Wu Guanzhong Collection

On Saturday, Grandma and I took an excursion to the Singapore Art Museum, and we were completely dazzled by the Wu Guanzhong collection. I had never heard of this artist before, but apparently, he is one of the most famous contemporary Chinese artists. I was seriously blow away with what I beheld. After studying many years in Paris, he is particularly famous for his fusion of Asian and Western techniques. Mastering both ink and oil, traditional and abstract-- Guanzhong's work is diverse, and yet his style is distinct and original.

I believe that our guide told us that there was a time in China (I think it was the Cultural Revolution) that Guanzhong was not allowed to paint people. His subject matter then became trees, but she believed that these resembled human-like qualities and that human feeling emanates from Guanzhong's trees. As soon as she said that, the tree above became something very new in my eyes. I suddenly felt the tree was a person observing the rooftops below. It suddenly did become human.

Such bold texture.

His more abstract pieces were very appealing to me because they seem very deliberate. After reading about him, it is evident that it was very important that his audience have some sort of grasp on his art. He compared this to an "unbroken line" of a kite string. He must not fail to grasp the connection between his work and his audience, or else it would fail.

This one is called "Roots." When observed closely, the roots looked like hands.

More paintings that I retrieved from Google images. Strangely, very little results pulled up from the search.

These cranes were just stunning in person.

Look at that! Pink Ink! And green and yellow! Traditional Asian ink only uses black and red. Who knew it could be so vibrant?

Something about this exhibit-- Guanzhong's work-- was so magical.

The other exhibits at the museum were nice as well...

This one was an issue piece. The whole room was painted black with these white girls' dresses hanging from the ceiling. We entered through a black door and then pulled a message attached to a red string from the ceiling. Inside the message, we read a statistic or fact regarding the abortion of baby girls in Asia. It was alarming. One said, "in the year 2020, there will be one million more men in China than women." yikes.

You don't find any warnings like this in Europe. Nope.

The Museum itself was very beautiful. It was once a Catholic Boys' school and had a very lovely chapel in the center.

The SAM.

Singapore Art Museum