Chat with an AI influencer, view van Gogh

Art lovers will be spoilt for choice this weekend, as high-end works will be on show at Art SG, S.E.A. Focus and Sotheby's exhibition

- Clement Yong

Chat with a scarily life-like virtual companion with an Instagram account at Art SG. Admire the textures of a wall panel integrating aluminium and burnt wood at S.E.A. Focus.

Or trek to Jiak Kim House to view a $31 million Vincent van Gogh painting at Sotheby's Modern & Contemporary Art exhibition, one of the few occasions a work by the beloved Dutch post-Impressionist can be appreciated in-person here.

The opening of Singapore Art Week (SAW) 2025 sees the return of two tentpole art fairs - Art SG is back for its third edition and S.E.A. Focus, for its seventh. Sotheby's first exhibition to open during SAW completes a trio of high-end shows at the blockbuster 10-day affair beginning officially on Jan 17.

The biggest crowd-puller remains the sprawling Art SG, which corrals 105 galleries from 30 countries and territories into two floors at Marina Bay Sands from Jan 17 to 19.

It is the largest art fair in South-east Asia, attracting a record 45,300 people to the 2024 edition. Blue-chip galleries including White Cube and Thaddaeus Ropac have returned, showing big names such as Georg Baselitz, Tracey Emin and David Salle.

But there is vital South-east Asian context, with more than 30 per cent of exhibitors operating spaces in the region.

Those who do not have tailored their offerings to fit. Works by Singapore's Sim Chi Yin and the late Kim Lim can be found at the Zilberman and Waddington Custot booths. Lim is having a belated revival due to the National Gallery Singapore's ongoing retrospective.