After three decades of dedica¬tion and hard work, the most refined puppetry troupe in Thailand formed by National Artist Chakrabhand Posayakrit took to the stage last week to celebrate the opening of its recent¬ly completed auditorium at the Chakrabhand Posayakrit Foundation Museum in Bangkok’s Sai Mai district.

The troupe was performing “Taleng Phai”, a work that has been in prepa¬ration for decades and follows on from the highly successful “The Battle of the Red Cliff” from “The Three Kingdoms” back in 1989.

One of the highlights of “Taleng Phai”, a heroic epic recounting the struggle of King Naresuan of Ayutthaya to liberate his kingdom from Burma, is the exquisite puppet of Princess Suphan Kanlaya, King Naresuan’s sister created and brought to life by Chakrabhand. The plot was conceived and outlined according to Chakrabhand’s ideas with a script writ¬ten by Vallabhis Sodprasert, the artist’s longtime right hand man and deputy director of the foundation.

The full dress rehearsal held last week for the media and the founda¬tion’s sponsor, Kiatnakin Phatra Financial Group, featured 200 mar¬vellous puppets and a 200strong crew including 30 musicians. Chakrabhan, 75, who is still recovering from a stroke that left him partly paralysed, was there too, sitting in his wheelchair and totally focused on the show, giving great encouragement to his cast and students.

“It was a dream come true to have not only the full performance but most importantly to have our master here with us,” says Vallabhis. “He speaks very little these days. I really wish he could talk more but he says his thoughts are slow. It has been a diffi¬cult time for all of us. There have been a lot of complicated problems with the construction of the hall and the muse¬um, and to be honest, even now we are not quite ready. We often feel lonely and discouraged. Every day we pray for our master to recover fully and be able to return to being part of the troupe. He dances so beautifully. Some people in the audience used to cry while see¬ing the master performing. However, since the show must go on, we want to carry on his dream and determination to create a heritage for Thai people of every class, rich or poor,” he says.

“Over the past decades, Chakrabhand has refused to sell any of his paintings no matter how much was offered. He wants to build a muse¬um so that every Thai can access his masterpieces.”

Vallabhis stresses that his “Taleng Phai” is not an adaptation of the wellknown literary work “Lilit Taleng Phai” by Paramanuchitchinorot.

“I started researching and compil¬ing documents from the King’s ver¬sion of the ‘Thai Chronicles’, ‘Thai Burmese Warfare’ by Prince Damrong Rajanubhab, The Luang Prasert Aksoraniti version of ‘Old Ayudhya’s Chronicle’ and ‘Testimony of a Former Ayutthayan’. Based on my own read¬ing of the events and my wish to recount a story that had been passed down from generation to generation, I used the puppet song as the narra¬tive. I envisioned a bedtime story told by parents to a child who then falls asleep and dreams of the events unfolding in front of his eyes, seeing what was happening in the Ayutthaya period after the fall to Burma in 1569.”

                Vallabhis Sodprasert, the artist’s longtime right hand man and deputy director of the foundation

“After having written the prologue, I felt that the Black Prince’s or the Crown Prince’s return to Ayutthaya, after having been held hostage in Burma for so many years, would not have been easy without the exchange of another member of royalty. I trust¬ed my own conviction that Princess Suphan Kanlaya must have left her motherland for Hanthawaddy and sacrificed herself as a concubine to Minen, Bayinnaung’s heir to the Burmese throne, in exchange for her brother Prince Naresuan, who was to save the country from vassalage. What a great sacrifice this was from that unsung heroine but her courage and sacrifice faded with the passing of time.”

The scene of Princess Suphan Kanlaya’s departure for Hanthawady marks the beginning of “Taleng Phai”. There is also an amazing cockfighting scene and the dream sequence of fight¬ing the huge crocodile, both of which are great fun to watch. For these, the writer drew from the storyline written by Prince Damrong Rajanubhab.

“I had Viceroy Upayaza challenge Prince Naresuan to a cockfight. The core to this performance is to pay tribute to the Great King Naresuan and the Siamese monarchs, and to pay gratitude to our national heroes,” Vallabhis adds.

“When we see the performance, we enjoy it but we should also remember the sacrifices that King Naresuan made throughout his life. The king passed away in the jungle and had no proper royal cremation.

The plot and gorgeous costumes are further enhanced by the music com¬posed by veteran composers Boonyong and Boonyang Ketkong and Suchao Hrimpanich and played by a phipat, as a traditional Thai ensemble is known, as well as the exquisite chore¬ography created by revered masters Salakwit Phusanpetch, Supachai Chantarasuwan and Chamnian Srithaipan.

Vallabhis has written the dialogue both in Thai and Burmese to make the story more realistic and boost its aes¬thetic quotient. The scenes are deliv¬ered with artistic precision though Vallabhis admits that some of the scenes have had to be dropped. “The traffic behind the curtain is one of the main problems we encountered. There are many more beautiful scenes but we couldn’t use them because of space and management constraints.”

