ACE, ACE, Baby!:P: Artist And Empire With Mr Brown

So the other day, we went on a very interesting tour of the Artist And Empire Exhibition in National Gallery with Mr Brown as our guide. Ace was so excited to meet his idol, Mr Brown!

So the story goes like this.. I came about this contest where they said the prize is an exclusive tour with Mr Brown and I thought it is something Ace will enjoy since he loves Mr Brown and is a fan.

So I left a comment that was something along the lines of how Mr Brown Show was crucial in my Singlish education for my son when we were living overseas and what better way to expose him to art with his idol:) And... we won!

His dad sent us there and dropped us off and we were quite excited. Since we were early... take photo here and there lah...

There was this big game thing... you can slot in the coloured discs and watch where they drop...
Saw some toddlers playing and my big boy here also joined in the fun:)

This place is so beautiful lor:)

Our tickets...

And you had to stick this sticker so they knew you were part of this tour group...

That is Ace thinking like "Gosh... this map is made up of very good paper.. I can think of a few things I could make with that!" LOL

We were given a goody bag...

Tsk tsk tsk.. standing on Sir Stamford Raffles's arm!

We were lucky we noticed this earlier and took photo.. right after we were done.. there were so many people running in to take a shot lor.. some not very zi dong and go into other people's photo..

While waiting for the latecomers, we continue to take more photos...

At the waiting area, there is a few chairs put together and they all look different... turns out that these chairs were from the old Parliament House time...

Asked Ace to pose for a nice photo and he gave me this grrrrr look...

And the tour finally starts! Our tour guides- Mr Brown and the curator, Mr Low Sze Wee.... Mr Brown provides the lighthearted commentary and Mr Low provides the history and background of each piece.. :)

The entire exhibition starts with a portrait of Sir Stamford Raffles...

There is much to be learned from just one picture!

For example, the things that are put beside were placed there to give a hint of Sir Stamford Raffles's hobbies... and to imply what a learned man he is.

Also, we were told they discovered he was perhaps drawn against the curtain and somehow the artist changed his mind and changed the curtain part.. painted over with a window view... and the chair was painted over the curtain too.. cos it was originally drapped over the chair...

So they had these related modern pieces as well to juxtapose against the older pieces.. for example, this one is a project by another artist.. who said that most people would actually take photo with Raffles looming over them .... since the statue was elevated.... almost like how he, as a British man... is "BIGGER" than the local people here....

So they made a scaffolding to allow people to take photos RIGHT NEXT TO RAFFLES.. so that there is a different perspective.

Mr Brown explaining how art is also very much a type of communication and an expression of the artist's own perception....

We were asked to look at the expressions on these people's faces and think about what they imply. It seems the indigenious people are suspicious of and defensive against the white people who look so different from them... I find the guy on the most left side of the painting in the background hor.. looks like he is cunning and planning something bad too...

The modern art piece is also about a similar topic...

The following pieces are a reflection of the ‘discovery’ of Australia, despite the fact Aboriginal people had been living here for thousands of years. So it kind of takes a poke at the British for having no idea of the basis and meaning of Aboriginal culture prior to their arrival by putting the british soldier in interesting poses. I guess kind of like how the soldier who arrived and thought they discovered something new would take a selfie... LOL

This next piece is a rather controversial piece.. it is called General's Last Stand.. and instead of reflecting what actually happened.. it is how the artist thought it happened and as he was a fan, he saw the general as a sacirificing hero.. whereas in real life, the general was asked to retreat and he refused and thus it costed the lives of all his men....

The modern piece that is linked to this is a very interesting piece...

Actually I was not very sure if Ace was really getting it or if he was really enjoying himself. It is interesting to me but I am not sure if this was considered interesting to Ace.

Then we turned to this interesting art piece.... And to my surprise, Mr Sky No Scared, Earth No Scared actually raised his hands and asked a question about the piece!:) Hahaha.. And I am glad cos it shows he IS interested and taking in all the info... GOOD!

This piece called British Infantry Advance On Jerusalem is made with reference to the destruction of the Zulu army by the British in Ulundi on 4 July 1879. So the artist wants to ask this... what if the Zulus invaded england and destroyed london instead? :)

IT is so funny lor.. cos probably they will not understand the English culture and how their things are used.. which explains why they are all wearing ladies boots, carrying ladies bags and wearing the wigs all over the place;) hahahaa...

The question that Ace asked was that why was the knife in the face and facing inwards.... THat one.. no one have answer wor...

Chio boh?:)

Then there is this piece where they dun allow us to take photo... but hor, is something very interesting so I feel must share.. so happy to see that they were sharing on their FB so I screencap to share with you here.....

