Culture Square: Finally! Some truly affordable, original art
PUBLISHED April 15th, 2013 01:17 am | UPDATED January 21st, 2016 07:19 am
The art world can be pretty intimidating at times – big ticket works whose asking prices have more zeros jostling for space than you can imagine, or no price displayed at all which you just know means totally unaffordable, snooty gallery assistants….it’s not exactly an environment conducive to making your first foray into the world of art collecting is it?
Well that’s just changed with the recent opening of a new gallery on Duxton Road by the name of Culture Square, which is the new home of truly affordable art, and emerging artists.
The concept? Simple. Art is for everyone, even for you.
Now if that ain’t music to our Nomad ears, we don’t know what is! The good folk at Culture Square are on a mission to make original art accessible to everyone, by presenting it in an easy to understand and affordable format – something which is very evident from the minute you walk in. Think original prints stacked up on shelves, which you can leisurely thumb your way through as if you were in a book store. Yes art purists may balk at the concept but I say hats off for stripping out all the pomp and fluff that comes with the world of art, making art within the everyday person’s reach – quite literally.
It’s long been a sore point for me that Singapore has so few platforms for truly emerging artists – I’m talking about some of that amazing raw talent to come out of LASALLE and the like. People say Singapore has no talent, but that couldn’t be further from the truth…it’s because there are precious few places for you to see it!
Culture Square to the rescue once again! Because these guys are primarily concerned with championing emerging artists – a large proportion of which are local, but which also span to those living in the region.
Though works can be found in a wide array of styles and mediums, they are only available in four standard square sizes, with all works priced by size – not artist – which really helps to demystify the art buying process. Prices range from $170-890 for original artwork prices and $59 -395 for limited edition photography. Reasonable art at last!
There is something decidedly refreshing about being in the gallery, leafing through the works of arts, chancing upon one or two that catch your eye. Here’s a small selection of a few which did exactly that when we visited:
Teresa Lim – Lenice, Destroy the Middle
Bradley James Foisset – Gargling Cinderblocks
Deusa Blumke – The Feder
Joshua Lui Chan – The Station
Ade Putra Safar – Alaxia 0005
Keep an eye out as the selection of artists changes up and evolves with time, and also for a few other treats Culture Square has in store with the launch of a line of fine art prints in the pipeline as well as hands-on workshops, their first being on Sunday 21 April entitled “Draw Caffeine / Drink Graphite”, where one of their artists Fyerool Darma will take a small group through painting and sketching using pencil and coffee (more info here).
So finally! Singapore has a home for truly affordable art, and a place for emerging artists to get that first notch on the belt that is often so hard to acquire in Singapore. And guess what Nomads? Now it’s yours to own a piece of.
