Singapore: Dancing on butter

The Singapore Art Museum features finalists from the Asia-Pacific Breweries Foundation Signature Art Prize 2014. Works include a bloody knife sticking out of a field of bicarbonate of soda, a similarly sized area of charcoal, some sploggy brown dribbles running down a wall, video projections of people eating and a man lying underneath a dripping heart-shaped block of ice cream. My favourite was the kinetic sculpture of a metallic seal-like creature of spectacular complexity.

The ‘Medium at Large’ exhibition was equally intriguing. The wall-sized triptych ‘The Birth of Tragedy’ stood out for its technical skill but I spent much of the time in front of an exhibit called ‘April 2008, Tokyo’ which featured 12 framed panels of decreasing shades of pink, supposedly an exploration of the artist’s perception of colour and time.

As I sat doodling on the opposite side of the road I wasn’t sure if was inspired, confused or disheartened. The experience had made me realise for the first time in over decade,  that I was looking forward to going back to London.