Chakrabhand, who fell in love with puppetry as a child, learned his craft from master puppet makers Chuen Sakulkaew and Wong Ruamsuk, embroidery from Yuean Phanuthat, and Thai music and classic dance from Boonyong and Boonyang Ketkong. In 1975, the Chakrabhand Posayakrit Puppet Troupe was set up and per¬formed a series of critically acclaimed shows including “Phra Aphai Manee” in 1975, the “Nang Loy” episode of the epic “Ramakien” in 1977, and “Sam Kok” (the Thai adaptation of the Chinese epic the Three Kingdoms) in 1989.

Vallabhis, who has been working side by side with Chakrabhand for more than 40 years, says he regards Chakrabhand as a true master and taught his entire student body to pay great respect to the veteran artist.

“To dance beautifully and coher¬ently with the puppet takes great per¬severance and discipline. Master Chakrabhand is very attentive to every detail. He used to praise the good and point out the errors while teaching stu¬dents. He is very strict and selfdisci¬plined too. He used to rehearse hour after hour, year after year, holding the head of the puppet on the stick and dancing while watching his reflection. Today the puppets and their mecha¬nisms are much more advanced. They are more lightweight and more flexi¬ble, especially the hands,” he adds.

“The greatest lessons we have learned from master Chakrabhand are virtue and kindness, as well as the importance of being punctual and grateful,” he concludes.

Puppetry at its finest

– There will be a total of nine performances throughout this month for the various organisations that have contributed to the success of the “Taleng Phai” performance and the museum.

– The schedule for the general public will be announced later.

THE FIRST FEW months of the year make up awards season and the Thailand centre of International Association of Theatre Critics’ (IATC) has stuck to this schedule, releasing the list of nominees for their IATC Thailand Dance and Theatre Awards 2018. Now in its seventh year, this remains the only recognition of contemporary dance and theatre works that premiere in Thailand by artists who call Thailand home, as opposed to the many awards events held annually for their film and TV counterparts.

“Taxi Radio”/photo courtesy of Ben Kosolsak

It’s noteworthy that for these 2018 awards, the critics have considered stage works over a span of slightly longer than a year –November 1, 2017 to December 31, 2018. That’s because their 2017 awards ceremony was at the conclusion of the Bangkok Theatre Festival 2017 in mid-November when the critics also honoured outstanding works seen during that festival.

Most noticeable from the list is the absence of two awards for musical theatre works, namely best musical and best musical book. And because they haven’t provided any explanation, we might have to attend the award ceremony two weeks from now to find out if this is because there were not enough musicals, that they were not good enough for the awards, or for none of these reasons. For her role in Dreambox’s “Son: A New Musical”, Teeranai Na Nongkai is however nominated for best performance by a female artist.

Teeranai Na Nongkhai, right, in “Son_A New Musical”/photo courtesy of Dreambox

Unlike previous years when there were a few works with so many nominations that they became clear contenders, this year four productions share the highest number of nominations across three categories. They are B-Floor Theatre’s “Sawan Arcade”, the troupe’s collaboration with South Korea’s Theatre Momggol “Something Missing Vol. 3”, Splashing Theatre’s “Albatross” and Full Fat Theatre’s “Siam Supernatural Tour”.

Seen at the now-closed Democrazy Theatre Studio, the politically charged solo act “Sawan Arcade” is up for its art direction and performance by virtuosic physical theatre actress Ornanong Thaisriwong and for the year’s best movement-based performance.

“Sawan Arcade”/ photo courtesy of Teeraphan Ngowjeenanan

Part of Bangkok Art and Culture Centre’s (BACC) 6th Performative Art Festival in late 2017, B-Floor and Theatre Mommgol’s last of three works in a two-year collaboration saw the artistic directors of the two companies work hand-in-hand, after taking turns leading the direction in the previous two works. “Something Missing Vol. 3” is nominated for art direction and ensemble performance as well as best movement-based performance. Let’s see if B-Floor Theatre will continue its streak of winning IATC Thailand awards.

“Something Missing”/photo courtesy of Wipat Lertpureevong

While less prolific than the previous years, the young troupe Splashing Theatre, part of the future of contemporary Thai theatre, is back on the nomination list with another compelling drama “Albatross”, staged at Democrazy Theatre Studio, vying for best play, original script and direction.

Last November, Nophand Boonyai and Full Fat Theatre took the audience on a unique theatregoing experience named “Siam Supernatural Tour” in the auditorium, on, behind and above the stage of the Siam Pic-Ganesha Centre of Performing Arts. The work is now competing for best play, original script and direction awards – the former two of which Nophand and Full Fat won last year for “[Co/Exist]”.

“Siam Supernatural Tour”/photo courtesy of Full Fat Theatre

Another contender for best play honour is the Thailand-Japan collaboration “Pratthana—A Portrait of Possession”, Japanese playwright and director Toshiki Okada’s stage adaptation of Silpathorn writer and SEA Write laureate Uthis Haemamool’s 2017 novel “Rang Khong Pratthana” (“Silhouette of Desire”), which premiered at Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts last August and was seen at Centre Pompidou in Paris last December. Their all-Thai ensemble cast members, comprising actors from many groups, are also up for best performance by an ensemble award. Full Fat’s “Taxi Radio” which premiered at Warehouse 30 and soon to be restaged at BACC, is another contender for best play in addition to script.

“Pratthana”/ photo courtesy of Tananop Kanjanawutisit

Also noteworthy is that two artists are being nominated for English-language play productions – Thai actress Siree Riewpaiboon for “Agnes of God” and British actor James Laver for “I Am My Own Wife”, both works by Peel the Limelight.

