Singapore Art Museum SAM Archives - 2bearbear Singapore Travel Blog: Travel | Stay

Singapore Art Museum (also known as SAM) is located in the heart of the Singapore Art District. During our stay at the Rendezvous Hotel Singapore, we visited the Singapore Art Museum, which by the way, is free for Singaporeans and Permanent Residents (yay!)

Singapore Art Museum SAM

Singapore Art Museum SAM Exhibitions

Unearthed Exhibition at Singapore Art Museum

Medium at Large SAM

While we were at SAM, there were 2 main exhibitions going on, including the Unearthed and Medium at Large Exhibitions!

Unearthed Exhibition Singapore Art Museum

Unearthed “Tree” – What do you want to see unearthed?

Happenings along the Singapore River

Bukit Brown Cemetery

A Day Without A Tree

Paint melting away under the intense heat of the sun

The Unearthed series is about our relationship with planet earth and the various facets of it starts with the “tree” where visitors put up notes on its branches to share about what do they want to “unearth”. At the Singapore River, various memories (fictitious or real) are written on its banks. There is also a segment that features the recent reclamation of the Bukit Brown Cemetery to make way for the construction of a road that will link the Adam Flyover and the MacRitchie Viaduct.

But in the “Unearthed” exhibition, we appreciated the “A Day Without A Tree” feature whereby roman looking pillars start to melt on the left. So you can use the pillar on the right as a basis of comparison. The interesting thing was that there’s another empty room next to it and you’d think that its a place “under construction”. But if you observe carefully, you’ll realise that the floor is white. White from the paint that melted from the pillars!

Medium At Large – Singapore Art Museum

Various mediums at work in this exhibition

Of the many exhibitions here, there are a couple which we thought were really cool…

Pepe and Marcial Bonifacio Portraits

Description of Pepe and Marcial Bonifacio Portraits

The portraits were actually “executed” via M16 bullets etched unto sand paper. The cool part is that the whole bullet was eventually used , ALL OF IT, to become the portraits that we see. WOW!

Steam Rice Man Singapore Art Museum

Description of Steam Rice Man

Video of Steam Rice Man

If you have read the description, both rice and coal powder are essential part of the Vietnamese yet at the same time has contrasts of soft & hard, sticky & dusty, white & black. There’s also a video that depicts the entire process the artist goes through. Right opposite Steam Rice Man is a video of a lady dancing on butter. Through her expression, it shows the helplessness as she falls and tries to regain her dance again. It sort of depicts her struggles moving from an asian country where rice is a staple, to America where bread and butter became the staple – resulting in her weight gains. Hence, the butter dance. Cool.

Status @ Singapore Art Museum (SAM)

Description of Status

For us, this was one of the art pieces that lets you imagine what the artist is trying to say. Is there something trying to escape? Or is the medium tired of being encased that it forms its own frame? Or just, too much paint used on the original painting? It’s really up to you to decide and that’s the fun part of it!

To end off, we’d like to introduce you to this interactive art piece…

Honey Sticks Singapore Art Museum

Description of Honey Sticks

There are 6425 honey sticks in this exhibit to signify the number of REGISTERED births in Singapore in 1941, the year the parents of the artist were born. Visitors are encouraged to take a honey stick to enjoy from the various flavours of grape, watermelon, green apple and honey (among others). As the number of honey sticks reduces, it sort of signifies the life and death of people through life.