013-05-03T09:40:00.000+08:00

Designer Afton Chen set up Reckless Ericka with business partner Louis Koh in 2009. The young Singaporean label has an edgy vibe with avant-garde silhouettes infused with classic details and a British tailoring sensibility and will be presenting its Autumn/Winter 2013 collection, “Into the Grey,” at the fashion trade show Blueprint in Singapore. ARTINFO talked to Chen about the new collection, her inspirations, and plans for a new women’s wear label, “Still.”

What is the inspiration behind “Into the Grey”?

The collection was inspired by the mise-en-scène of the 2011 film, The Grey starring Liam Neeson, and by the Japanese animation Princess Mononoke by Hayao Miyazaki. It has a mostly gray palette with some navy, dark green, and tribal weave fabrics. It draws on the idea that there can be no clear victory between humans and nature, with just the hope that the relationship between the two can be cyclical. Both films are filled with tension and a gloomy undercurrent runs throughout, even in the most hopeful of scenes. The violence portrayed in both films is not gory, but is harsh and the fact that the violence is not glorified, but shown in a casual tone makes it all the more senseless and brutal. The collection is filled with soft shapes and hard structures, combining fluidity and construction, and exaggerated outerwear cuts that are loosely based on the Muromachi period in Japan’s history.

How do you think it progresses from the previous collection?

Previously I was inspired by a series of black and white photographs entitled “Portraits from the Belly of the Whale” by Michael Garlington. I created a collection that delved into the life of a retired performer stuck in its own temporal plane. Gingham in colorful shades of blue, green, red, and orange was paired with a heavy silk-cotton weave in intense red and blue. It was a lighthearted collection, with outfits evoking part decadence, part androgyny. The current collection features few androgynous outfits, compared to the previous collection, and the silhouette is cleaner and sharper.

One word to describe this new collection?

Duality.

For whom are you designing?

I’m designing for someone who has a strong sense of personal style and isn’t afraid to have fun dressing up.

And what inspires you in general?

Inspiration comes from everywhere; we shouldn’t limit ourselves. It can be from a song, a painting, a movie, a book, people around me, or things happening in the world.

Do you look at fashion as art?

It is definitely a form of art, a unique self-expression.

Best fashion memory?

When I walk on the streets and see people wearing our outfits, it never fails to make me smile!

Three words to describe your personal style?

Off-beat, constructed, introspective.

Favorite fashion designer?

Yohji Yamamoto.

Favorite Singaporean designer?

Nic Wong of SATURDAY.

Future plans?

We’re planning to launch a new label, “Still,” around June 2013. “Still” is a women’s wear line with youthful and understated outfits. It is not a diffusion line, just a separate label. The lines and silhouettes are clean, evoking a sense of peace and tranquility. Designs are light on the palate, focusing on the purity of fabrication quality and finishing. The collections will be retailing at SGD $109-399.

We also have an exciting collaboration with a graphic artist for our next collection Spring/Summer 2014, so stay tuned for that!

Blueprint is running May 16-17 in Singapore

As first published on sea.artinfo.com

Art Stage Singapore 2014 Set For Jan 16-19

2013-05-03T09:37:00.001+08:00

The next edition of Art Stage Singapore is set to take place January, 16-19, 2014 at Marina Bay Sands, with the VIP preview on January 15.

This will be the fourth edition of the Singaporean art fair which is primarily dedicated to Asian art. The fair, which hosted 131 galleries this year, welcomed 40,500 people over five days in January.

Fair director and founder Lorenzo Rudolf announced Monday Art Stage Singapore will be introducing an exhibitor committee “consisting some of the most inspiring gallerists from the Asia Pacific region.”

SHOWS THAT MATTER: "Landscape Memories" at Espace Louis Vuitton

2013-04-25T19:32:00.000+08:00

A Show that Matters: “Landscape Memories” with four Singapore artists: Donna Ong, Genevieve Chua, Jane Lee, Ng Joon Kiat

Four very talented Singapore artists are represented in one space around a cohesive theme: landscape memories.

Curated by Khim Ong, the exhibition presents intriguing and often very tactile works that explore the idea of landscapes, not as scenery, but as we remember them and the emotions they create.

Each artist is a rising star of the local art scene - Donna Ong recently had works shown at Primo Marella and is soon to begin a one-year residency in Berlin at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien, following in the footsteps of fellow Singapore artists Heman Chong and Michael Lee. Genevieve Chua was picked up by the Singapore Tyler Print Institute for the institute’s first foray into Art Basel in June, while Jane Lee will have a solo show in Tokyo at Mizuma Gallery. Ng Joon Kiat was one of the 25 Asian artists selected to exhibit with the Royal Academy of Art exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Singapore last year.

Though Ong is better known for her work with glass, here she switches materials and plays with nails, screws, and pins to create a large, visually-intriguing installation “Landscape Portraits (In a Beautiful Place Nearby),” that represents her undersea landscape memories of coral reefs

For this exhibition, Jane Lee reflects on the spaces her paintings inhabit, cutting small pieces out of her works and installing them alongside the main canvas.