IATC-Thailand Centre will honour theatre professor Krissara Warissarapuricha with the Lifetime Achievement Award. For more than four decades, the prolific set and lighting designer has been teaching at many campuses, working in many dance and theatre productions with many directors and serving as an adviser to many playhouses. He also penned the first set and lighting design textbooks in the Thai language.

Truly a man behind the limelight, most theatregoers may never have seen him, but most theatre artists know he starts work after their rehearsals late at night and when rehearsal resumes the following day, they have a nice set and lights.

Many awards to be handed out

“IATC Thailand Dance and Theatre Awards 2018” take place in the multi-purpose room on the first floor of BACC (BTS: National Stadium, exit 3) on February 19 at 6pm.

All dance and theatre artists and audiences are welcome: light snacks and refreshments will be provided.

For more details and complete list of nominees, visit Facebook.com/IATC.Thailand.

PASSION FOR all things visual was running high in Singapore last week as the Lion City went all out in organising art-related programmes across its multiple galleries, institutions, museums, non-profit spaces and public areas as it marked the seventh edition of Singapore Art Week.

The event was part of the island-state’s global tourism campaign “Passion Made Possible” that aims to awaken a love for culture and art and encourage visitors to live their dreams.

A kaleidoscope of light and colour is projected on the facade of the former Supreme Court – now a part of the National Gallery Singapore.

In addition to exhibitions, art fairs and symposiums, visitors were invited wander through the vibrant cultural precinct of Little India, discover the rich architecture of the Blair Plain Conservation Area, and marvel as the facade of the Civic District’s historic buildings were transformed into a kaleidoscope of light and colour.

Strolling around Blair Plain Conservation Area

The Blair Plain Conservation Area is a jewel of Singapore, where the visitor can discover the charm of old row houses in an eclectic mix of architectural styles.

In contrast to the surrounding high-rises, the quiet Blair Plain Conservation Area, next door to Singapore’s Chinatown, is home to a charming array of old two-to-three-storey shophouses with an eclectic mix of Chinese, Malay and European design elements lining the narrow roads of Neil, Blair, Spottiswoode Park and Everton.

Stroll through the area with its continuous stretch of more than 100 row houses, some of them beautifully restored and many still inhabited, is like travelling back in time to the Singapore of yesterday.

The architectural styles of the Blair Plain area will remind Thais of Phuket’s old town, which is home to Sino-Portuguese row houses boasting intricate European neo-classical and Renaissance-style details in the stucco columns, cornices and arched window frames and interiors that blend Chinese and European touches.

The row houses have front verandas linking them together, without gates, to form a walkway sheltered from the sunshine and downpours.

“This area is charming for the unique characters of the shophouses that date back to the 19th century and was designated a conservation area in 1991. Historically, well-to-do merchants wanting to be close to the port chose Blair Plain as the location for their residences because it was quiet and conveniently located for their business. The original neighbourhood is made up of shophouses that are still standing, many of which have received Architectural Heritage Awards from the Urban Redevelpment Authority (URA). Art lovers have settled here and opened art galleries and studios,” says Singapore-based Canadian art consultant Louise Martin.

According to the URA, the Chinese influence on the architectural styles are represented by such elements as the courtyard plan in the interior of the house, the rounded gable ends of the pitch roofs and the bat wing-shaped air vents above the first storey windows.

The Malay influence can be identified in the timber fretwork of the eaves and fascia boards and the design of the balustrades, the European influence is dominant in the fanlights, French windows, Portuguese-style shuttered windows, while the Colonial influence is seen in the Corinthian pilasters on the upper storeys.

Courtesy of Warayut Sinlaparatsamee

Several walls here have been enlivened with murals by self-taught artist Yip Yew Chong, who depicts life-size scenes of the past including an old-school grocery shop, a street barber, and an elderly washerwoman.

“I grew up in Chinatown and have been living in the neighbourhood for 24 years. I want to tell the young generation about the heritage of this area and bring back fond memories to the older generation as well,” says Yip, a full-time accountant, who began dabbling in street art after chancing upon Lithuanian artist Ernest Zach’s murals on Victoria Street in 2014. He now has 48 murals in Singapore.

 Yip Yew Chong’s mural “The Provision Shop” shows life in the Blair Plain Conservation Area, a popular spot for visitors to snap a photo.

Yip points to his mural titled “Provision Shop” painted on the wall of house No 8 at the junction of Spottiswoode Park, Everton and Blair Roads. It depicts a store selling rice, dried foods, fermented fish and egg, biscuits and much more, with the shop owners busy sawing ice and grating coconut. Next is a portrait of a bean curd and soya milk cart with a schoolboy randomly picking a stick from a can so he can eat for free if he wins the game.

“The scene is based on the house owner’s description of the place as he remembered it during his childhood in the ’50s and ’60s. As he has no old pictures, I had to search through the archives and rely on my own memories of how grocers looked in the ’70s and ’80s. It took about two weeks to complete,” adds Yip.

Thai street artist Alex Face’s iconic character Mardi adorns the wall of an old shophouse on Spottiswoode Park Road.

