Family art group forced to take down showcase at National Gallery opening

SINGAPORE — While everyone else was in a celebratory mood at National Gallery Singapore’s opening celebrations this weekend, homegrown family art collective Holycrap.sg had to take down its showcase at the museum’s cafe and retail space Gallery & Co, because of a miscommunication about the allowed uses of the venue.

The art collective — comprising advertising veteran Pann Lim, his wife Claire and their two children — were scheduled to present an exhibition titled When Renndom Met Airany, which featured the works of the Lims’ 11-year-old son Renn and nine-year-old daughter Aira. 

It opened last Tuesday, but was taken down yesterday (Nov 28) after it was made clear that art exhibitions not done by the museum are not allowed on its premises. 

In a statement on its Facebook page today (Nov 29), Gallery & Co said that while the content and concept behind When Renndom Met Airany “resonated” with the museum and was approved, the format of the presentation — with art hung “exhibition-style” on the walls — was not cleared with it, a “fatal error” on Gallery & Co’s part. 

It said in a second post that it was aware that its retail and food space at the National Gallery Singapore is not a designated exhibition space. “It is unfortunate that we did not communicate this to our collaborator Holycrap or seek approval for the presentation format of the art showcase and book launch, which was planned as an exhibition, leading to the current unfortunate situation.”

It added: “We take full responsibility for the stress and heartache that the family has suffered as a result.”

Gallery & Co is a venture by design and lifestyle collective & Co, done in partnership with National Gallery Singapore.

Yesterday, Holycrap.sg said on its Facebook page it was calling off the showcase, with “incredulous sadness and extreme disbelief”. 

According to Mr Pann Lim, who was the President’s Design Award’s Designer of the Year in 2013, said they were first approached to do an art show at Gallery & Co in July by the space’s curators Arthur Chin and Yah-Leng Yu of design agency Foreign Policy Design. 

“We were only informed by Gallery & Co last Tuesday night that the word ‘exhibition’ needed to be removed from our collaterals and backdrop,” Mr Lim said. “We rushed to do that, but on Wednesday afternoon, we received another email stating that the entire show needed to be taken down unless drastic changes were made. We were very shocked.”

According to Mr Lim, they had met museum officials on Thursday, and a compromise was reached to make the show look less like an exhibition, such as by putting up more books on the wall. 

But even after repurposing the space on Friday, there was an about-turn yesterday morning and he was instructed to remove all but one of the 19 paintings. 

Gallery & Co said the museum had been open to exploring alternative options, and had discussed how to emphasise the merchandising element of the event. “Regrettably, this option was declined by Holycrap who decided to remove the exhibition,” it said in its Facebook statement.

National Gallery Singapore said in a statement that it had also suggested offering Holycrap.sg the option to convert its presentation into a workshop for the artists, alongside the sale of handmade books by Holycrap.sg. “However, the parents of the artists have decided to remove the exhibition rather than take this option,” a spokesperson said. 

The spokesperson added: “We appreciate  the young artists’ efforts and sincerely hope we can work with them and invite them to conduct the workshop as part of the gallery’s education programmes.”

Mr Lim said his children were very disappointed, as they had worked hard — in the case of Renn, through his Primary School Leaving Examination. 

While they have since received about seven offers to stage When Renndom Met Airany elsewhere, Mr Lim said they would take a break for now before their next show at Art Week in January.

In their Facebook post, the Lims added that Gallery & Co have been “most supportive” and had tried to resolve the issue. Ms Claire Lim said: “Despite everything that has happened, we will continue doing our art and what we’ve always done.”