Ng reprises a recent theme he has explored, the notion of artificial boundaries and delineating space on maps. The landscape acrylics present a geography abstracted from Google maps which he selected because of their boundaries. His paintings are purposely tactile as the artist says he likes to “tease” the audience — “you’ll want to touch it, but you can’t,” he remarked at the preview.

Chua investigates our often ambiguous relationship with landscape, and our fears of the unknown in the forest. In her series “Nocturne,” she photographed a particular tropical hibiscus plant that changes color throughout the day — “Being very urban, I’m interested in the changes that happen in the forest which we will usually miss,” the artist said. In another series, “She was here before,” Chua uses images of the forest around Mount Fuji, with many of its trees having fallen because of the soft volcanic soil. The screenprints have a ghostly effect thanks to the use of ground volcanic rock dust that she has sprinkled over the print.

33 Auction to hold Auction May 5 in Singapore

2013-04-18T12:35:00.003+08:00

33 Auction will be holding an evening sale of modern and contemporary Asian art on May 5 offering 83 lots by South-East Asian and Chinese artists, with a total pre-sale estimate of 3.5-5 million Singapore dollars ($2.8-$4.05 million).

David Fu, specialist at 33 Auction noted that following the strong interest shown at its last auction in Singapore earlier this year, the auction house is offering 30 percent more works than it had at its January sale.

Highlights of the upcoming sale are WuGuanzhong’s “Willow Tree,” an ink and color on rice paper which displays the Chinese artist’s gentle fusion of Eastern and Western impressionistic styles, and “Horse and the Sun,” a strong oil on canvas work by Indonesian expressionist master Affandi, known for his technique of painting directly from the tube. Other Indonesian highlights include dancer-themed works by SrihadiSoedarsono as well as large canvases by Basoeki Abdullah and JeihanSukmantoro.

Leading the Singapore section is an early finger painting entitled “Water Ducks” by Chen Wen Hsi, along with some of his signature inks depicting gibbons and sparrows. The auction includes a range of works by first generation Singapore artists (Liu Kang andCheong Soo Pieng) as well as second-generation Singapore artists, like Tay Bak Koi,Choo Keng Kwang, and Thomas Yeo.

Leading the Malaysian art section is Khalil Ibrahim’s “Fisherman / Man in Motion,” depicting a scene of various human forms in a flurry of activity. The silhouettes in the foreground are painted in a Cubist style, no doubt influenced by his study in London during the 1960s.

The auction will be held at Grand Hyatt Singapore on May 5, with preview held atMOCA@Loewen May 2-5.

AS first published on sea.artinfo.com

Moments in Style Showcases Upcoming Fashion Photographers

2013-04-14T14:29:00.000+08:00

As part of the Audi Fashion Festival 2013, a “Moments in Style” exhibition will showcase four upcoming young fashion photographers working in Singapore, with 70 percent of the proceeds from the prints sold going to the Breast Cancer Foundation as part of the festival’s Fashion for a Cause charity initiative.

Photographs by Adrian Tan, 28, Darren Gabriel Leow, 25,Joel Lim, 34 and Gladys Ng, 24, will be offered for sale, with price ranging between S$200 and S$800.

Lim was named ELLE Singapore photographer of the year twice and has shot many of the local magazine’s covers, as well as the the Audi Fashion Festival’s Singapore campaign for the past two years, while Leow has shot for label Fru Fru &Tigerlily’s as well as Vaughn Tan’s advertising campaign.

The works will be exhibited at the AFF Pop-Up Gallery at ION Orchard Level 1 Atrium from the 25th of April 2013 to the 19th of May 2013, as well as at the Fashion Café at the Tent @ Marina Promenade from the 15th to the 19th of May.

Justin Loke @ Objectifs Gallery

2013-04-14T14:23:00.002+08:00

For the last 10 years, Justin Loke, 33, has been part of the art collective, Vertical Submarine. Now the 33-year-old artist is venturing for the first time alone in a solo show, entitled “The Seven Scenes of Barry Lyndon” at Objectifs Gallery.

The award-winning collective, whose name is a play on the word "subvert," is known for its witty art installations, which have earned them the 2009 Singapore President’s Young President Award.

Loke is quick to reassure he’s not leaving the collective. “I had this idea that I wanted to explore. I have this interest in painting, and it’s something I wanted to do. We have many other ideas and projects we’re working on. And I didn’t want to use the tongue-in-cheek approach Vertical Submarine usually takes. This show is definitely not funny, no pun, no jokes,” the artist explained.

For his first solo shoe, Loke is exploring ideas of framing and composition, as well as medium specificity. He will be creating an installation based on scenes from the period film "Barry Lyndon" (1975) by Stanley Kubrick.

