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Old school art in a new world

At 73, Patrick Teo is probably Singapore’s oldest emerging artist. And he’s making up for lost time.

At 73, Patrick Teo is probably Singapore’s oldest emerging artist. And he’s making up for lost time.

Teo recently wrapped up his second solo show for Eagle’s Eye Art Gallery. Titled Almost Forgotten, it comprised primarily of striking and colourful paintings of Samsui women; and he said sales of his artworks have been moderately successful.

He had studied under pioneer artist Georgette Chen at the Nanyang Academy Of Fine Arts (NAFA) in the late 1950s. But difficulties in pursuing a career as an artist prompted Teo to take a detour into the worlds of advertising and jewellery design for much of his adult life, until he retired and revisited his love of painting in 2004.

But it wasn’t smooth sailing. “I had a very hard time and it was challenging. The galleries didn’t accept my work because of my conventional style. When I was told my work wasn’t good enough, I tried to find out where I went wrong,” he recalled.

Teo began to check out what was popular in galleries and auctions. What he saw was a different world from that of the time he was a 19-year-old student taking notes from former teacher Chen. After all, it was the mid-2000s when Singapore became determined to plug into the world of contemporary art. The inaugural Singapore Biennale in 2006 proved to be the biggest statement of intent, and the succeeding years saw an explosion of contemporary art by Singaporean artists, courtesy of galleries and art enclaves such as Gillman Barracks, fairs such as Art Stage Singapore and the Affordable Art Fair, and the country’s artists’ continued participation in the Venice Biennale — where younger, edgier names such as Ming Wong, Ho Tzu Nyen and Charles Lim were flying the flag.

WHAT ABOUT US?

It would seem that during the past few years, the visual arts landscape has been all about contemporary art — and young contemporary artists. But has it come at the expense of the old guard — the first and second (and even third) generation artists?

Cultural Medallion recipient Goh Beng Kwan seems to think so. “We sometimes feel neglected. Many big shows (now) are focused on the younger generation. Second generation artists like me don’t have the opportunity to take part in something like the Singapore Biennale. That’s why you’ll see some older artists complaining they’re not taking part in any big art activity in Singapore like (they used to) in the early years,” said the 79-year-old, citing how things were different when the now-defunct National Day Art Exhibition series, which would showcase artists of all ages, was still around.

Terence Teo, an artist and owner of Cape Of Good Hope Art Gallery, which sells works by the likes of Koeh Sia Yong, Eng Siak Loy, Lim Tze Peng and Goh, echoed this observation, surmising how various institutions seem to emphasise contemporary art. That all means a change in the game plan. “You’ve got more paintings in the market, young artists’ works ... (so) I would encourage second and third generation artists to produce works that have a more modern colour,” he said.

But others think the situation might not be so clear-cut. Bridget Tracy Tan, director of the Institute of South-east Asian Arts & Art Galleries at NAFA, doesn’t think it’s a simple case of “either or” or “old-versus-new”. Instead, it’s an issue of “marketing and presentation” by arts-related national agencies, institutions and galleries that are part of (or initiators) of Singapore’s big arts events.

“In this case, the Biennale, Gillman Barracks, Art Stage — these have very specific target audiences and patrons. Perhaps contemporary art and the young Singaporean artist meet the brief more than the older generation or are deemed more accessible in these contexts,” said Tan.

“It’s not a zero-sum game,” added Low Sze Wee, National Gallery Singapore’s director of the curatorial and collections department, who looked at the issue of art collecting as an example. “In the region, there are many notable collectors who are interested in both modern and contemporary art. Singapore is no exception.”

He added that even those who start off collecting works by contemporary artists may eventually become interested in their predecessors. “Others may start to discover that the experimental spirit so admired of young artists today is not so different from the groundbreaking efforts of earlier artists like Cheong Soo Pieng or Chen Wen Hsi,” he said.

THRIVING IN NEW ENVIRONS

If you thought recent developments have made older artists and their works somewhat passe or even irrelevant, think again. Some have thrived in this brave, new world.

Patrick Teo may be seen as a unique anomaly, since he is technically just starting out, but the reception of works by his peers (generationally speaking) is a far cry from the early to mid-2000s.

Eagle’s Eye proprietor Joy Loh recalled how, back in 2002, she held an exhibition titled History Of Humanity. It featured big guns such as Chua Mia Tee, Choo Keng Kwang and Tan Choh Tee, but it didn’t quite work out as planned.

“During the first few days, we didn’t even sell one painting. At that time, people weren’t really looking into it. We felt pretty much outdated in 2002,” recalled Loh.

Back then, the decisive factor was the then-burgeoning interest in contemporary art — not from Singapore, but from China.

“Before, the maturity (of prices) for Indonesian and Chinese artists were better than for Singapore artists, but for the past few years, there’s more awareness (of the latter),” said Terence Teo.

Things have changed since: Interest in Singaporean contemporary art has risen, and that has been a positive factor.

While many may still have the impression that the majority of exhibitions are of younger artists, that doesn’t mean the veterans don’t get regular airing. In recent years, the likes of Cheong Soo Pieng and Chua Ek Kay have gotten a handful of shows in museums and galleries. In 2012, The Private Museum did a show of Chua’s works — and it opens a show of the Chua’s art collection today.

