Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Anish Kapoor, Ai Weiwei, Andy Warhol, Maurizio Cattelan and various contemporary art giants will be brought together for the first time in Singapore for this exhibition presented by SC Global Developments Ltd and the Singapore Tyler Print Institute. This comprehensive survey of over 200 rare edition works will give audiences in Singapore the grand opportunity to encounter a remarkable scope of artworks by the most significant artists of our time with a concise overview of contemporary art development in the last 25 years. It will also be the first time, art by heavyweights such as Anish Kapoor, Ai Weiwei, Maurizio Cattelan and Tracy Emin is exhibited in Singapore.
Highlights from the collection include, Hirst‘s ping-pong ball hovering on the hot air of a hair dryer, Koon‘s iconic inflatable sculpture, Ai‘s handy gilded fly swatter, Kapoor‘s spatial funnel contraption, Warhol‘s absurd photo print of skeletons and Cattelan‘s ̳tongue-in-cheek‘ self-portrait.
The editions represent the artists‘ provocative responses to Parkett‘s challenging publication venture, embodied in a broad range of inventive formats such as prints, page-art projects, photographs, drawings, videos, sculptures and sound pieces.
"This exhibition is like a small museum and a large library for contemporary art, allowing visitors to explore and discover a much more intimate side, a lesser known aspect of these prolific artists. It‘s possible to imagine the edition works in an apartment setting with different rooms, where art and life meet‖ said Emi Eu, Director, Singapore Tyler Print Institute.
Transcending the barriers of art and everyday life, edition works‘ unique mix of commodity culture, poetry, politics and aesthetics are effective communicators of avant garde ideas to the public. Art to have at home, affordability and portability are distinguishing features of Parkett editions which have also found their way into the collections of major museums such as MoMA in New York.
The exhibition space transforms into five specially curated rooms, evocative of contemporary living spaces: a Studio, a Playroom, a Wardrobe, a City and a Garden. In addition, the Reading room encourages viewers to browse Parkett‘s recent volumes and its page art projects. Also on view are artists‘ sketches, letters and other material documenting the direct collaboration between Parkett and the artists. The Tony Oursler room is a site specific installation of edition work Talking Light whereby the intensity of light bulbs reacts to sound emission from visitors.
It was the boldness and originality of the works that attracted presenting sponsor SC Global Developments. "The ethos of originality is one that resonates with SC Global‘s corporate philosophy and articulated in our tagline Own the Original‘. We hope this incredible collection of works will inspire a new generation of Asian artists to find their voice, push the boundaries and create original concepts‖ said Mr Simon Cheong, Chairman and CEO of SC Global Developments.
This collection had been shown in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York and Whitechapel Art Gallery, London in 2001 and travels here from the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan. Parkett is now in its 87th volume, this exhibition at STPI is the largest to date.
Deborah Wye, Chief Curator of the Department of Prints and Illustrated Books at the Museum of Modern Art, New York said of the exhibition "A full set of these works was acquired by MoMA in 1998, with new publications added to the collection as they appeared. This exhibition provides an opportunity not only to celebrate the remarkably diverse art of our time, but also to highlight the creative forces at work in this innovative publishing venture.
Exhibition walkthrough with Dieter von Graffenried, Publisher of Parkett: Saturday 22 May, 2.30pm, STPI Gallery
About Parkett
Formed in Zurich in 1984, Parkett‘s aim to produce a vehicle of direct confrontation with art, led to the creation of a journal that is artist driven. Artists invited to collaborate with Parkett can make work on pages bound into the magazine itself which are then issued as separate printed editions, or make three dimensional work of any kind which can be posted to subscriber buyers. http://www.parkettart.com