“There are paintings I’ve done, based on the film, that are then framed within a larger picture,” he explains, “I’m really playing with the idea of framing.”

Loke explained he was interested in Kubrick’s work in the film after noticing all his reference to 18^th century painting, in terms of composition and style of cinematography, such as William Hogarth. “Kubrick appropriated an idea from oil painting, and I’m trying to put it back into oil painting. I also read that he shot a lot of his scene under candle light and so I’m also reprising this idea with the exhibition lit by candles light,” he adds.

Loke could not completely brush off the tongue-in-cheek humor of Vertical Submarine though. The title of his exhibition Seven Scenes is a pun on the seven sins, referencing to the life of Barry Lyndon.

The Seven Scenes of Barry Lyndon at Objectifs Gallery, 56A Arab Street, 24 April to 20 May 2013

Sotheby’s HK Scores Mary and George Bloch Snuff Bottle Sale

2013-04-05T22:32:00.001+08:00

Sotheby’s Hong Kong has managed a small coup by scooping the latest part in the sale of the famed Mary and George Bloch snuff bottle collection. To date, Bohnams had been auctioning the collection in parts, achieving a full sale at each of their five auctions since 2010.

Mary and her late husband George Bloch amassed an unrivalled collection of over 1,700 snuff bottles spanning three centuries of top Chinese craftsmanship. Since Mr. Bloch passed away in 2009, the collection has been broken up and is expected to be sold in 10 parts.

Snuff, a fine powder of dried tobacco often mixed with herbs and spices such as camphor, jasmine and mint, was first introduced to China by European travelers in the 17th century. Because of the humid climate in Asia that tended to cake the power, the traditional Western snuffboxes were replaced by small airtight bottles which kept the powder dry.

While bronze was used during the Shunzhi period (1644-61), more sophisticated materials like enamel, jade, and ivory came into use in the Kangxi period (1662-1722). Those reserved for the Imperial court were often miniature works of art in their own right.

The most expensive snuff bottle from the Bloch Collection, which set a world record, was sold in November 2011 to an anonymous Asian telephone bidder for HK$25.3 million (US$3.33 million at the time).

The Sotheby’s auction will take place on May 27 during Art Basel Hong Kong rather than as part of Sotheby’s Hong Kong spring auction taking place this month.

Christie’s to Auction Imperial Cloisonné Enamel Collection in May

2013-04-05T22:29:00.001+08:00

Christie’s Hong Kong will offer “Reverence and Perfection – Magnificent Imperial Cloisonné Enamels from a Private European Collection,” as part of its spring sales of Chinese ceramics and works of art on May 29.

The 26-piece collection, which features examples of Imperial cloisonné enamel wares made during the 18th century — the most prolific era of cloisonné production in China — is estimated to realize in excess of HK$41 million (US$5.3 million).

A considerable number of pieces from this sale are large-sized vessels including censers, vases, and a fish basin, many of which bear Qianlong reign marks. The collection also includes a group of small scholar’s objects including brush rests, incense burners, and miniature vases.

Cloisonné is a complex ancient technique to decorate metal vessels either in copper or bronze. Once the outline of the decorative design is formed by copper wire, a variety of colorants mixed with glass paste is applied within the small cloisons. The vessel is then fired at a temperature of about 800 degrees Celsius for the glass paste to melt and then harden, with the process repeated many times. Once the surface was fully enameled, the metal cloisons and other decorative components such as the rims, handles, and finials were gilded in gold leaf. The most favored decorative motifs are flowers, birds, landscapes, and dragons.

Director Glen Goei on “The Importance of Being Earnest”

2013-04-05T22:24:00.001+08:00

Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” was written at a time when the famed writer was in a relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas(nicknamed Bosie), an affair that eventually led to his downfall and imprisonment.

As in Wilde’s other works, the play is loaded with bon mots, and over the years the dialogue has often been taken as possessing symbolisms related to the playwright’s own life and personal situation.

In 2009, director Glen Goei staged the well-known work to great acclaim with theater troupe W!ld Rice and an all-male cast. As the company gets ready to reprise the play this month, ARTINFO chatted with the Singaporean director about the production and his take on the play.

Why did you decide to use an all-male cast?

I made the decision partly because on reading it again, I could hear Wilde’s voice in every character and by playing it with an all-male cast, I felt the audience would forget about the gender of the characters and only listen to Wilde’s wit and language.

Does this bring a new layer of meaning to the text?

As an artist, I never really consciously think about these things — it was merely instinctive. But given the context here in Singapore, where we still live under the shadow of penal code 377A which criminalizes homosexuals, I guess casting an all-male cast does give the play another meaning and makes it contemporary and relevant.

What has been the main difficulty with this staging?

Getting a cast who understand how to do comedy but more importantly, how to handle and bring alive Wilde’s wit and language.

Were you concerned three years ago with the local reaction?

As artists, we love provocation and we love a response!

Is this latest staging any different?