Well-known Thai street artist Patcharapol Tangruen, aka Alex Face, has painted his iconic three-eyed child Mardi on the wall of house no 63 on Spottiswoode Park Road, which houses a traditional medicine shop.

According to Alex, Mardi – a child dressed in a rabbit costume who peers out at passers-by with her eyes half opened and a sense of weary vulnerability -was inspired by his own daughter. In Singapore, one Mardi is seen wearing a fashionable Nyonya Kebaya with flowers in her hair to celebrate Peranakan culture. The other Mardi character is dressed in a traditional Chinese blouse and driving a segway.

The residence-cum-office-cum-studio of Nick Oxborrow and his artist friend Carlos Munoz Luque

Singapore-based British event organiser Nick Oxborrow and his Spanish artist friend Carlos Munoz Luque have turned their rented white Peranakan shophouse on Blair Road into their residence-cum-office-cum-studio.

“This is one of the most beautiful parts of Singapore. Living in this charming and historical building is very inspiring and adds energy to our creative works. The landlord has maintained the original character of the house from the rustic floor tiles to the high ceilings and stairs,” says Oxborrow whose office is on the second floor.

Luque’s studio-cum-gallery is downstairs and showcases his expressive and abstract paintings playing on the transformation of natural structures into trees, roots and the ground.

Art Porters Gallery

Two years ago, Guillaume Levy-Lambert and Sean Soh set up their Art Porters Gallery in a renovated Peranakan shophouse on Spottiswoode Park Road. With a focus on Southeast Asia, the gallery has an active programme of exhibitions, events and talks and its current exhibition is “Domestication II” by Singapore-born New York-based artist Su-en Wong that continues until March 17.

Little India gets spiced up

Little India, the buzzing heritage district of Singapore, is also a spot to discover a unique cultural diversity, mixed architectural styles and murals based on this year’s theme “Image and Sound of Fragrance”.

The former house of Chinese merchant Tan Teng Niah is remarkable for its colourful facade and is the last remaining Chinese villa in Little India. /Courtesy of Warayut Sinlaparatsamee

The remarkable building easily recognisable by its colourful facade is the former house of Tan Teng Niah, a prominent Chinese businessman in Little India. It is the last remaining eight-room, two-storey Chinese villa with European architectural influences in the area.

Speak Cryptic’s blackandwhite work at the gable wall of Park 22 Hotel in Little India is inspired by symbolic Indian flowers and intricate patterns of the sari.

At Park 22 Hotel, Farizwan Fajari, aka Speak Cryptic, has painted the gable wall in black and white with images of interweaving flowers found in garlands – a symbol of strength and purity in the Indian culture – as well as the patterns of the graceful Indian sari. The work was done in a spontaneous style and took just three days to complete.

 Colourful Indian spices are a source of inspiration for the mural painted by Zul Zero.

Inspired by the sights, smells and sounds of Little India, Zul Zero has painted a mural titled “Diff/Fusion” inspired by colourful spices cardamom, chilli powder and cumin in geometric forms while the images of eyes, ear, nose, mouth and hands refer to the traditional chakras about the centres of spiritual power in the body including the senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch.

Blinded by the lights

At night, visitors are invited to stroll around the historical buildings of National Gallery Singapore, the Arts House, Victoria Theatre and Victoria Concert Hall, Asian Civilisations Museum and Esplanade Park to see the interactive projection mapping light show at the Light to Night Festival.

This year’s festival runs in two parts – as part of the Singapore Art Week, and as part of the Singapore Bicentennial continuing until February 24.

The Asian Civilisations Museum is drizzled with colourful light in figurative tribal art elements.

For the first part, the facade light is based on the Odyssey, developed with Brandon Tay and Safuan Johari together with multimedia illustrations and digital content by 14 other artists. It invites visitors to follow the artistic voyage of an explorer who traverses different facades of cultural institutions and sojourns in the world of duality in search of identity. Each subsequent facade features a different part of the explorer’s journey and can be enjoyed independently of the recommended route.

Sebastian Chun’s light installation “Stick” recalls the ubiquitous hallmarks of the Singapore of yesteryear.

On the lawn of Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore designer Sebastian Chun has created an outdoor interactive art installation called “Sticks” made out of bamboo sticks and neon lights to revive two ubiquitous hallmarks of the Singapore of yesteryear: the childhood game “pick-up sticks” and bakau piling, a technique once commonly used to construct scaffolding.

The light festival’s second part is based on the theme of “7 Stories from 700 Years” and takes a walk down the reimaged historical tales to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the founding of modern Singapore along seven facades of seven historical sites.

The mapping light at the facade of the former Supreme Court – now a part of National Gallery – tells the journey of the court, which was the last colonial building constructed in the island-state, while the cultural diversity that formed the Little Red Dot – a term referring to how Singapore is often depicted as a tiny red dot on the World map– is projected at the Asian Civilisations Museum.

The writer’s trip was made possible by Singapore Tourism Board.

ALL LIT UP

Many programmes of Singapore Art Week are still running. Keep updated at http://www.ArtWeek.sg.

Details on the Light to Night Festival are available at http://www.LightToNight.sg.

HANGING BANNERS bearing eccentric and fanciful beasts follow visitors as they walk from BTS Skywalk into Gaysorn Village, their vibrant colours a timely reminder that Chinese New Year is only days away.

