Five award-winning ASEAN film directors are about to bring five Southeast Asian masterpieces from the National Gallery Singapore to life with the launch of the “Art Through Our Eyes” collaboration. Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand), Brillante Mendoza (the Philippines), Eric Khoo (Singapore), Ho Yuhang (Malaysia) and Joko Anwar (Indonesia) were invited to create a short film each using one of the gallery’s works as inspiration. Weerasethakul chose Merapi, Eruption By Day (1865) and Merapi, Eruption By Night (1865) by Raden Saleh; Mendoza was inspired by Marketplace during the Occupation (1942) by Fernando Cueto Amorsolo; Khoo is using Portable Cinema (1977) by Chua Mia Tee; while Yuhang has opted for Aku (1958) by Latiff Mohidin and Awar is using Wounded Lion (1839) by Raden Saleh. The films will be showcased together in Singapore later in the year.
Five award-winning ASEAN film directors are about to bring five Southeast Asian masterpieces from the National Gallery Singapore to life with the launch of the “Art Through Our Eyes” collaboration. Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand), Brillante Mendoza (the Philippines), Eric Khoo (Singapore), Ho Yuhang (Malaysia) and Joko Anwar (Indonesia) were invited to create a short film each using one of the gallery’s works as inspiration. Weerasethakul chose Merapi, Eruption By Day (1865) and Merapi, Eruption By Night (1865) by Raden Saleh; Mendoza was inspired by Marketplace during the Occupation (1942) by Fernando Cueto Amorsolo; Khoo is using Portable Cinema (1977) by Chua Mia Tee; while Yuhang has opted for Aku (1958) by Latiff Mohidin and Awar is using Wounded Lion (1839) by Raden Saleh. The films will be showcased together in Singapore later in the year. Visit nationalgallery.sg
WINNING WORK
Art meets literature with the third BMW Art Journey, which has been awarded to Abigail Reynolds, one of three artists invited to show her work at Art Basel Hong Kong, where the judges then selected the eventual winner. The English Literature graduate from Oxford University will trace 16 sites of libraries that have been lost to political conflict, looters, natural catastrophes and art. With “The Ruins of Time: Lost Libraries of the Silk Road,” Reynolds says she does not “want to embark on a history lesson, but on a philosophical journey.” Reynolds intends to create a cluster of book forms, prints, collages and moving-image works that will finish their journey by being placed in a library. Visit bmw-art-journey.com
THE SKY’S THE LIMIT
In the second series of #GucciGram, Gucci invited artists from across Asia to interpret its new Gucci Tian pattern. Artists— including Singapore’s David Chan, Charles Loh and Teresa Lim—gave the natureinspired print their own spin. “I chose to create a 3D version, using a terrarium jar filled with butterfl ies inspired by the Gucci Tian print,” says Loh, while Lim, known for her embroidery skills, incorporated female caricatures into her piece. Chan opted for a surrealist take on the motif.Visit gucci.com/guccigram-tian
