All the art that’s fit to view

Posted by Tym under Explore Singapore 2006, Explore Singapore!
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It’s art, art and more art on this week’s episode of Explore Singapore!, as the show’s characters Sarah Thompson, the occasional artist (played by Elizabeth Tan), and Mr Heng, the occasional author-in-need-of-an-artist (played by Moses Lim), take a break from Singapore’s history and heritage spots, and check out all the art museums instead.

Yes, art museums — this may come as a surprise to people like me who didn’t realise that there was more than just one permanent art museum in Singapore.

There’s the Singapore Art Museum of course, which has the bearing albeit insufficient age to be the mother of them all. But if not for this episode, I would as yet be ignorant of the NUS Museum, Nei Xue Tang - A Buddhist Art Museum and Art Retreat, A Private Museum.

The collections at these smaller museums are nothing too sniff at either. Who knew that we had Shang dynasty oracle bones (dating back 3,000 years or so), which bear one of the earliest forms of Chinese writing, in our very own backyard? (More specifically, at the NUS Museum.) Or that Buddha artwork from Afghanistan resides side-by-side with statues of the Buddha from Thailand and Myanmar? And then there’s the Art Retreat’s dedicated gallery to Chinese artist Wu Guanzhong, whose serene, empty landscapes have found a home in the midst of Singapore’s hustle and bustle.

For me, the real kicker was that the work of one of my favourite artists, Singapore finger-painter Chen Wen Hsi, got a cameo as one of the plot points in the story. Watch the episode for yourself to find out more!

This next episode of Explore Singapore! will air on Thursday, 4 January at 7:30 pm on Channel 5.

Tags: Explore Singapore, National Heritage Board, Singapore