The banners are the work of up-and-coming artist Phannapast Taychamaythakool, 30, who caught the world’s attention when she joined the “#GucciGram Tian” digital talent project in 2016, and was commissioned to create a stunning fairy-tale book and installation with her writer friend Aracha Cholitgul to promote Gucci’s Le Marche des Merveilles jewellery line worldwide in 2017. That same year, social media giant Instagram also recognised her talent, inviting her to design a fanciful backdrop for its headquarters in New York.

The eccentric and fanciful beasts follow visitors as they walk from BTS Skywalk into Gaysorn Village.

“As I’m a Chinese descendant, I always bless myself, my family members and my loved ones. To me the blessing is not something nonsensical. It’s like I am talking to myself about my determination and my dreams and I must make the wishes come true. That’s why my works at Gaysorn are based on the theme ‘Blessing, Love and Dream’,” says Phannapast.

Dandy Lion

A floor-to-ceiling installation called “Dandy Lion” stands proudly alongside the escalator to Gaysorn Terrace and features red poppies made out of paper with a fibreglass face of a lion covered with a heart-shaped mane at the centre. The Dandy Lion is inspired by the beast illustration featured in the tarot card The Strength.

The columns around Gaysorn are also wrapped with adhesive prints featuring the fanciful beasts, which Phannapast refers to as the “lucky animals”.

Phannapast

“Lion signifies strength, bee is for friendship, goldfish for prosperity and monkey represents the willingness to take a chance. The monkey is nimble and can grab onto anything quickly. The inspiration came from siam si (Chinese fortune sticks) when I pulled a stick suggesting that I should take a chance. It says if I win, I will be happy. If I lose, I will be wise.”

 “The Sun Room” symbolises positive energy.

Hanging from the ceiling of the atrium is the installation “The Sun Room” featuring hand-made paper cuts of poppies and plants as well as two white horses made out of foam.

“The horses take inspiration from the horse chariot of the Sun God in Greek mythology and represent positive energy. The poppy that is normally used to remember military personnel is a symbol of bravery,” she adds.

“The Moon Room” represents hope and dreams.

Phannapast has also decorated Gaysorn Cocoon, the 6.5-metre-tall bridge connecting the towers, with the giant lantern-like installation “The Moon Room”. The paper butterflies are placed around the work to symbolise luck and underneath is a red leopard made out of foam to signify strength.

“The moon is a metaphor for hope and dreams. The leopard is trying to pull the moon down closer to the earth for humans to pray for their wishes,” she says.

Phannapast’s other works are also on display at the Galerie on the ground floor of Gaysorn until March 31.

PROPERTY developer Sansiri has tapped Belgian artist Sarah Corynen to guide its participation in Bangkok Design Week. Her cheery creation is on view alongside the Chao Phraya River until tomorrow, on the pier of Siam Commercial Bank’s Talad Noi branch.

“The Alphabet of Joy”, presented in collaboration with the Thailand Creative and Design Centre, celebrates four of the developer’s condominiums – The Line, XT, Haus and The Base – together known as the Sansiri Club Collection.

Sarah Corynen

Corynen’s playful artwork has previously helped promote fashion label Comme des Garcons and Habitat, a European maker of contemporary furniture. She’s had pieces on view in art and fashion exhibitions and museums from Paris to Hong Kong, but this is the first time she’s worked in Southeast Asia.

“The Alphabet of Joy” entails about 30 selected drawings and prints.

“I illustrate patterns for textile industries and met Ou Baholyodhin of Sansiri at an architecture fair in Paris five years ago,” Corynen explained at her show’s opening. “In this exhibition I’m presenting both old and new works. I also have a lot of textile designs, which you don’t see so much here.”

Corynen founded her own creative studio in 2014 and ever since has been attending the annual textile shows Premiere Vision in Paris and Heimtextil in Frankfurt, Germany.

Her drawings mainly depict daily life, animals and nature in a bold, simple, witty style and are printed on textiles and home d้cor and appear as book illustrations.

“I always like to start by drawing in ink and then I’ll add softer, more graphic dimensions,” she said. “I think my hand is quite bold and strong, so I like big paper and big brushes.

“And then after I’ve finished a series like the animals, I scan them into a computer and colour them in a very precise way. I love animals because of the many links between animals and humans. I can add human qualities to create a naughty fox or koala. I put humour into it. The doe and the bear are my favourites, but I love them all.”

Corynen creates playful animals. 

Corynen has also earned acclaim for her knitwear, though it occupies less of her time lately.

“At the time I was looking for soft, abstract, yet figurative movement. I started drawing the lines in colour but I didn’t have any particular inspiration. But it’s kind of grown from one picture to another and suddenly there was a series. It’s up to the viewers.”

Colours are what make Corynen’s work so easily identifiable.

“I like bright colours, but I like to soften them with my own pastel palette, so that people often recognise them. I don’t know how I choose it – the mood maybe.

“Colour can be quite influential. Like at home, it gives you a happy, comfortable feeling because you choose the painting and put it in a favourite spot. It’s the same way a cotton blanket you put on the bed brings you comfort and cosiness. It gives a lot to the home and brings joy.