We will be presenting a new string quartet playing live on stage. They have been handpicked and nurtured by the Tang Quartet, who was playing last time. I teasingly call them the Super Junior Quartet because they are young and sexy!

Any change to the décor and costumes?

My motto is “Don’t change it if it’s not broke.”

What’s your favorite line in the play?

“To lose one’s parent is a misfortune; to lose two seems like carelessness.”

What’s your favorite Oscar Wilde play?

Earnest. Alan Bennett described it as “the perfect play.”

Why do you think this play has endured for so long?

It pokes fun at all the usual human foibles and weaknesses which we can identify with, but with such style, irony, and humor.

What do you think Oscar Wilde would have thought of this staging?

I think he would have loved it. Never in his imagination would he have dreamed of having his Earnest performed by an all-male cast in an Asian city!

“The Importance of Being Earnest” will run April 10 to May 4 at the Drama Centre Theatre.

After Long Search, Eugene Tan Named Director of National Art Gallery of Singapore

2013-04-05T22:19:00.000+08:00

The wait is finally over. The National Art Gallery of Singapore has named Eugene Tan as director of the Gallery, which will open its doors in 2015.

Once described by Singapore artist Ho Tzu Nyen as a “true soldier of contemporary art,” the soft-spoken Tan is a familiar face in the regional art scene and is respected internationally. He will join the National Gallery on May 15. His job description is to lead the gallery on key museological and curatorial aspects, and strengthen its profile as a leading player in the visual arts scene. He will also influence "the intellectual framework that will guide the display and further development of the gallery’s collections.

In the meantime, he will continue with his position as the programme director of special projects at the Economic Development Board, in charge mainly of spearheading the Gillman Barracks development, until the fourth quarter of this year.

Over the years, Tan has straddled the public and private sectors. He has extensive curatorial experience, including as curator of the Singapore Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2005 and as a co-curator of the inaugural Singapore Biennale in 2006.

As founding director of the Institute of Contemporary Art Singapore, a part ofLaSalle College of the Arts, he pushed for a more cutting-edge programming at the institute, and as program director for contemporary art at Sotheby’s Institute of Art in Singapore in 2008, he helped set up a master’s program for contemporary art.

Most recently, as the director of Lifestyle Programme Office at the Economic Development Board, he played a key role in the development of Gillman Barracks, Singapore’s latest art hub, and he managed to attract strong tenants from around the world to establish a presence there. These include ShanghART Gallery, one of China’s most influential galleries, Japan’s Ota Fine Arts, representing the work of Yayoi Kusama; and New York’s Sundaram Tagore Gallery, which carries works by celebrity photographerAnnie Leibovitz and abstract American painter Frank Stella.

Tan’s appointment is interesting as it hints to a possible new or broader direction for the National Art Gallery. His personal taste firmly lies in conceptual and contemporary art, while the National Art Gallery was originally set up in 2007 as an institution that would manage Singapore’s extensive public collection of Southeast Asian Modern art, said to be the world’s largest.

For now the National Art Gallery staff operate out of temporary offices and the art is in storage pending the gallery’s opening in 2015 in what is shaping up to be a spectacular home in two historic buildings in Singapore’s Civic District, the former City Hall and the adjacent former Supreme Court Building. Both buildings are now under massive renovation that is budgeted to cost over S$500 million. The original idea was that the current Singapore Art Museum would specialize in contemporary art, while the National Art Gallery would specialize in modern art.

Since that announcement was made in 2007, Singapore Art Museum has made significant acquisitions of Southeast Asian contemporary art, though the museum remains short on space to present it. Its gallery rooms are rather small and have relatively low ceilings making the spaces less than ideal for the presentation of large scale contemporary art work.

While the new National Art Gallery will also have some low ceilings in parts, where no doubt the modern collection will be shown, could it also take on a large role and showcase contemporary art?

As first published on sea.artinfo.com

Thukral & Tagra @ Art Plural Gallery, Singapore

2013-03-29T10:46:00.003+08:00

The dynamic artistic duo Jiten Thukral andSumir Tagra, aka Thukral & Tagra, have made a name for themselves on the contemporary art scene in recent years with their ability to fuse graphic design, candy colors, and international pop culture references in works that humorously address the aspirations and fantasies of the rising Indian middle class, while also underlying the harsh realities the people face.

“Thukral & Tagra: Windows of Opportunity,” a solo exhibition running until May 25 at Art Plural Gallery features their latest works along with a couple of previous series, and reprises a theme close to their hearts: migration of the Punjabi youth in search of a better life but doing so at great personal cost.

“We’ve been working on this “escape” project for a while now looking at the idea of leaving the country for a better life, with people juggling their new lives with carrying on keeping in touch with their families, sending money. We come from Punjab and the majority of people there identify success with the idea of migration, going to Canada or New York in search of a better life. However, the reality is not always what they had hoped for,” explains Tagra.

