SINGAPORE.- Art Stage Singapore has announced details of its fifth edition, which returns to Singapore from 22 to 25 January 2015 (Vernissage on 21 January) at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre. The flagship art fair of Southeast Asia, Art Stage Singapore kicks off the international annual visual arts calendar, connecting the world to the best of Asian and global contemporary art. Art Stage Singapore 2015 will feature 130 galleries (not inclusive of platform projects) from 29 countries. The Fair will continue to present art projects through the Platforms, which offer greater understanding of the contexts from which artists and artworks emerge and develop.

Exhibitor Highlights and Leading Galleries at the Fair

Art Stage Singapore will present a diverse range of carefully selected galleries from across Asia and the world. Galleries that will be exhibiting at the fair hail from Albania, Australia, China, Columbia, France, Germany, Indonesia, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay and Vietnam. 83 galleries are returning exhibitors and these include top international and Singapore-based galleries such as ARNDT (Singapore), Ota Fine Arts (Singapore), Pearl Lam Galleries (Hong Kong/Singapore), Galerie Perrotin (Hong Kong), ShanghART Gallery (China/Singapore), Singapore Tyler Print Institute (Singapore), Tina Keng Gallery/TKG+ (Taiwan), Tomio Koyama Gallery (Japan/Singapore), Sundaram Tagore Gallery (Singapore) and White Cube Gallery (London), among others.

There will be a strong showing of Asia-based galleries at Art Stage Singapore 2015 with 93 exhibitors, around 70 percent, coming from across Asia. 34 of these galleries are Singapore-based. The significant presence of Asia-based galleries will underscore the Fair’s Asian identity and reinforce its position as the matchmaking point for collectors, artists, gallerists, curators and art enthusiasts in Asia. 49 new galleries will debut at Art Stage Singapore in 2015. They include Marc Straus (USA), Paul Kasmin (USA), International Art (UK/Singapore), Piero Atchugarry (Uruguay), Gordon Gallery (Israel), Eternal Art Space (China), Kogure (Japan) and Gallery On The Move (Albania).

Several notable regional and international artists will be in attendance at the Fair. Among them will be celebrated collaborative duo, Gilbert & George whose works will be exhibited by ARNDT. Known for their belief ‘art for all’, Gilbert & George will be presenting a new work premiering at Art Stage Singapore 2015. Other artists who will be present at the Fair will be Hiroshi Senju, Renato Habulan and Guerrero Z. Habulan. Art Stage Singapore will also be the gathering point for many of Southeast Asia’s established artists.

Southeast Asia Platform Highlights

In 2015, the Southeast Asia Platform returns with a curated sales exhibition of artworks by emerging and established artists from the region. Exhibited over an area of 1,000 square metres, the show will be curated by Singaporean curator, Khim Ong. To date, the Southeast Asian Platform will feature 15 artists from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Agan Harahap (Indonesia), Mike HJ Chang (Singapore), Chris Chong (Malaysia), Chong Weixin (Singapore), Choy Chun Wei (Malaysia), Choy Ka Fai (Singapore), Yason Banal (Philippines), Hilmi Johandi (Singapore), Hoang Duong Cam (Vietnam), Wawi Navarroza (Philippines), Nipan Oranniwesna (Thailand), Gary-Ross Pastrana (Philippines), Roslisham Ismail a.k.a Ise (Malaysia), Wisnu Auri (Indonesia) and Zaki Razak (Singapore) will be among the featured artists at the Southeast Asia Platform. Regional galleries and institutions will be behind each of the participating Platform artists.

The Southeast Asia Platform exhibition titled Eagles Fly, Sheep Flock: Biographical Imprints - Artistic Practices in Southeast Asia aims to present diverse artistic practices in the region through a selection of works ranging from painting, installation, print and photography, to video and performance. In taking artists’ practices as the points of departure, these attempts at reflecting artistic influences and experimentations in the region will bring together a wide range of works, enabling new relations to emerge. Observed as biographical sketches, each of these works will provide an intimate engagement with the artists and their practices, while collectively serve as an entry point for understanding art from the region.

“Art Stage Singapore is Southeast Asia’s flagship contemporary art fair where the world comes to Singapore to discover art and artists from the entire Asia. As Asia’s most innovative fair, Art Stage Singapore continues to have a focus on Southeast Asia, presenting the region’s energy and dynamic creativity. We are delighted that our initiatives have drawn international attention to contemporary art from Southeast Asia and that Art Stage Singapore has become the most vibrant meeting point not only for buyers and sellers, but especially also for artists and curators,” says Lorenzo Rudolf, Founder and Fair Director, Art Stage Singapore.