Sansiri is presenting the exhibition “Alphabet of Joy”.

“I also work with a wallpaper company and decorate kitchen products like teapots and coffee cups. Currently I’m working on drawings of sea life, such as fish, crabs, turtles and a shark, which I’ll present for spring and summer.”

Corynen’s “Alphabet of Joy” spells out “all the things in life” – A for apple, B for breakfast, and so on.

“Every letter can be joyful, like all the animals and plants and thing that can give you joy if you look for it.”

Panrapi Pukkajiam of Tham-Ma-Ha-Gin conducts a workshop on making tote bags. 

Ou Baholyodhin, chief creative officer at Sansiri, said the firm wanted to “help the new generation of designers step onto the world stage”.

“We’ve collaborated with these budding designers whom we chose from the field of fashion whose work is distinctive and individualistic. We don’t want the artwork to be merely admired and then that’s the end of it.”

Ceramicists Non Netphrom and Napakamol Akkarapongpaisarn run the brand LamunLamai.

Thai designers being promoted by Sansiri with the issuance of limited edition collections are The Achivist print studio, Zequenz, which produces hand-crafted notebooks, Madhatter with its cloth handbags bearing art prints, the ceramics of LamunLamai, and hand-made marvels from Tham-Ma-Ha-Gin.

They’ll all be at the pier tomorrow from 3pm to 10pm.

PASSION FOR all things visual was running high in Singapore last week as the Lion City went all out in organising art-related programmes across its multiple galleries, institutions, museums, non-profit spaces and public areas as it marked the seventh edition of Singapore Art Week.

The event was part of the island-state’s global tourism campaign “Passion Made Possible” that aims to awaken a love for culture and art and encourage visitors to live their dreams.

A kaleidoscope of light and colour is projected on the facade of the former Supreme Court – now a part of the National Gallery Singapore.

In addition to exhibitions, art fairs and symposiums, visitors were invited wander through the vibrant cultural precinct of Little India, discover the rich architecture of the Blair Plain Conservation Area, and marvel as the facade of the Civic District’s historic buildings were transformed into a kaleidoscope of light and colour.

Strolling around Blair Plain Conservation Area

The Blair Plain Conservation Area is a jewel of Singapore, where the visitor can discover the charm of old row houses in an eclectic mix of architectural styles.

In contrast to the surrounding high-rises, the quiet Blair Plain Conservation Area, next door to Singapore’s Chinatown, is home to a charming array of old two-to-three-storey shophouses with an eclectic mix of Chinese, Malay and European design elements lining the narrow roads of Neil, Blair, Spottiswoode Park and Everton.

Stroll through the area with its continuous stretch of more than 100 row houses, some of them beautifully restored and many still inhabited, is like travelling back in time to the Singapore of yesterday.

The architectural styles of the Blair Plain area will remind Thais of Phuket’s old town, which is home to Sino-Portuguese row houses boasting intricate European neo-classical and Renaissance-style details in the stucco columns, cornices and arched window frames and interiors that blend Chinese and European touches.

The row houses have front verandas linking them together, without gates, to form a walkway sheltered from the sunshine and downpours.

“This area is charming for the unique characters of the shophouses that date back to the 19th century and was designated a conservation area in 1991. Historically, well-to-do merchants wanting to be close to the port chose Blair Plain as the location for their residences because it was quiet and conveniently located for their business. The original neighbourhood is made up of shophouses that are still standing, many of which have received Architectural Heritage Awards from the Urban Redevelpment Authority (URA). Art lovers have settled here and opened art galleries and studios,” says Singapore-based Canadian art consultant Louise Martin.

According to the URA, the Chinese influence on the architectural styles are represented by such elements as the courtyard plan in the interior of the house, the rounded gable ends of the pitch roofs and the bat wing-shaped air vents above the first storey windows.

The Malay influence can be identified in the timber fretwork of the eaves and fascia boards and the design of the balustrades, the European influence is dominant in the fanlights, French windows, Portuguese-style shuttered windows, while the Colonial influence is seen in the Corinthian pilasters on the upper storeys.

Courtesy of Warayut Sinlaparatsamee

Several walls here have been enlivened with murals by self-taught artist Yip Yew Chong, who depicts life-size scenes of the past including an old-school grocery shop, a street barber, and an elderly washerwoman.

“I grew up in Chinatown and have been living in the neighbourhood for 24 years. I want to tell the young generation about the heritage of this area and bring back fond memories to the older generation as well,” says Yip, a full-time accountant, who began dabbling in street art after chancing upon Lithuanian artist Ernest Zach’s murals on Victoria Street in 2014. He now has 48 murals in Singapore.

 Yip Yew Chong’s mural “The Provision Shop” shows life in the Blair Plain Conservation Area, a popular spot for visitors to snap a photo.

Yip points to his mural titled “Provision Shop” painted on the wall of house No 8 at the junction of Spottiswoode Park, Everton and Blair Roads. It depicts a store selling rice, dried foods, fermented fish and egg, biscuits and much more, with the shop owners busy sawing ice and grating coconut. Next is a portrait of a bean curd and soya milk cart with a schoolboy randomly picking a stick from a can so he can eat for free if he wins the game.