The new series of 15 new works, titled Pinball, follows up on a series of small portraits executed in 2009 for the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art that presented a series of portraits of youths behind airplane windows, uncharacteristically realistic for the duo. The new Pinball series is partly inspired by their time spent in Tokyo’s many game arcades playing on Pachinko (a mechanical game), and returns to their usual colorful and graphic style, this time exploring what has actually happened to the young migrants after their arrival in their promised lands. Young Sikh men have cut their hair while their wardrobe alters dramatically, and to underline these changes, the artists offer a play of mix-and-match portraits like one would find in children’s book with half the portrait in the “before” style and half “after”. Wittily, the portraits look to be encased in pinball machines as the artists liken the process of getting a visa or living abroad to a never-ending game where one is thrown back and forth, jostled between reality and fantasy. For an added element of fun that is characteristic of Thukral and Tagra, a site-specific installation of a running track meanders through all four stories of the gallery, appearing and disappearing from its walls.

Beyond the fun element, subtler clues in the works show that as the youth of India escape to Europe or America to live out their fantasies, the reality is that they often remain full of anxiety and insecurity. ARTINFO sat down with the duo for a quick chat when they also answered some rapid-fire questions:

What other projects are you working on now?

We did a residency with the art campus of Meissen in Germany last year and we’re still working on some of those pieces. Some are now showing at the residence of the German ambassador in Delhi.

We’re planning to have a solo show in Bomaby this year and there are a couple of galleries interested, but we haven’t decided with whom yet.

What's the most indispensable item in your studio?

Our laptop and Bumblebee backpacks, because we travel so much

Where are you finding ideas for your work these days?

Right across the road.

What's your favorite place to experience art?

Japan

What's your favorite post-gallery watering hole or restaurant?

The Olive Bar & Kitchen in Dehli. We go there quite often.

What's the last show that you saw?

Bharti Kher’s solo exhibition in Dehli at Nature Morte. We know her very well and she’s fantastically hard working.

What's the last show that surprised you?

Anish Kapoor’s work at the Grand Palais (in 2011) which was phenomenal, mind blowing. It was an experience of a lifetime.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen happened in an art gallery?

Someone peeing on the work in a museum. I don’t want to say which museum, but it was in India.

Do you collect anything?

We collect toys.

Do you collect art work?

No, we kind of get obsessed with our own work (laugh).

But if you were to buy something, what work of art would you like to own?

Something to do with Anish Kapoor.

What would you do to get it?

Make art and barter.

What's your art-world pet peeve?

Seeing the same people all the time

What international art destination do you most want to visit?

Berlin

Who's your favorite living artist?

Too many to name

An under-appreciated artist?

Anita Dube

As first published on sea.artinfo.com

Chinese Designer Masha Ma on Her A/W 2013 Collection

2013-03-27T16:23:00.002+08:00

Chinese designer Masha Ma interned with Alexander McQueen while studying at Central Saint Martins and on graduating in 2008 she immediately set up her own eponymous label MASHA MA. It was a bold move but one that has paid off.

This season she delivered long pencil skirts and slim-cut trousers paired with more voluminous jackets and blouses in her body-conscious silhouettes. She talks to SEA.ARTINFO.com about her latest collection and her inspirations which includes Alexander McQueen’s early influence on her.

What was the starting point for your Autumn-Winter 2013 Collection?

Fashion is at least three-dimensional. I start the design thematically. The research, texture, and the selection of the color palette are done at the same time. The collection is called “Jardin d’hiver” or Winter Garden and the concept was to imagine my woman as the garden itself. The shattered ice, frozen flowers (individual and bunches), crystalized snowflakes, all elements together summoned a fragile femininity, yet purity.

How has this collection evolved from last season’s?

I put much more effort into construction and simplified silhouettes this time around. The Masha Ma woman becomes more defined in her sense of style. Having a professional international team, regarding process of production, styling, casting and show presentation, has improved the whole image and quality of the collection.

There is always a lot of white in your collections.

It is always the best color to show your cut. It has a purity and offers endless possibilities. But while there are some monochrome looks, when you look into the whole collection you will see a colorful palette corresponding to the chosen theme. This season, along with white, there is a series of selective yet polychrome shading colors referencing the coldness of a winter garden, with a radiance of blues, and prints in misty blues of cracked ice.

In this collection there is a lot of attention to details, with tone-on-tone embroideries.

Beadings and embroideries take more importance each season to bring out a sophisticated figure and show a depth in the fabrication. This season, we used graphic-shaped laser-cut organic glass to give a modern expression of snowflakes and more than 130 kinds of sewn-on stones in different colors added around to show a low-key transition effect. Embroideries with more than a million stitches enable people to feel the layer and finishing of the garment.

Tell me about your collaboration with Swarovski and the design process.

The Swarovski Elements added the exact quality we were looking for during the process of design. Hundreds of crystals, corresponding to the collection’s theme ‘Jardin d’hiver’, have leveled up the finishing of the collection. The collaboration with Swarovski has given me solid support to express the modern femininity in my mind. (To see more on the collaboration, click on the slideshow)

You also mixed fabrics.

