Patricia Piccinini at the Singapore ArtScience Museum

We Are Connected - Artist, Patricia Piccinini

It has been quite a long time since I’ve gotten to visit an art museum! Thankfully, museums and galleries are starting to reopen!

My wife and I visited Singapore this past a few weeks ago, and we headed over to the ArtScience Museum in Marina Bay.

Before I write about the exhibit, I have to say that this museum, along with so many other buildings in Singapore is absolutely breathtakingly beautiful! The architecture, design, layout, colors —- everything is top notch.

Wow, Singapore is so impressive—-I’ll probably do another blog about the Gardens By the Bay!

Ok back to the show: We Are Connected:

Patricia Piccinini is an Australian artist (born in Sierra Leone). Check out her website here. Here is a little bit about her, taken directly from her site here:

Her work encompasses sculpture, photography, video and drawing and her practice examines the increasingly nebulous boundary between the artificial and the natural as it appears in contemporary culture and ideas. Her surreal drawings, hybrid animals and vehicular creatures question the way that contemporary technology and culture changes our understanding of what it means to be human and wonders at our relationships with – and responsibilities towards – that which we create. While ethics are central, her approach is ambiguous and questioning rather than moralistic and didactic.

“My practice is focused on bodies and relationships; the relationships between people and other creatures, between people and our bodies, between creatures and the environment, between the artificial and the natural. I am particularly interested in the way that the everyday realities of the world around us change these relations. Perhaps because of this, many have looked at my practice in terms of science and technology, however, for me it is just as informed by Surrealism and mythology. My work aims to shift the way that people look at the world around them and question their assumptions about the relationships they have with the world.”

— Patricia Piccinini

Check out Patricia on Instagram here

In the first room, is basically a self portrait of the artist holding an odd and eerie creature that has a shoe print for a back. I listened to the audio of Patricia describing the piece and it was fascinating. The evolutionary fusion of human-made objects into human bodies…

Real creepy, dark stuff

I LOVE IT

Meanwhile, the back wall features videos of gross looking fleshy plant-like organisms that are constantly growing and morphing…

This gallery is laid out stunningly…

The creatures in this next room are sick! Especially against the hot magenta backdrop!

ALL My senses are peaking at this point…

Ok this is by far and away my favorite piece. Largely because of its largeness, life-like size.

But also the attention to detail and realism is jaw dropping.

This room is straight up horror film stuff and surely causes nightmares for kids under 13!

The Comforter

This may be my second favorite piece —- I wish I got a close up of this creature she is holding:

I found a great close up angle online at The Hosfelt Gallery

Back to my photos—-this one is so creepy…

Another merging of artificial and natural body parts…although looks kinda like an armadillo back…?

Third favorite piece here:

I didn’t get a close up of this kid, but i love how he is dressed like he’s in the 80s! Kinda reminds me of that film, was it RatBoy?

This is the entrance to the exhibit, and what a powerful first impression!

I should have gotten a close up of this…

Check out Patricia at the National Museum of Women in Arts here and a listing on Artsy here.

And some fascinating videos:

This exhibit was so incredibly inspiring!

• I need to make more of my own art.

• I need to go to more museums and galleries.

More stories coming soon…

Phare, The Cambodian Circus

Siam Reap, Cambodia was a breath of fresh air compared to Phnom Penh, literally and figuratively.  I ventured off on a solo trip for a few days to get out of the intensity of the city see the famous Angkor Wat temples.  While the temples at Angkor Wat were certainly impressive, it was the Phare: Cambodian Circus that captured my heart!

It's like Cirque du Soleil, but with Cambodian performers who studied at a local non-profit school for the performing arts.  The NGO was started by 9 Cambodian men after the Khmer Rouge to help support local artists.  Check out the website

The Phare Story is "Uniquely Cambodian. Daringly Modern. More than just a circus, Phare, the Cambodian Circus performers use theater, music, dance and modern circus arts to tell uniquely Cambodian stories; historical, folk and modern."

Phare was recommended by fellow Remote Translator.Liz who had visited earlier in the month.  I went with a German friend (Carolin) who I met on the bus from Phnom Penh to Siam Reap.  The only seats left were general admission and we were in the far back corner.  But, it was a tiny tent venue and it didn’t matter.  The performance was so powerful, there were no bad seats in the house!

Just like Cirque, the show featured music, dance, juggling, acrobatics and humor, all sprinkled on top of an overarching story of an outcast in a village who yearns for acceptance.  It was brilliant.

Uploaded by ItsMattSherwood on 2017-02-11.

Uploaded by ItsMattSherwood on 2017-02-11.

The energy in the show is top notch!  These performers had us eating out of the palm of their hands.  Every audience member seemed entranced from start to finish.  I found myself giggling and smiling so much my jaw hurt at the end. 

Uploaded by ItsMattSherwood on 2017-02-10.

I got emotional at one point during the show. My mind wandered back to the Fuerza Bruta show back in Buenos Aires, which was same same but different.  BA was month 2 of Remote Year, and there I was in month 11.  The whole year flashed before my eyes and the realization that the year is coming to an end brought a range of mixed emotions up to the surface.  

I think the reason I loved the Phare Cambodian Circus so much was because Cambodia was a hard place to live mentally and spiritually.  Phnom Penh is overpopulated. The streets are littered with trash.  Poverty is ever-present.  The dark history of the Killing Fields looms in the back of your mind.  As a caucasian foreigner, everyone thinks your rich and merchants can be rather aggressive.  It is probably the most challenging place I’ve lived this year.

For me, Phare represents hope!  And Cambodians need hope.  Feeling the positive vibes, the warmth of the circus and seeing the smiles of the performers was exactly what I needed.  It was electrifying!

Uploaded by ItsMattSherwood on 2017-02-10.

Hope.  

Hope is not a dangerous thing, Red.

"Remember, Red, Hope is a good thing.  Maybe the best of things.  And no good thing ever dies."

Really good movie! this scene is the best of the whole...