Visit art shows, collectors' homes during Singapore Gallery Month

There is also a pop-up market featuring collectibles and merchandise created by artists at this year's event

- Clement Yong

Over 30 art galleries here are staging specially curated exhibitions for the annual Singapore Gallery Month from Aug 15 to Sept 14, with entry to these shows free of charge.

A pop-up unit at mall OUE Downtown 2 will sell collectibles and merchandise created by artists priced between $300 and $3,000. Those willing to pay more for a patron's pass will also get to tour rarely opened up art collectors' homes, from a Housing Board flat in Boon Keng to a historical black-and-white bungalow in Bukit Timah.

Singapore Gallery Month, presented by the 60-member strong Art Galleries Association Singapore (Agas), is the privately organised complement to Singapore Art Week in January. It attracted 12,000 people for its 2023 edition - the last time statistics were available. Organisers expect a similar turnout this time.

Agas president Audrey Yeo characterises this as the city doing its homework. Singapore cannot just rely on its annual art week to create momentum and buzz.

"Overseas collectors, galleries and curators will come only if we ourselves have a scene," she says at her gallery Yeo Workshop in Gillman Barracks, currently showing the red-toned paintings of Kuantan-based Malaysian artist Noor Mahnun.

"In Europe, the reason we can go down to art fairs is that their home-grown galleries are doing their work on the ground. By the time we get there, there is a client base that's ready and interesting art projects to see. We have to help to create that sort of scene here as well."

For maximum impact, Singapore Gallery Month, which started in 2020 as Singapore Gallery Weekend, is typically scheduled to coincide with the Singapore Grand Prix.