The conflict and mixture of various delicate fabrics always brings me new ideas and shows a more vivid of image of the Masha Ma MA woman.

Who is this Masha Ma woman?

It could be any elegant and brave woman who speaks for herself. Never shouting for attention but never silent.

What does this collection say about you as a designer?

I hope it has shown my faith in women and fashion; everlasting exploration in women’s femininity and strong will of improvement.

What inspires you in general?

Art, music, and literature.

What else are you working on now?

We will present MA by MA STUDIO AW13-14 in mid-April. It will be a succession of the main line but younger, more casual, and warmer.

What is one design signature that stands out in your work?

Modern tailoring on coats and jacket, pencil skirt with flare.

What was it like to work with Alexander McQueen?

It was a very inspired period. Working with a mature team, I learned much experience regarding organization and professional skills of cutting and tailoring. I got familiar with the operations mode of a designer studio there, which benefits me a lot running my own studio.

What’s your best fashion memory?

First time I saw Lee (Alexander McQueen) walk in his studio on a sunny day’s afternoon.

Three words or phrases that describe your personal style.

Modern elegance, femininity, sophistically bold

Favorite fashion designer?

Out of all the designers I have met in persons until now? Alexander McQueen.

But if you could meet a late couturier?

Cristóbal Balenciaga

Do you collect anything?

“Alice in Wonderland”, from all publishers and in all editions

How do you define luxury?

It’s something that enriches people, not only by its actual value but also a sense of belonging and satisfaction.

Korean Artists Showcase Environmental Concerns @ Opera Gallery

2013-03-27T16:12:00.003+08:00

“Elements of Nature,” which recently opened at Opera Gallery, brings together three Korean artists bound together by their interest in the environment.

While Kim Chang-Young and Chae Sung-Pil both used sand and soil to create semi-abstract barren landscapes devoid of human figures, Lee Gil Raeconstructed forests of steel, capturing this rapidly depleting resource for eternity.

Kim mixed sand and oil to create impressions of sandy beaches moved by tides or howling winds, and the works only hint at human presence with footprints sometime left behind in the sand, as fading memories of our passage on earth.

Paris-based Chae also created barren landscapes using soil, but did so to express his own nostalgia and longing to go back to his homeland after many years of living abroad. The artist has collected soil from different parts of the world and mixed them to create his own “paint” before using a ‘spilling method’ of water drips to form his landscapes.

Meanwhile Lee constructs leafless trees with intricate curves and notches made up of steel and copper pipe with sprawling branches fanning out and tipped with wisps of copper representing the needles of the old pine trees. With rapid deforestation his trees narrate the artificial nature of today’s city dwelling.

Elements of Nature runs until April 7, Opera Gallery, Singapore

Samantha Scott-Blackhall on Working with All Female Cast for 8 WOMEN

2013-03-21T17:56:00.000+08:00

An interview with the theatre director of the upcoming 8 WOMEN

Within the first ten minutes of Robert Thomas’ 1958 play, Huit Femmes, a man is stabbed brutally in the back and the eight women in the house (two daughters, a wife, two servants, a mother, a sister in law and a sister) are left alone — snowbound and with the phone line cut — to accuse each other. This classic whodunit became an acclaimed musical comedy when Francois Ozon brought it to the screen in “8 Women” in 2002 with French movie stars including Catherine Deuneuve, and the play reclaimed the stage in the UK in 2012 with a new translation by Donald Sturrock. ARTINFO talked to Samantha Scott-Blackhall on staging a Singapore version.

Which script are you using, the original from 1950s or the more recent one?

The Donald Sturrock translation. The script I was given is set in the 1970s but I have chosen to set the play in the 1950s. The reason for doing so is because I feel that the inherent themes in the script; keeping up appearances, dark hidden secrets, murder-mystery and mayhem works so well when set in the fifties! It allows me to impose a film noir concept to the production too.

What attracted the work to you?

Nathalie Ribette, Artistic Director of Sing'Theatre passed both the play script and the film to me. She must have known that the murder-mystery-comedy part would appeal to my taste buds! When I started reading, I was hooked. Who did it? I figured my own appeal and interest in the suspense of the plot would be similar to the audience’s watching. On top of which there are eight suspects, all women! The plot thickens and unravels at every corner. Not forgetting, guns, poison, red lipstick, and high heels!

Is it a classic Agatha Christie-like thriller?

There's much more comedy injected into this play than an Agatha Christie thriller. As more and more secrets spill out of the closet, the more ridiculous the situation gets and therein lies the comedy. However directorially I've taken a leaf out of Agatha Christie’s and Hitchcock's books ... and that's my own secret to keep till you watch the play!

In your view, beyond the whodunit, what is this play about? What is the message to take away?

