Artists from the collection at the Venice Biennale

National Gallery Singapore is delighted to announce that for the first time in the country’s history, artists from the Gallery’s collection have been invited to participate in the Main Exhibition of the 60th International Art Exhibition—the Venice Biennale (Biennale Arte 2024), entitled Stranieri Ovunque—Foreigners Everywhere, curated by Adriano Pedrosa.

The eight artworks by Southeast Asian artists will be featured in the “Nucleo Storico” section of the Main Exhibition in a sub-section entitled “Portraits”, which expands the history of modernism beyond Europe and North America by focusing on stories from the Global South, including artists whose trajectories took them across continents and contexts over the tumultuous course of the 20th century. 

With more than 8,000 works, the National Gallery Singapore holds the largest public collection of modern art from Southeast Asia, offering a unique point of departure for transnational curatorial and research efforts that seek to position art from the region as integral to global art histories.

Eugene Tan, Chief Executive Officer of National Gallery Singapore, notes: “National Gallery Singapore is proud to present works from its collection in the 60th International Art Exhibition—the Venice Biennale. Together with artists largely from the Global South, these eight portraits will deepen the understanding of modern art in Southeast Asia within a global context. The Gallery’s participation in the Biennale Arte 2024 will highlight the art and artists from Singapore and Southeast Asia and facilitate crucial dialogues with art from around the world.”

Ranging from self-portraits to representations of working class and Indigenous people, the eight artworks on view in Venice are as follows:

–Jeune fille en blanc (Young Girl in White) (1931) by Lê Phổ (Vietnam/France); 
–Self Portrait (c. 1946) by Georgette Chen (China/Singapore); 
–Orang Irian dengan burung tjenderawasih (Irian Man with Bird of Paradise) (1948) by Emiria Sunassa (Indonesia);  
–Road Construction Worker (1955) by Chua Mia Tee (China/Singapore); 
–Self-Expression (c.1957/1963) by Lim Mu Hue (Singapore); 
–Labourer (Lunch Break) (1965) by Lai Foong Moi (Malaysia/Singapore); 
–My Family (1968) by Hendra Gunawan (Indonesia); 
–Self-Portrait (1975) by Affandi (Indonesia).  

“Nucleo Storico” attempts to problematise the boundaries and definitions of modernism, bringing the issue of “canon” to the fore. Like many of the artists in this exhibition, those from the Gallery’s collection have each achieved significant status in Southeast Asia, particularly in the art histories of Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam. 

Horikawa Lisa, Senior Curator and Director (Curatorial & Collections) at the National Gallery Singapore, notes: “In his curatorial statement for Biennale Arte 2024, Adriano Pedrosa calls for a recognition of the modernisms beyond that of Europe and America, underscoring the importance of learning about and from these histories. The inclusion of these eight works in ‘Nucleo Storico’ is thus exemplary: through these portraits, the divergent paths to modernisms taken by artists from Southeast Asia are illuminated.” 

Artists who were prominent in their time sometimes faded into relative obscurity over the course of the 20th century, and three of the eight works from the Gallery’s collection are by women artists whose practices and biographies suggest the critical gains that can be made when efforts are made to recover them for wider recognition.

Another key theme stated by Pedrosa in his curatorial statement is decolonisation. It is therefore apt that artists concerned with realism and the realities of struggles for independence and the shaping of political and cultural identity in the postcolonial nation state are among those chosen from the Gallery’s collection.      

Creating opportunities to build new connections and to share the stories of artists from Southeast Asia forms an important part of the mission and vision of National Gallery Singapore. The presentation of these artworks alongside those by many other prominent artists from the Global South is significant, as it brings long-overdue recognition to their practice and inspires further research. 

In addition to those presented at the Biennale Arte 2024, works from the collection of National Gallery Singapore have also been loaned to numerous other international platforms, most recently the 11th Taipei Biennial (2018), the 58th Carnegie International (2022–23), and the 15th Sharjah Biennial (2023). The Gallery has also collaborated with institutions such as Centre Pompidou, Musée d’Orsay, Tate Britain, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (MOMAT), and National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA) to present Southeast Asian art in an international context.

Further details about the collection and the artworks in the exhibition, as well as a selection of images can be found in the press kit. 

A guided tour of the artworks by National Gallery Singapore currently in Giardini della Biennale by Senior Curator Horikawa Lisa will hosted at the Main Exhibition on April 19, 11am–12pm. RSVP here to confirm your slot.

Media requests: Amanda Kelly (Pickles PR) and Sarah Leong (National Gallery Singapore).