On the Arts

Art and culture have always been a passion of mine. I was brought up by two graphic designer parents who surrounded my childhood with equal parts of love and an unyeilding appreciation of what their jobs were about. My dad is a motion graphics guy, and it's because of him that my mac air's dock have softwares like Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Lightroom and Illustrator. My mum paints  and draws beautifully- i remember i was 7 when we painted a page of my story book about two ducks in a pond that now hangs in our living room.

But i'm not here to tell you about the childhood that i had- although i must admit it poses as a great introductory paragraph. A month back, i read an online article with the following paragraph that truly struck a cord within me and echoed through my years:

You may of course live your life wrapped in the comfort of easy reads that serve to reassure you and your way of life and hold books that you nod at sagely every few lines, thinking, mm, this book gets me, gets my life, is so good and worthy, etcetera etcetera. But art is not here existing to validate your world view. It is here to unsettle you and poke holes in your brain and make you very very uncomfortable. And in that extreme discomfort it might hopefully help you recognise your privilege and understand what other people and communities go through, and help you understand how to care, and how to empathise in a way that is not burdensome to the people on the receiving end of your empathy... Learning to embrace this discomfort while putting your pride aside and understanding that it is not always about you is a good and essential life skill when approaching the arts.. But if you want comfort, you should get a blanket.


And how true is this, really. It is so hard to find company that truly embrace Art. It is not of the argument that art is an interest that is absent in most of our country's plate. It is the fact that most people do not try to go beyond their scopes of interpretation to venture into something that is perceived to be hard to understand. I am not asking you to comprehend and write an essay about Pollock's abstract pieces, nor am i seeking the daily reading of poetry in shakespearean language. I am merely asking for an open mind that would dare to try to embrace what is good and great about what Art and Culture has to offer us.

I remember the night my mother brought my brother and i out at 12 midnight to catch the Singapore Night Festival's 3rd installation. I was only 14 then, and the festival then was refreshing and a little empty because most people didn't know about it, and if they did probably didn't think much about visiting it. The festival now has the same great exhibits and displays with more food, more photo booths, and more shows. It's fun and it's exciting and these side attractions draw the crowds because then it's not so much about art and appreciation but a competition about the best photo on Instagram that night about how much fun they were having. I say, its about the art, the art, the art. Always was, and always should be.

Get into museums, they're mostly free anyway. If you haven't, at least give it a try. Our galleries have ventured hard to make modern art comprehensible to the layman's eyes. Light installations at the Art and Science's Future world exhibit designed especially to remind our angled minds to dream about the possibility that technology can be functional and aesthetically appealing, a life sized balloon jungle at the National Gallery about an artiste who believes in the fragility of a child's imagination. Even the Biennale this year is so much more approachable than two years ago- it even comes with a highly instagrammable staircase that is great for ootds to say the least. If the artistes are trying hard to drum up the local art scene why shouldn't we in the fairest sense give them a chance as well?

On supporting local- music, art, prose, fashion and poetry. These artistes may or may not be as competent as international ones, and they may not have sounds that echo you and your individual take on the world. But these people have the bravery to venture out and commit their lives to a passion that is scarcely recognised and praised and dedication to follow music instead of a normal 9-5 corporate job. In Singapore too, of all the harsh and unforgiving competitive environments. Why wouldn't you want to have an environment that nurtures and elevates the scene into something more than an interest if you're complaining about the paper chase all the time? It starts now with us. Don't support local for the sake of supporting local. Support them with the same, fair chance as you would when you come across an unfamiliar song you've never heard of before when streaming the Spotify Top 50 playlist.
You may like it, after all.

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Some great acts to get you started:
Gareth Fernandez -- Subliminal Love
Evanturetime -- Vultures
Sign of Five -- Closer to the Sun
Gentle Bones --  Shifting over