The play explores keeping up appearances, jealousy, delusion, love, it suggests the devastating result of keeping secrets and it is a terrible reminder how well people lie. Having said that, the play can't be taken too seriously! The story approaches these themes in a humorous, laugh-at-ourselves way.

Some may argue the play has a lot of stereotypes about women, the cheating wife and money-grabbing sister-in-law?

It's true! The lying, cheating, greedy, stingy, vain, screaming, needy woman is seen. But you also see the strong, independent, vulnerable, aspiring woman who wears her heart on her sleeve for all too see. After all, no one is perfect, are they?

Have you made some local adaptations?

The play is set in France and the murdered father’s from France, too. However the family on the wife's side is Singaporean Chinese and the children Eurasian. And seeing as the family originates from Singapore, it made sense to have an Indian housekeeper played by the very funny Daisy Irani.

What's your favorite line in the play?

The sister-in-law has a great one, she has a very melodramatic moment. I can’t say too much but she falls to her knees and says, "I shall leave the world as I came into it, without help, without assistance, all alone!" Which implies she birthed herself, it reflects how ridiculous the play gets.

What's the main difficulty in directing this piece?

We're just having so much fun! The eight actresses play a game called "Who will corpse first?" to 'corpse' refers to laughing out of character on stage when you should be taking things seriously. And there are so many hilarious scenarios that lead the actresses to 'corpse'. Of course in rehearsal they can let loose and laugh about it, but when they are performing they are going to have to hold it in!

What's the strength of the script?

The constant reveal, there's never a dull moment in this play. There's always a new piece of the puzzle that is exposed, leading the audience towards the murderer.

Previously, you directed several all-male casts. How is the directing experience proving different with an all-female cast?

Directing men is so much easier than directing women! Men tend to agree and get on with it. Once I appeal to their 'practical' nature no questions are asked and we move quickly on to the next challenge. Women however are very passionate. Every moment is questioned and debated and turned upside down, everyone talks at the same time and then ... we have coffee (Bon Cafe of course!) and gossip about something completely unrelated! How any work gets done is beyond me! At least we're having a blast in the process.

8 WOMEN will run 29 March-7 April at SOTA Drama Theatre

As first run on sea.artinfo.com

An Interview with theatre director Ed Sylvanus Iskandar

2013-03-21T17:53:00.002+08:00

An interview with hot New York Based Indonesian director Ed Sylvanus Iskandar

The New York-based Indonesian director Ed Sylvanus Iskandar was nominated for a 2012 Drama Desk Award for his direction of Sean Graney's These Seven Sicknesses at The Flea, setting him in the same league as fellow nominees Jo Bonney, David Cromer, Sam Mendes, Mike Nichols, and Tony Speciale. He missed out on the award to Mike Nichols, but has been in demand ever since. ARTINFO talked to the director about his latest work, the staging of David Ives’ "Venus in Fur" at the Singapore Repertory Theatre, as well as his busy New York schedule for the rest of the year.

What attracted you to Venus in Fur?

It was actually proposed to me by Gaurav (Kripalani, the director of the Singapore Repertory Theatre), and we had been looking for an opportunity to collaborate for close to two years. One of the reasons why the play is so interesting is that it has this incredible risqué feel, the subject matter, the way the characters connect to each other, yet clearly it’s connected with a mainstream audience. And I was really fascinated in a way, and I think it’s because we connect very much in this power struggle, this war of the sexes that is really at the heart of the play. A lot of the rhetoric of the play is as violent as anything you will find in Strindberg’s Miss Julie, or any number of those turn-of-the-century, late 1800s, classics that document the fight between men and women for their place in society. And of course the play is based on an 1870 novella “Venus in Fur” by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. So, when Gaurav proposed to mount this play in Singapore, it immediately caught my attention, simply because I feel that a lot of those issues are absolutely still very present in this society here, and it’s something I’m familiar with because I have family living here and I’ve been in and out of this country for a long time.

How do you approach the staging of such risqué play for what is a more conservative environment here?

It’s actually really playing to the play’s benefit. Yes, there are a lot of risqué moments and it’s obviously based on a piece of erotic literature, there is no hiding the fact that there are scripted moments in which the actress almost takes all her clothes off on stage, it’s kind of intended for that shock-effect. But on some level, I feel like the audience in New York has pretty much been already desensitized to all of these tactics so the play had to work harder to be more shocking whereas here the tension is just palpable, and the shock and the actual tuning-in the audience does to the piece has completely transformed the way that it is in dialog, and I think that’s thrilling. Certainly, the actors think it’s the most exciting energy ever.

There is a fine line threading the sexy and erotic. What’s the challenge for the director?

I don’t think anything we do on stage is beyond the bounds of taste. You have to create an effect in such a way that any kind of nudity or profanity are meaningful, it’s not being used randomly. So the challenge is to make sure that the action on stage is rooted in power play, and not in a desire to display flesh. Everything that you bare or conceal is for the effect of controlling another person or to find a way of catching them off guard. If you look at the tracking of how pieces of clothing come on and off, it’s a really fascinating, very accurate, and thorough documentation of the actual status battle between men and women.