Every painting tells a story.. but not always the story as it is.. but more of the story as either the artist sees it or the story as the artist wants you to see...

THe next piece is about portraits...

It is actually portrait of Sir Frank Swetthemham (Resident General of the Federated Malay States and Governor of the Straits Settlement). First one they painted because the Straits Association commissioned it as a gift to Singapore. And because Sir Frank liked it so much, he made another smaller copy for himself.

This is first time both copies are being displayed in the same place.

And if you look at the picture carefully, you can see a globe on the left side.. perhaps signifying that he owns the world... Anyway, we were told that this sort of pose (one leg straight and one leg bent) is very popular pose during that time.. maybe they think look very suave... hahaha..

Mr Brown and Mr Low sharing the finer details of the painting...

Actually, as they were sharing, I was secretly looking at another drawing/portrait... cos I tot it is so pretty..

That is the picture of the queen... I think is Queen Elizabeth.

Ace paying attention to their presentation...

The modern piece about portraits is this piece...

This piece talks about why we put certain people on a pedestal....

So these two are actually Stateman Edmund Burke and merchant Edward Colston. They are commemorated statues in Bristol BUT.... people question the celebration of his status with his statue because it seems much of Colston's wealth was derived from the African slave trade. And as a interesting comparison, Edmund Burke actually contributed to the abolition of slavery.

THe artist (Hew Locke) dresses them up in objects associated with the slave trade like costume jewellery, cains, beads, fake coins... And he covers them up so much we can't even really tell who is who...

And the point is this.. ultimatey, it is not really what we do with the statues (cos there was controversy over whether they should remove these statues) but how we think about them that really matters.

I thought they look like they wearing dance costumes for the traditional indonesian dance though:) lol:)

The next two pieces are also portraits.... So this is a portrait of Queen Elizabeth that was commissioned by Singapore City Council in honour of her coronation... Drawn in britain and air flown here... Check out her elegance and poise....

Do you know this man?

Even if you do not know him, you will know the street named after him for sure!

Cos this is Tan Jiak Kim, a prominent Straits born Chinese and comunity leader. (Remember Jiak Kim STreet where Zouk used to reside???)

They made a portrait for her to commemorate his contributions and it shows him wearing his medal.... the red velvet drapery and the ornate glideded table are to highlight his wealth and social status. Actually one of the few portraits of a non-ang moh in Victorial Memorial Hall.

I wonder though.. why he wore a too short kua and is drawn to look so cartoon... I feel tak match his ornate background leh...

The following a few pictures and I dun remember what is their theme.. LOL...

I think this is quite interesting because the topic seems very asian.. even the brush strokes are a little like chinese painting style... but it is yet not totally cheena:)

Did you notice that the frame of this photo is very special? Apparently, it is based on a storywhere an Envoy for an African prince asked Queen Victoria how Britain had become so powerful in the world and she handed him a bible and said that is the secret.

So because the focus is on the bible, even the frame has a bible...

THis next piece is quite interesting as well..

This piece of work is a photo of a naked Malayan man taken by 19th century British photographer John Lamprey. He put the man in front of a grid to scientifically measure him.... It is kind of like objectifying the Malayan man for a so called "nobel" cause of scientific "research"....

And then this artist who is from Sabah often comments on the marginalisation of minority enthnic groups under the Malayasian government's affirmative policies that favouring native born Malays thought about how it might be... if she did the same for herself..

And to compare against that are some other works of how the British people saw the local people and how they presented them in their drawings...

Seems like they think of us in comical way leh.. cos the pictures look so cartoon to me...

Anyway, this portion is alot about how the British people saw the natives in this part of the world as objects or tools of their economic development...

Us colonies were important as a source of natural resoruces and they actually held special exhibitions back home to promote this.

Here are the series of marketing materials that were comissioned during that time to promote all the many natural resources offered by these colonies in the south east asian region...

THese are films of the photos that were taken during the exhibition..

Actually it is kind of sad cos they actually will send people from these colonies to go over to Britain to "perform" their skills during the exhibition. In times when say the exhibitions are held in cold, harsh winter, the performers and craftsmen and women were still expected to wear their indigenous costumes... Some of them end up falling sick and never making back home :(

One of the machines they would show off is the weaving machine as shown here..

I went up close to take photos of the slides cos they were rather interesting....

These photos actually reminded me of Global Village in Dubai... haha...

THere was a fun part of the exhibition where you can put on these accessories and draw your own portrait.. Ace said he wanted to do this and I told him we could if we still have time after..

The next portion of the exhibition is quite interesting.. they are pieces of artwork done by local people in the south east asian region but the style is kind of western because leh, they were taught by british teachers... OR.. they are pieces of work done by british artists locally and hence the very localized subjects chosen for the paintings...