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| Last year's fair had a huge installation of Ai Weiwei, courtesy of M.A.D. gallery |
Some art critics were quick to write off the chances of Art Stage Singapore to attract big names, after ARTHK tied up with Art Basel for its next fair in May 2012. However, White Cube, Lehmann Maupin, and Malborough Fine Art are some of the new ‘Western’ guns that have signed up to participate Art Stage Singapore 2012, proving the Singaporean fair’s appeal and relevance. Now in its sophomore year, the fair will be running from 12 to 15 January 2012 and has an exciting line up of collectors’ talks.
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| Gajah gallery had a strong showing of Indonesian art works |
The fair will have about 130 galleries attending, with about 60 percent of last year participants returning and about 70 percent of galleries from Asia, according to organizers. Though the big Western names will make the headlines, Art Stage prides itself for being Asian focused, promoting the best of Asian galleries and artists. Indeed, its marketing campaign, We Are Asia, has tapped 10 well-known Asian collectors (Deddy Kusuma, Dr. Oei Hong Djien, Lekha Poddar & Anupam Podd, etc) to pause next to one of their art works (a bit of a coup in a usually press-shy collector world). These Asian collectors’s continuous support to the fair (many attended and/or lended work for the first fair) lends it strong credibility, and maybe helping attract more international collectors.
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| Li Chen |
Details of the fair is still dripping through but there will be several large installations to look forward to, with works by Anthony Gormley, hot Thai artist Navin Rawachaikul (a new take on its Super China! Installation he did at Ullens) and a performance by the Gao Brothers (Ai Wei Wei’s protégés
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| Performance art at Willie Valentine Fine Arts |