How does your direction differ from the original’s?

The play treads a really fine line between naturalism and a heightened theatricality. In New York, the production was totally focused on establishing the naturalism and to me, what is glorious about the piece, and what a culture in Singapore more readily accepts actually, is the appearance of the divine within the play and I won’t elaborate further on that, as it would spoil what the play is doing for anybody going. But I created a world on stage that was a little bit looser, in allowing the room itself to transform into a space that was a bit more heightened and not just a literal loft in Brooklyn, and with that it allowed me to employ more operatic devices in the actual scenic work in the play itself. Because the world around the actors was a little bit more heightened, it also allowed me to approach an acting style that was similar, so we weren’t completely confined to treating this as a 100% realistic play.

You founded your theater company, Exit, Pursued by a Bear (EPbB) in 2010, which you’ve described as “a creative gym for emerging artists and a unique home theater experience for invited guests,” can you expand on what you mean by this?

It’s about creating a culture of community around theater going which I though was missing. To me, the point of going to the theater is not just about talking with the person you went with, but also getting to know the actor that created the piece for you. The fundamental purpose is to allow artists to practice their craft throughout the year. At the same time, because we’re not interested in creating pieces with a lot of crazy sets or costume, we had to find a way to offer an experience that’s a bit more personal, a bit more connected to the audience, so the culture really is that you’re invited to a home, which is pop-up; you must be on the list and you’re given the address the day before, you may be given a password and then you enter a party, essentially. There are cocktails served by the actors, you’re invited to sit and watch half a play, you’re then served a home-made dinner and then you see the rest of the play and then it turns into a late night lounge. The audience never pays because we feel we’re sharing a work in progress.

What are you working on now?

I just completed the EPbB’s latest lab Greater Angels, and the next play will be The Golden Dragon by Roland Schimmelpfennig, which will be produced by The Play Company at The New Ohio Theater in May. After that I will be directing Tennis in Nablus by a brilliant emerging playwright Ismail Khalidi for The Culture Project in June-July. The play is a gorgeous piece essentially about the conflict between Palestinian, Jews, Arabs, and the colonial Brits within a very specific period of time. It’s a piece about colonialism both emotionally and literally. Then after that, there will be a series of workshops over the summer, including Gabriel Jason Dean's new play Bacha Bazi. It’s about a documentary filmmaker who wants to expose the cultural practice of bacha bazi (boy play), an ancient Afghan tradition where young boys dance in women’s clothing and are sold for sex to the highest bidder. It explores the consequences of intercultural misunderstanding. It’s a challenging play, not just because of the subject matter, but because it employs a lot of dance and music as well as Dari (modern Persian dialect). About a third of the play is in Afghan language, though it’s written in such a way that you will understand what is being said. It’s been optioned by Ken Davenport, a Broadway producer, so we could bring it to the stage in 2014. And then we’re also thinking about doing a commercial transfer of Restoration Comedy, which had a run at The Flea that was very well received last year, but this is still in discussion and not yet confirmed.

Is it normal for a New York director to be that busy?

I would like to say, it is, but it isn’t. I’m very lucky that These Seven Sicknesses was nominated for the Drama Desk. It was so much out of the field; it was my first professional play in New York and I couldn’t believe I was included along Mike Nichols and Sam Mendes. It opened so much interest in my productions, a lot of playwrights came to see it, along with artistic directors and a lot of those conversations are now manifesting. It was a moment of both luck and the right project. I want to be that busy and I’m aggressively pursuing these relationship and propositions. It’s hard work because you have to take care of everybody the right way. On some level, I am lucky I come from a polygamist culture; just two generation ago my grandfather had concubines and you need to treat them the same way.

As first published on sea.artinfo.com

Taiwanese actress Michelle Chen plans music album

2013-03-21T17:51:00.001+08:00

Taiwanese actress Michelle Chen, who has been in demand since starring in the romantic film You Are the Apple of My Eye in 2011, is planning to launch her first music album in May. Speaking at a press conference in Singapore organized by Cartier, Chen says she penned all the songs and started writing them in 2008, “it’s so like my own journal... you’ll probably get to know another side of me with my songs.”

The music is mix of acoustic and “a little rock, which you may not have expected from me,” she laughed, stressing the songs are very personal.

Chen, who was awarded the “Asia Rising Star” award at the Asian Film Festival of New York last year, joined British actor Oliver Jackson-Cohen in a 7-minute short film promoting Cartier’s newest bridal collection, Destinee. The promotional film was shot in Paris by Luca Gaudagino.

Chen said she enjoyed the experience of shooting in English for the first time. While she remained coy about definite film plans at the moment, the fresh-faced actress said she would love to play opposite Hong Kong movie star Andy Lau, whom she’s admired since she was “really young” and has met a couple of time. “He knows that already,” she laughed, “But if you can, please tell him again for me!”