Mandy El-Sayegh, photo by Abtin Eshragi. Courtesy of the artist and Lehmann Maupin (NY, Seoul, and London)
A confluence of contemporary and cutting-edge art returns to Singapore as ART SG holds its third edition from January 17-19, 2025, bringing together heavyweight international galleries with established and emerging artists from across Southeast Asia. Since its post-pandemic debut, the fair is fast becoming a destination event for art collectors and enthusiasts in the region, kicking off the year’s whirlwind art fair circuit.
Fair director Shuyin Yang, a long-time frequenter of Art Fair Philippines, was recently in Manila for an ART SG launch party at the new WHYNoT space in Makati. Yang was thrilled to hear people buzzing about their plans for attending the fair.
“What’s special about ART SG is that it’s designed for the Southeast Asian audience. It’s a venue where you get to see artists from the Philippines operating at an international level, side by side with big names like Gagosian and White Cube. The fair serves as a benchmark for both quality and pricing and you can see the whole range of artworks out there,” Yang says. “At the same time, you can also see peers from Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam. It’s a fair that is very accessible because the audience already knows many of the artists, but it also gives them an entry point to something much broader.” ART SG, with its unique position in Southeast Asia’s art ecosystem, fosters exchange and dialogue not just among regional artists but between regional and global art scenes.
From the Philippines, the galleries Artinformal and The Drawing Room will be exhibiting work from Filipino artists including Jigger Cruz, Monica Delgado, Diokno Pasilan and Cian Dayrit, while Filipino artists BenCab, Leslie de Chavez and Marina Cruz will be represented by Gajah Gallery (Singapore, Jakarta, Yogyakarta) and Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan, Elmer Borlongan, and Ayka Go will be represented by Ames Yavuz (Singapore, Sydney.)
Yang’s advice on how to navigate what can be a very hectic and overwhelming event: “Come early, wander, get a sense of the layout. You’ll discover if you’re drawn to the big galleries and prominent international names, as it’s an opportunity to engage with the biggest and best, or if you’re interested in the young galleries and young talent, or more conceptual, digital art. You start to find out what attracts you.”
Besides the abundance of art, installations, performances, films, and the digital spotlight featuring AI and technologically driven art, Yang recommends the not-to-be-missed solo artist talks from two exciting young artists with Southeast Asian roots: Mandy El-Sayegh and Korakrit Arunanondchai.
London-based Mandy El-Sayegh is known for her complex, layered assemblages that she sutures together from fragments of material she collects, exploring politics, history, and the body in a process she describes as “bruising.” Born in 1985 in Selangor to a Malaysian Chinese mother and Palestinian father, her work is significantly influenced by her background, incorporating elements like Arabic calligraphy, Buddhist joss paper, and anatomy drawings.
The collages are painted over with grids, El-Sayegh’s way of controlling the chaos while also commenting on today’s surveillance capitalism. Her installations often make use of medical imagery and vitrines filled with pieces she has made or objects she has hoarded over the years. Even the floors of her exhibitions are plastered with paintings, which has the effect of bringing her studio into the gallery, and visitors inside her mind.
Thai artist Korakrit Arunanondchai creates immersive multimedia installations that meditate on themes of spirituality, technology, and art discourse. Born in Bangkok in 1986, he moved to the US to get an BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from Columbia University. In 2022, he staged a multisensorial exhibition in Stockholm called From Dying to Living, which weaves together deeply personal documentary footage of his grandfather’s passing with scenes of violent protests in Thailand and shamanic rituals on Jeju Island. Alongside paintings, light sculptures, and electronic music, together they form an otherworldly realm, the membrane between life and death. Recurring figures in his video work are Arunanondchai’s alter ego the Denim Painter, a drone-inhabiting spirit named Chantri, and the performance artist Tosh Basco who portrays Naga, the serpentine deity that has become Thailand’s national symbol.
Both artists approach art through a conflagration of media and materials, mirroring their own hybrid identities and embracing the chaos of the information age. Their wide-ranging research has also brought them to the spiritual and ritualistic aspects of their Asian heritage, which can be seen and felt in their work. Through their distinct visual languages, they both examine questions of personal identity, systems of knowledge, and structures of power.
ART SG will be held at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore from 17 to 19 January 2025 (VIP Preview and Vernissage on 16 January 2025), during Singapore Art Week, the city’s annual celebration of the visual arts.
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