As part of Singapore Art Week, home-grown talent lead the charge at S.E.A. Focus 2025 with works that challenge conventions and reflect South-east Asia’s evolving artistic identity
Updated
Jan 15, 2025, 04:00 AM
Published
Jan 15, 2025, 04:00 AM
When you first encounter a piece of art, do you instinctively guess its place in art history? Or when someone mentions Singaporean art, do you picture certain styles or motifs?
This year’s S.E.A. Focus exhibition, the leading platform for contemporary South-east Asian art and a key event of Singapore Art Week, invites you to rethink those assumptions.
Returning for its seventh edition from Jan 18 to 26 at Tanjong Pagar Distripark, the exhibition – themed “Disconnected Contemporaries” – is set to challenge perceptions of modern and contemporary art in the region. Visitors can expect over 200 artworks by nearly 40 artists from eight South-east Asian countries.
To mark Singapore’s 60th birthday, this year’s S.E.A. Focus also celebrates a record number of local talents – close to 15, ranging from pioneering icons to fresh faces.
Art enthusiasts will recognise names like the late Chng Seok Tin, one of Singapore’s most prominent printmakers and Cultural Medallion recipient; Wong Keen, a renowned painter; and Cultural Medallion recipient Ong Kim Seng, known for his watercolour paintings of everyday life in Singapore.
Emerging talent will also shine, with artists like Lai Yu Tong showcasing works that reflect his keen observations of daily life through paintings, drawings and installation.
All art pieces displayed are also available for purchase, making it the go-to spot for both seasoned and budding art collectors to build up their personal coll...