“The scene is based on the house owner’s description of the place as he remembered it during his childhood in the ’50s and ’60s. As he has no old pictures, I had to search through the archives and rely on my own memories of how grocers looked in the ’70s and ’80s. It took about two weeks to complete,” adds Yip.

Thai street artist Alex Face’s iconic character Mardi adorns the wall of an old shophouse on Spottiswoode Park Road.

Well-known Thai street artist Patcharapol Tangruen, aka Alex Face, has painted his iconic three-eyed child Mardi on the wall of house no 63 on Spottiswoode Park Road, which houses a traditional medicine shop.

According to Alex, Mardi – a child dressed in a rabbit costume who peers out at passers-by with her eyes half opened and a sense of weary vulnerability -was inspired by his own daughter. In Singapore, one Mardi is seen wearing a fashionable Nyonya Kebaya with flowers in her hair to celebrate Peranakan culture. The other Mardi character is dressed in a traditional Chinese blouse and driving a segway.

The residence-cum-office-cum-studio of Nick Oxborrow and his artist friend Carlos Munoz Luque

Singapore-based British event organiser Nick Oxborrow and his Spanish artist friend Carlos Munoz Luque have turned their rented white Peranakan shophouse on Blair Road into their residence-cum-office-cum-studio.

“This is one of the most beautiful parts of Singapore. Living in this charming and historical building is very inspiring and adds energy to our creative works. The landlord has maintained the original character of the house from the rustic floor tiles to the high ceilings and stairs,” says Oxborrow whose office is on the second floor.

Luque’s studio-cum-gallery is downstairs and showcases his expressive and abstract paintings playing on the transformation of natural structures into trees, roots and the ground.

Art Porters Gallery

Two years ago, Guillaume Levy-Lambert and Sean Soh set up their Art Porters Gallery in a renovated Peranakan shophouse on Spottiswoode Park Road. With a focus on Southeast Asia, the gallery has an active programme of exhibitions, events and talks and its current exhibition is “Domestication II” by Singapore-born New York-based artist Su-en Wong that continues until March 17.

Little India gets spiced up

Little India, the buzzing heritage district of Singapore, is also a spot to discover a unique cultural diversity, mixed architectural styles and murals based on this year’s theme “Image and Sound of Fragrance”.

The former house of Chinese merchant Tan Teng Niah is remarkable for its colourful facade and is the last remaining Chinese villa in Little India. /Courtesy of Warayut Sinlaparatsamee

The remarkable building easily recognisable by its colourful facade is the former house of Tan Teng Niah, a prominent Chinese businessman in Little India. It is the last remaining eight-room, two-storey Chinese villa with European architectural influences in the area.

Speak Cryptic’s blackandwhite work at the gable wall of Park 22 Hotel in Little India is inspired by symbolic Indian flowers and intricate patterns of the sari.

At Park 22 Hotel, Farizwan Fajari, aka Speak Cryptic, has painted the gable wall in black and white with images of interweaving flowers found in garlands – a symbol of strength and purity in the Indian culture – as well as the patterns of the graceful Indian sari. The work was done in a spontaneous style and took just three days to complete.

 Colourful Indian spices are a source of inspiration for the mural painted by Zul Zero.

Inspired by the sights, smells and sounds of Little India, Zul Zero has painted a mural titled “Diff/Fusion” inspired by colourful spices cardamom, chilli powder and cumin in geometric forms while the images of eyes, ear, nose, mouth and hands refer to the traditional chakras about the centres of spiritual power in the body including the senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch.

Blinded by the lights

At night, visitors are invited to stroll around the historical buildings of National Gallery Singapore, the Arts House, Victoria Theatre and Victoria Concert Hall, Asian Civilisations Museum and Esplanade Park to see the interactive projection mapping light show at the Light to Night Festival.

This year’s festival runs in two parts – as part of the Singapore Art Week, and as part of the Singapore Bicentennial continuing until February 24.

The Asian Civilisations Museum is drizzled with colourful light in figurative tribal art elements.

For the first part, the facade light is based on the Odyssey, developed with Brandon Tay and Safuan Johari together with multimedia illustrations and digital content by 14 other artists. It invites visitors to follow the artistic voyage of an explorer who traverses different facades of cultural institutions and sojourns in the world of duality in search of identity. Each subsequent facade features a different part of the explorer’s journey and can be enjoyed independently of the recommended route.

Sebastian Chun’s light installation “Stick” recalls the ubiquitous hallmarks of the Singapore of yesteryear.

On the lawn of Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore designer Sebastian Chun has created an outdoor interactive art installation called “Sticks” made out of bamboo sticks and neon lights to revive two ubiquitous hallmarks of the Singapore of yesteryear: the childhood game “pick-up sticks” and bakau piling, a technique once commonly used to construct scaffolding.

The light festival’s second part is based on the theme of “7 Stories from 700 Years” and takes a walk down the reimaged historical tales to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the founding of modern Singapore along seven facades of seven historical sites.

The mapping light at the facade of the former Supreme Court – now a part of National Gallery – tells the journey of the court, which was the last colonial building constructed in the island-state, while the cultural diversity that formed the Little Red Dot – a term referring to how Singapore is often depicted as a tiny red dot on the World map– is projected at the Asian Civilisations Museum.

The writer’s trip was made possible by Singapore Tourism Board.