During the Singapore Biennale in 2013, the National Museum presented a counterpoint exhibition that looked at Singapore art from the 1950s to the 1970s. One of the most consistent has been NAFA, which recently held solo shows on Tay Chee Toh, Han Sai Por and Ho Ho Ying and featured many others in survey and group exhibitions.

Loh reckoned that a number of factors could have contributed to the resurgence of interest in the older generation, which include the coming opening of the National Gallery, which focuses on early and modern art, and even the SG50 buzz this year. It is not that hard to imagine, given, for example, how LASALLE College of the Arts did the show Artists Imagine A Nation: SG50 and that the coming Singapore International Festival Of Arts will feature a musical inspired by Singapore’s seminal Nanyang artists.

STANDING OUT IN A SEA OF NEW

Such exposure has helped keep senior artists in the public’s imagination. The fact that there isn’t a lot of work being produced by older artists has also upped the demand for their works.

When it comes to the art market, these factors have played a part in the appreciation of prices. For instance, Loh said, a Choo Keng Kwang painting would sell from between S$10,000 and S$20,000 about 15 years ago. These days, it could fetch “easily S$50,000 and beyond”. Chua Mia Tee’s famed street scenes used to go for S$20,000, but can now sell for S$40,000.

From the looks of it, the big guns of the older generation are going head-to-head with the younger ones in the market. But what happens at the lower tier is equally interesting — in a contemporary art-saturated scene, some works of lesser-known older-generation artists may actually stand out and even seem cheaper.

Between something by an emerging young artist selling for S$4,000 to S$5,000 and an older artist with an established track record priced at S$6,000, the latter seems like a fairly good deal, Loh pointed out.

Her gallery has consistently been successful at lower-priced fairs such as the Affordable Art Fair (AAF) precisely because it, ironically, offers something different from all the new stuff on display.

“My staff were worried when we first took part (in 2011), but it worked so well for us. The things we sell are what people are looking for — Singapore scenes, street scenes, vanishing trades, portraits of people in a more conventional style and not broken up like a Picasso,” said Loh.

That a gallery selling more traditional work can succeed alongside those selling contemporary art at the AAF is a sign that there is definitely space for them.

Said AAF Singapore’s fair director (spring) Alan Koh: “We see a well-balanced appetite for both traditional and contemporary, edgy types of works sold (at the fair), which attracts both seasoned and new art buyers.”

He added that galleries such as Cape Of Good Hope Art Gallery, which shows mainly traditional ink-on-paper works by established artists, and H-art Beat, a Japanese gallery showing colourful artworks created with contemporary methods, have returned year after year “due to positive and overwhelming response from buyers”.

IT’S A DIFFERENT WORLD

But here is another thing to consider. While the relationship between contemporary and modern-and-traditional can be considered complementary, the latter can just as easily be seen as quietly living in a world of its own, away from all the buzz and hype.

Tan said there is a group of second-generation artists who are doing very well in the secondary markets, such as gallery showcases for educational purposes, art investment and auctions. “Many also have their collector base. Often, when they make art and transact, they are maintaining ties with their own collector base or building an extension of that base,” she said, referring to friends of the collector or corporations and institutions.

Goh Beng Kwan ticks all these boxes. It has been a while since he has had a solo show — his last was at Singapore Tyler Print Institute in 2007 — but he has been quite active and doing well.

For one, he does have a regular collector base (one Singaporean collector recently started buying his works, and has collected around 80 pieces in the past two years). He also regularly accepts commissions, most recently from the One Farrer Hotel & Spa, The Farrer Park Hospital and Ascott Raffles Place Singapore.

Goh has been pretty active in overseas events too. He recently went to Jaipur and Hangzhou, and will next be taking part in a couple of art events, including the Florence Biennale. He certainly has his fans: One collector in Chiang Mai even offered him a plot of land to build his own studio (Goh is still mulling over it).

For all intents and purposes, Goh’s career has been steady even at this late stage, and he said he is more than happy about the opportunities available to younger artists now. But this magnanimity doesn’t take away from his earlier statement about feeling neglected — for him, it has less to do with current trends in the art scene and more to do with the bigger cultural picture of how senior artists are treated in Singapore.

“In Thailand, the government gives national artists a few thousand dollars (in a subsidy) every month until they die. In Singapore, (Cultural Medallion recipients) can apply for a grant to do a show, that’s all,” he said.

He also wondered about what seems like a non-existent relationship between the old and new generation of artists. “When I’m in China, I feel very happy, everybody calls me laoshi (teacher) and would bow to me. I don’t feel that respect here from the younger generation. Over here, some people think of the second generation of artists as simply old men,” he said, before pointing out: “There are not more than 10 second-generation artists left.”

As for senior-but-new artist Patrick Teo, the success of his last show has prompted him to push further. He is setting his sights on bigger things — one of the biggest contemporary art events in town, in fact: Art Stage Singapore.

“I want to have a more improved concept of painting. I want to come up with something different, more aggressive,” he said.

How like a true young gun.

 

CORRECTION: An earlier version stated that The Private Museum did a show of Chua Ek Kay's work in 2015. This is incorrect. The Private Museum has clarified that the show was in 2012. 

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