New Platforms

New to Art Stage Singapore 2015 will be the Russia Platform, Video Platform and Modern Platform. They will each be presented in a museum-like exhibition layout. The Russia Platform curated by Olga Sviblova, Director of Multimedia Museum Moscow will introduce edgy, contemporary art from Russia to an Asian audience and juxtapose the emerging contemporary scene in Russia vis-a-vis contemporary art from the region. This will encourage an open dialogue between these new centres of art creation and an exchange between the art markets of Russia and Asia. The artists and their artworks will be presented by Russian galleries such as Shtager Gallery, Triumph Gallery, 11-12 Gallery, and Savina Gallery.

The Video Platform will provide an overview of the history of video art to the present day, allowing for a greater understanding of the medium that is gaining interest among collectors today. The Video Platform will showcase around 40 video works from the region and around the globe. Curated by Paul Greenaway of Gag Projects, Australia, the Platform will feature Angela Tiata (Samoa), Hiroko Okada (Japan), Hossein and Angela Valamanesh (Iran/Australia), Ivan Navarro (Chile/USA), Jun Nguyen Hatsushiba (Vietnam/Japan), Myriam Mechita (France), Santiago Sierra (Spain), Shoufay Derz (Australia) and Xu Wenkai (China).

With the incorporation of a new Modern art component, Art Stage Singapore 2015 will provide an art historical context and exemplify how the Modern forms the backdrop for the emergence and rise of the contemporary in Asia. The Modern Platform will showcase exemplary modern art from Asia and the west, highlighting how modern art in Asia had progressed through their own developments in line with different political and economic trajectories that varied from country to country in the region. The Platform, to date, will feature artworks by modern Asian artists and European modern masters such as Joan Miró and Pablo Picasso. Art Stage Singapore will be collaborating with the Pinacotheque de Paris for the Modern Platform. The Modern component of the fair will also comprise several gallery exhibitors presenting Modern works by K K Hebbar, M F Husain, Ram Kumar, Akbar Padamsee, S H Raza, F N Souza, Zao Wou-Ki, among others. These gallery booths will be located beside the Modern Platform.

Public Artworks

Several artworks will be exhibited in the public areas of the fairground, promising visitors to the Fair artistic encounters beyond the exhibition booths and curated Platforms.

The installation, Contours of a Rich Manoeuvre by Singaporean artist Suzann Victor will be suspended from the ceiling of the fair ground’s main aisle. Gilbert & George will create a new large-scale work for the Fair, to be exhibited as part of the entrance of the VIP lounge. The installation Mystic Abode by Indian artist Paresh Maity will be presented while Columbian artist Fernando Botero’s monumental sculpture, Standing Woman, will welcome visitors at the entrance hall. The work of Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos, Tetris 17th Century, will be featured along the central aisle; and Imago Mundi by Indonesian artist Titarubi will be presented along the same aisle. Singaporean artists Zulkifle Mahmod will show his sound installation No Substance on the mezzanine level and Mike Chang will be commissioned to create the fair’s entrance artwork.

International Collectors and Art Professionals in Singapore

As the leading contemporary art event in Singapore and the region, Art Stage Singapore is committed to bringing top international collectors to Singapore to discover and experience the contemporary art from the region. Visiting the Fair for the first time will be U.S based collector, Jorge Perez who is also Patron and Trustee of the newly opened Perez Art Museum Miami, the city’s largest contemporary art museum, and Swiss collector Michael Ringier, Chairman of Ringier AG, the largest internationally operating Swiss media company. Regular returning collectors to the fair include Uli Sigg, Sylvain and Dominique Levy from Europe, Richard Chang from the United States, and major Asian collectors Adrian Cheng, Alex Tedja, Budi Tek, Daisuke, Deddy Kusuma, Dr Melani Setiawan, Dr Oei Hong Djian, Robbie Antonio, Ryan Su & Adrian Chan, Thomas Shao and Yang Bin.

In addition to collectors, international guests to the Fair will also include European and American museum directors and curators such as those from the Sprengel Museum Hannover; MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt; Museo Cantonale d'Arte Lugano, Switzerland; MAXXI Museo nazionale delle Arti del XXI secolo, Rome; TATE Modern; Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami; Honolulu Museum of Art; Freer and Sackler Galleries of Art - Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C; Art Institute Vienna, Palais de Tokyo Paris and Centre Pompidou, Paris.