Art Frenzy

This has been a crazy week, as we prepare for a launch/charity art auction next week. It's the launch of a shopping gallery, and my team has been tasked with quite a lot of the event's components, especially the charity art auction.

Too long a story to pen down here, it gets too confusing too. Let's just say that there has been quite a few near heart attack moments along the way, enough to have made me age a decade and grow a few more strands of white hair. But at least things do get under control after a while, as we move on to face other challenges. Not complaining here, despite the stress and late nights, I love the adrenaline rush!

We invited an artist over from Japan, and commissioned him to do a number of works for the charity auction. As with every artist I work with, I would discover that while each and every one is eccentric unique, all of them have an underlying surge of passion and conviction. And this is the part that is most admirable about their profession - they truly love and enjoy what they are doing.

A third generation artist, he has certainly mastered the technique of chinese ink painting over the years, and I must say that even his speed of work is impressive! From a blank canvas to a full painting, it took him all under 2 days, with sleep, meal times and breaks as per normal.

A painting of this size, he would normally sell for about S$100,000 in Japan. So since I couldn't afford such, I took a picture instead.




The coming week will be very crucial, as we tie up the finest details of the event. Wish me luck!

Longest Continuous Drawing

Very proud of my resident artist - he has completed a 48-hour marathon, entering the Singapore Book of Records for the "Longest Continuous Drawing Marathon by a Single Artist".

Honestly, when we first met him and looked at his works - made up of one single continuous line that does not break, that does not overlap - we were like, "Huh?! An ni mah eh sai?!", translated to "Like that also can" in hokkien.

It all started out from playing the Nokia snake game. He became so obsessed with the game that once when the phone batt died, he took out a piece of paper and pencil, and started playing the game on the paper. Hence, the continuous line that does not overlap.

Titled "Superstring: Timepieces", the theme of this solo exhibition revolves around Time and Memory - that through time, memory changes and fades.


Joshua makes technical drawings of watches and mechanical clocks, all done from memory. I must say I became darn impressed when I found out this elephant's memory of his. We did a 1-hour interview, following which he wrote out the contents of the conversation the next day, almost verbatim. Must be careful of what I say to him always!!

Before the start of the 48-hour confinement:


During the confinement, which he documented every break that he took. His works, in this way, act as a personal journal, bringing you through the process. I was looking for his "Shit" break, but it seemed like he had constipation.


Finally, all 72 panels of "time cells" were filled up in the 48-hour period. Each is named a "time cell" to signify the "time spent drawing in each cell" and ultimately, the "time he spent in this prison cell". Yup, he wanted to experience what it was like, to be "living, eating, sleeping and drawing in one confined space". I suppose this is what they call "Art".....

Oh, and it seems like I have to buy that last panel.... haha.

New Member in the House

Because I was so smitten with 小姐, I would stand in front of the painting each time I walk past, to admire and day-dream about how it would look in our Jemej home.


After getting to know and hitting it off with Justin in the course of preparing for his exhibition in the hotel, The Boy and I decided that we would act on it - buy the painting. One of the most "frivolous" purchases I've ever made. But we never looked back - from taking a pic together with the artist himself during the exhibition, to the installation (next to what Squarenails calls "The Mothership") over the weekend, we are mighty pleased with our new-found baby in the house!



Because the hubby bought me such a nice painting, I rewarded him with something he liked very much too - a painting of his favourite toy, Condor, since young!! Ok, only that this cost only a tenth of the big one. :D


Painted by Dyn, another artist, he's got another one which I loved very much but restrained myself from getting. This was definitely one from my childhood memories!


Oh, have I mentioned before, that Justin said he found it strange that whoever buys his paintings, especially that from his 大姐／小姐 series would become preggers. Probably due to his use of the word 喜喜 in his works - double happiness from buying his painting, AND getting preggers. Well well, I sure didn't know that in the very beginning!!!

Behind the Mask

One of the reasons why I felt so "heart pain" to see the Phantom so sad in the end. Taken some time back at one of the events at the hotel, Brad Little has got the Drool Factor x 10. Very tall and well-built. Rebecca Pitcher (lead for Christine) was very pretty and graceful.

It still facinates me, the kind of lives they lead. They move with the cast from country to country, for months. Mr Phantom, who's married for 10 or so years, said he doesn't see his wife a lot in a year. Gee, I would miss my hubby too much!

Smitten

With this.


I'm so drawn to this beautiful piece by one of Singapore's emerging local "pop" artists Justin Lee. Named Xiao Jie, from his "Da Jie" series, this is a piece done using acrylic on canvas.

One of the artists commissioned to showcase his works in the rooms of the New Majestic Hotel, Justin's use of the "Double Happiness" and oriental motifs is so appealing!! Check out Happy Piggy. So cute right?


I imagined Xiao Jie on the wall next to our shoe loft, immediately when you enter from the main door. Haiz, buying/collecting art is certainly an extravagance isn't it?