ALL LIT UP

Many programmes of Singapore Art Week are still running. Keep updated at http://www.ArtWeek.sg.

Details on the Light to Night Festival are available at http://www.LightToNight.sg.

It offers visitors a multi-layered picture of Sir Stamford Raffles, a British official with the East India Company who is known for establishing modern Singapore as a British trading port.

The exhibition illustrates many roles Raffles played during his time in Singapore, while also understanding the rich artistic and cultural heritage of Java and the Malay World. Co-curated with the British Museum, this special exhibition showcases some 240 masterpieces from 14 internationally renowned partner institutions and private collectors. Brought together for the first time, many of these cultural objects and artworks are mentioned or depicted in Raffles’ book “The History of Java”. Other artworks fill in gaps of what he did not collect, allowing the exhibition to present a fuller picture of the region’s history.

“This reexamination of Raffles’ view of 19th-century Southeast Asia, particularly Java, not only allows us to consider the implications of colonial methods of collecting, categorising, organising, and presentation of knowledge, but also provides an opportunity to represent – with relevance for today’s contemporary audience – the cultural and artistic richness of 19th-century Java and the Malay World,” says Kennie Ting, director of the Asian Civilisations Museum.

“Through this showcase, which concludes ACM’s Year of Southeast Asia, we hope to inspire visitors to reconsider what they know of the region, and how Singapore is connected to it, beyond Raffles and events leading to 1819. Reading recent comments on Raffles, it might be interesting for visitors to note that this exhibition assesses Raffles from many angles. In doing so, ultimately it allows them to decide for themselves who and what Raffles represents.”

Raffles’ personal collection of mostly Javanese and Sumatran objects reveal what he saw as reflective of Javanese culture and history. From traditional masks, theatre puppets, and gamelan musical instruments, to small Hindu-Buddhist sculptures, weapons, textiles, and depictions of Javanese locals, plants, and animals, the objects reveal the way Raffles chose and collected items that he considered indicative of civilisation – according to European standards of the time – and their value for global trade. These were Raffles’ justifications that the Javanese had the potential to benefit from British colonial rule.

The exhibition also reveals that British colonial intervention was just one part of the complex landscape of Southeast Asian politics of the time – royal regalia, important court documents and letters displayed in the exhibition recount the extent of Raffles’ involvement in the politics of sultanates. More importantly, these objects also shed light on the aspirations and agency of local rulers, whose viewpoints provide a more nuanced view of events. The unstable dynamics of this period saw upheavals, conflicts, and invasions, and with them the trade of cultural masterpieces.

Raffles’ presence in Southeast Asia has had long lasting impact. Differing power structures in Java as a result of Raffles’ involvement in the 19th century, are still felt in the Special Region of Yogyakarta, the only place in Indonesia where royal families continue to hold political power.

Through Raffles’ involvement in the Johor-Riau-Lingga sultanate’s succession dispute, the British and the Dutch entered into a tug-of-war over possession of the sultanate’s royal regalia. Eventually, Raffles entered into an agreement with one of the intended heirs, in order to set up a British trading port in Singapore.

“Every object tells a story. This show at the Asian Civilisations Museum demonstrates how objects can reveal new narratives for events, individuals and regions like Southeast Asia. For the first time, this exhibition brings together objects collected by Sir Stamford Raffles from private and public collections from across the world. We are offered a new insight into the very complex history of Java and the Malay world, and invite visitors to come and make up their own minds about this complex character,” says British Museum chairman, Sir Richard Lambert.

For more information, visit http://www.Acm.org.sg.

Now in its third edition, the festival is Bangkok’s version of Engeki Quest – “No Name Cats in Thonburi”.

Engeki Quest is a transformative piece of art where audiences become participants, and set off on an adventure to explore their own narrative of art in daily life. Participants choose their own adventure, relying on the instructions in an Adventure Book.

Engeki Quest; set in a real urban space, has been created in various cities such as Manila, Dusseldorf, Ansan City, Yokohama, and many others. For this version, Chikara Fujiwara (BricolaQ) and his co-researcher, Minori Sumiyoshiyama, lived in the Khlongsan area for two months to conduct research and write the stories featured in the adventure. This book invites you to venture deep into certain parts of the Thonburi side in Bangkok.

One thousand copies of the Adventure Book are being published with the text in Thai, English, and Japanese text. Participants can pick up their copy at Low Fat Art Festival Centre at Princess Mother Memorial Park from February 8 to 17 between 1 and 6pm.

The artists of Low Fat Vol 3 include Chikara Fujiwara (Japan), Kao Niew Lao (Laos) and Sun Phitthaya Phaefuang (Thailand, Norway) as well as the festival director, Wayla Amatathammachad and community curator and owner of Thangnguanhah Chinese House, Poonsak Thangsombat.

The Low Fat Art Festival is an international art festival without extra fat or fuss of nonsense art happening in multiple hidden areas of Tha Din Daeng, Princess Mother Memorial Park and Khlongsan communities for 10 days straight.

This year, the art can be found in such hidden spaces as a salt factory, an old Chinese house, a historical park and a private backyard in three small Thon Buri communities disconnected from the art world.

Admission is free.

For more information, please visit Facebook.com/lowfatartfes.