The inaugural exhibition – Technicolor Japan, places Japanese photography from the late Edo period alongside contemporary artwork from artists from various practices.

Location: 20 Cairnhill Road S(229652)
Website: www.vueprivee.comm

Talk about East meeting West. Sanatorium, a gallery in Turkey, is showing an exhibition on Chinese contemporary photographers, Passing China, from March 25 to April 24. This is in collaboration with Eli Klein Gallery from New York. A look at the list of artists reveal some well-travelled photographers from China – Chen Qiang, Lian Dongya, Li Wei, Liu Bolin, Maleonn, Miao Xiaochun, Pan Yue, Wang Yiqiong, Zuoxiao Zuzhou.

I think that the cross-border showing of photography, especially outside the main art centers can be quite a good primer for a region’s works. I have lost count of the number of people asking me for advice on photography coming from Asia (despite this blog’s moniker, I’m not really an expert). However, the interesting bit comes in when, after viewing the more well-known works, one finds the few gems in the rough. It can be an exhilarating experience.

Visit the gallery’s official website to read more. C-Arts Magazine has a review of the exhibition held in New York here.

Of Forest, Sea and Mountain’ is a collection of images depicting the deconstruction of conventional landscape by three talented photographers Dju-lian Chng, Jovian Lim and Ang Song Nian , which will be exhibited at 2902 Gallery from Nov 25 to Dec 16.

Evoking a sense of an unusual mix of romanticism and avant-garde, it is the personal self-interpretation of landscapes and a reflection of the emerging state-of-the-art innovations of photography. This exhibition will challenge the very archetypal notions of landscape and introduce a fresh visual introspective of their personal constructed landscapes deliberately imbibed with intended meanings about life, technology and space.

Having been acquainted with the photographers’ works, I do believe that we are heralding a new frontier in the local photography scene. One would never imagine images like this being exhibited ten years ago but look at how things have changed since then.

Dju-lian and Jovian works as a team and their online portfolio can be seen here. Unfortunately, Song Nian’s website is still in progress (well, the last I spoke to him). I can’t wait to see the prints!

© Chen Chunlin

Eight Chinese photographers are having an exhibition from Nov 19 to Dec 31 at the interesting-looking Redstar 35 building in Chengdu. The participating photographers are: Adou, Chen Chunlin, Feng Li, Li Jun, Luo Dan, Liu Ke, Muge and Yang Yi. The group’s images focus on a slice of life in modern day China, often with a penchant for the more mysterious aspects.

Click here to see more images.

My friend, Luke, in conjunction with H Gallery, is having an exhibition at the EAT ME Art Restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand. He has been based there for the last couple of years (learning lots of languages, teaching yoga and creating art!) and was a wonderful host when I visited last year.

This series of work was shot in 2008, when Luke returned home to San Francisco after Obama won the elections. He had planned to capture the signs of the Bush administration but decided to focus his sight on the change – in the form of renewed hope and pride, that was creeping into the country.

For more, please visit his website.

Rinko Kawauchi would be having an exhibition at Mountain Fold Gallery in New York for an entire month. The show, “Condensation”, is a collection of new and old works from the Japanese photographer. I’ve always been a fan of Kawauchi and would love to be there. An interesting aspect of the show would be to see how Kawauchi’s normally thematic images work together out of context and placed side by side. Her work possesses a melancholic peacefulness, soft and ethereal but always etched in reality. Do drop by if you’re in NYC.

Exhibition details:
Oct 19 – Nov 28
Mountain Fold Gallery
55 Fifth Avenue 18th Floor
New York, NY, 10003

My friends are having an exhibition this weekend at the Arts House. As part of Objectifs’ Shooting Home program, I’m curious how the photographers have developed over the course of one year. Do check out the exhibition or join them for the guided tour on Oct 10 for more insight into their works.

The Unfamiliarity of the Familiar presents the photographic works of nine diversely different individuals coming together to present their point of views and their take on the world and issues around them. These individuals – students, homemakers, and young professionals amongst them, use the language of photography to create their narratives on themes ranging from alienation, familial ties, identity to sexuality.
Among these artists a common thread runs through their presented works. The intention of each artist is to bring a facet of their experience of the unfamiliar in things that are familiar to us. In the process of doing so, a new light is shed on sights and scenes that are commonly seen around us such that they become somewhat less predictable and a little more unfamiliar.

Despite the diversity of the themes and influences found in the works, the exhibition aims to achieve cohesiveness in the overall presentation through strategic investigative motifs and approaches. And in so doing, it is hoped that these approaches will give rise to new insights and spectacles of the modern world.

The exhibition is curated by Francis Ng, a local award-winning mixed media artist. Artists featured: Chen Wei Li, Ulla Gratton, Malcolm Koh, Jean Qingwen Loo, Kevin Seow, Mulyadi Syariffudin Tan Ching Yee, Tan Bee Hoon and Shaun Tan.

Venue: The Arts House at Old Parliament
1 Old Parliament Lane
Dates: 1 Oct till 21 Oct 2009
Opening Hours: 10 am – 10pm daily
Guided Tour: 10 Oct 2009 (Sat) 2.30pm – 3.30pm
Official Opening: 30 Sept 2009 (Wed) 7.30pm – 10pm

TOP, from (“Impermanent Instant“)
© Li Jun, 2008

Li Jun’s Impermanent Instant draws inspiration from Buddhism’s concept of impermanence, where all existence is in constant flux and time itself, an eternally changing instance. Dust, in this case, becomes the perfect metaphor for living in an ever changing world and the photographer documents the presence left behind by inanimate objects in his apartment.

TOP, from (“Uprooted“)
© Yang Yi, 2007

The Three Gorges Dam project is a major undertaking by the Chinese goverment which has led to human displacement in the affected areas. Based on childhood dreams and nostalgia, Yang Yi created a series where inhabitants of his disappearing hometown remain despite the resulting floods. Morbidly whimsical, the series draws one in while providing a critical commentary on the government’s actions. The rest of the series can be found here.

TOP, from (“Love Hotel“)
© Meng Jin and Fang Er, 2009

While we have seen some works on love hotels by Grace Kim and Misty Keasler, this series is an entirely different take on the subject. The photographers, Meng Jin and Fang Er, used the various objects found in the rooms to create sculptures. Working within the 3-hour blocks at the various hotels, the artists shed new meaning on the relationship between the temporary occupants who visit the different rooms and their contents.

For more information on the exhibitions, please visit m97 Gallery’s website.

Paradise Lost is an exhibition curated by Zhao Renhui, which seeks to present the transition of documentary photography in our region. As digital processes proliferate in the industry, photography has lost its role as an objective witness. Now, viewing photography requires a certain (healthy) sense of criticism and suspicion. The artists involved are: Ang Song Nian, Alecia Neo, Eiffel Chong, Liana Yang, Koh Yee Ling, Zhao Renhui, Matthew Teo Wee Lip, George Wong Yong Choon.

I’m excited to see what’s brewing over at the gallery. I think I might head down early tomorrow for the opening reception to avoid the usual mingling when the crowd comes.

Aug 12 – Aug 30
2902 Gallery
Old School, 11b Mount Sophia
#B2-09, Singapore 228466

Edited (15 Jun 09): Apparently there won’t be the festival this year but only the workshops. A pity, really!