Art Apart Fair to go international

SINGAPORE — Fancy buying an artwork from Russia at a hotel room here in Singapore?

The Art Apart Fair 2014 returns on Jan 17 and this time round, you can expect more works. Some 33 galleries are involved and over 1,500 artists’ work from around the world will be on display. Back at the ParkRoyal On Pickering, this year’s fair also showcases more international galleries as far as Russia and Germany — on top of those returning such as Utterly Art and Seoul Art Center.

“This fair is tailored in such a way that it’s not going to be intimidating,” said Art Apart Fair organiser Rosalind Lim. “When you go to a gallery, you might feel a little intimidating, because it’s like a close cube. Whereas this one it’s like you enter into a home — there will be the gallery owners and artists to talk to the visitor.”

This year’s art fair also showcases two special feature exhibitions.

One of the feature exhibitions is titled The Destruction Of The Readymade Everyday Vol 1: How To “Trash” The Hotel Room Without A Mass. Featured works produced under this theme are symptomatic reactions to issues such as consumerism, mass reproduction and machine-made objects. The showcase features work from mostly emerging artists and visitors can expect new names, according to curator Justin Loke.

“Our objective here is also to position the artist,” said Loke. “Unlike the rest in the other rooms, where they are all commercial galleries, these artists are not so commercially viable.”

The Art Apart Fair is also going international. The fair will debut in The Town Hall Hotel in Bethnal Green-East End in London on Oct 16 this year and there are already plans to make an appearance in New York in April 2015.

Calling London a capital of art, Lim said that the English-speaking city makes it easy for her to set up a fair there and thinks that there “should not be any borders” when it comes to art.

Lim also hopes to network more by going international, saying that with a good network, she can “do a residency exchange programme for artists”.