Galleries Galore with Glorious Art – It’s not enough that Singapore’s National Gallery has just finished with its record-breaking crowd-pleasing exhibition of the eye-catching works of Yayoi Kusama. They’ve just announced that the best of Musee D’Orsay – the exhibition entitled Colours of Impressionism – is coming in November. Meanwhile, Gillman Barracks just marked five years as a new/old centre for the arts with galleries like Sundaram Tagore showing why they’re still on top. Opera Gallery not only displayed the best of Spanish art hero Cabeza Dorada inside, but lined Orchard Road with some of his big sculptures too. (See above). Then Miaja Gallery gives us two “Faces of China, while Bruno Gallery gives the Singaporean father and son an art outing.
Best of British – Yes, we admit we have a British bias, and in spite of the impending Brexit, think highly of the art in situ and exported. The Art of Travel aficionado Dave Hickson draws our attention to Cornwall and the famous sculptures of Barbara Hepworth located in St Ives. He also visits the Victoria & Albert Museum in London – which is soon to have an off-shoot in Dundee, Scotland – as well as taking in the works of Henry Moore and the London Design Festival. What’s the British Council got coming up? How about the British Theatre Playhouse’s “Tea with the old Queen” at the British Club and The Stage Club’s staging of Alan Ayckbourn’s “Absurd Person Singular”? If you missed it, here’s the interview we did with that famous English scriptwriter Lord Julian Fellowes of “Downton Abbey” fame.
Writers in Festive Mood – It’s the love of Irish writers which puts them on centre stage at this year’s Singapore Writers Festival, which runs from 3 to 12 November, even though the theme is decidedly Asian – Indian Tamil in fact – with the word “Aram”. Read what Helmi Yusof says about it in the Business Times. Expect a host of Irish and Indian writers, but beyond Singapore’s shores, there are also wordsmiths coming along from China, UK, France, US, Australia and New Zealand. Meantime, there are literary events of note elsewhere. In the UK – Cheltenham Literature Festival 6-15 October; in Bali, Indonesia – Ubud Writers and Readers Festival 25-29 October; in Canada – Vancouver Writers Festival 17 to 22 October; plus Hong Kong comes up with its international literary writers showcase same time as Singapore.
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