https://www.scmp.com/rss/77102/feed Payal Uttam is a freelance journalist who has been covering art and design across the globe for close to a decade. Her work has appeared in publications including CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Quartz, Forbes, The Art Newspaper and Women’s Wear Daily among others. She currently divides her time between Hong Kong and Paris. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Payal Uttam Payal Uttam Since the late 1980s, Singaporean artist Amanda Heng Liang Ngim has invited the public to participate in unusual performances. In Singapore, Tokyo and Paris, people have joined her in walking barefoot backwards through the city streets with high-heeled shoes stuffed in their mouths to protest unfair beauty standards. In other instances, they have joined Heng for more intimate gatherings, where they help her peel raw bean sprouts and chat over tea. “Today you call that community building, but for... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts/article/3351321/singapores-amanda-heng-making-feminist-art-country-wasnt-ready-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts/article/3351321/singapores-amanda-heng-making-feminist-art-country-wasnt-ready-it?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Apr 2026 11:15:08 +0000 Payal Uttam Payal Uttam As art fever sweeps Hong Kong this weekend with Art Basel, we celebrate three rising female painters from around the world who are redefining figurative art with their signature works. British-Chinese artist Faye Wei Wei remembers how, when she was growing up in south London, she would spend her time drawing while her siblings played video games. At other times, she would head outside to pick flowers and leaves, fascinated by their textures and forms. As a child, she spent summers in Hong Kong... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/people/icons-influencers/article/3348161/artist-faye-wei-weis-stories-longing-told-through-symbol-laden-canvases?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/people/icons-influencers/article/3348161/artist-faye-wei-weis-stories-longing-told-through-symbol-laden-canvases?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Mar 2026 22:00:11 +0000 Payal Uttam Payal Uttam As art fever sweeps Hong Kong this weekend with Art Basel, we celebrate three rising female painters from around the world who are redefining figurative art with their signature works. Brooklyn-based Korean artist Eunnam Hong creates meticulous paintings of a mysterious, slender woman with a mop of voluminous curls who appears to be frozen in time. At times, this lanky figure lies asleep or hunched over a table alone. In other cases, multiple replicas of the woman crowd the canvas. Hong is the... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/people/icons-influencers/article/3348104/painter-eunnam-hong-explores-identity-through-haunting-self-portraits?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/people/icons-influencers/article/3348104/painter-eunnam-hong-explores-identity-through-haunting-self-portraits?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Mar 2026 22:00:09 +0000 Payal Uttam Payal Uttam As art fever sweeps Hong Kong this weekend with Art Basel, we celebrate three rising female painters from around the world who are redefining figurative art with their signature works. Growing up in Düsseldorf, Katja Seib was immersed in art from a young age. Her mother would regularly take her to visit student shows at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, the academy of fine arts, one of Europe’s most important art institutions. “I feel like I had no choice but to become an artist,” she says with a... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/people/icons-influencers/article/3348105/artist-katja-seibs-surreal-portraits-blur-reality-dreams-and-everyday-life?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/people/icons-influencers/article/3348105/artist-katja-seibs-surreal-portraits-blur-reality-dreams-and-everyday-life?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Mar 2026 10:01:08 +0000 Payal Uttam Payal Uttam With his shock of curly hair and thick-rimmed glasses, the late Thai collector Petch Osathanugrah cut a distinct figure. An industrialist, musician and heir to a popular energy drink company, he amassed a vast collection of more than 1,000 artworks and was in the early stages of building a private museum in Bangkok when he died from a heart attack in 2023. In December, his son Purat “Chang” Osathanugrah finally opened Dib Bangkok. The museum is housed in a 1980s steel warehouse beautifully... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts/article/3339590/private-art-museum-dib-bangkok-opens-thailand-honour-late-collector?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts/article/3339590/private-art-museum-dib-bangkok-opens-thailand-honour-late-collector?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 Jan 2026 03:15:09 +0000 Payal Uttam Payal Uttam Known for its azure-hued buildings, Jodhpur, India’s “Blue City”, is dotted with hidden stepwells. Among them is Mahila Baag Jhalra, an 18th-century structure with elaborate staircases surrounding a central pool. Once a vital water source and gathering space for women, it had fallen into disrepair. “When I first saw it, there was a lot of garbage in the space: cigarette butts, chip packets and plastic bags,” Delhi-based artist Ayesha Singh says, adding that many locals she met did not know it... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts/article/3330213/old-sites-india-become-canvases-contemporary-artists-public-art-movement-grows?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts/article/3330213/old-sites-india-become-canvases-contemporary-artists-public-art-movement-grows?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Oct 2025 04:15:09 +0000 Payal Uttam Payal Uttam Bukhara once flourished as a Silk Road hub, where travelling poets, merchants and scholars converged. But under Soviet rule during the 20th century, the Uzbekistani city was for decades sealed off from the world, with few outsiders entering. This autumn, the narrow streets of the medieval city are abuzz again, but with a very different crowd: international art collectors, curators and artists gathering for the inaugural Bukhara Biennial. Taking place in recently restored caravanserais (historic... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts/article/3326930/how-central-asias-largest-art-biennale-bukhara-signals-new-chapter-uzbekistan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts/article/3326930/how-central-asias-largest-art-biennale-bukhara-signals-new-chapter-uzbekistan?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 29 Sep 2025 04:45:07 +0000 Payal Uttam Payal Uttam New York has long been synonymous with stellar museums. From Staten Island to the Bronx, more than 170 of all kinds are scattered across its five boroughs. Now, after years hidden behind scaffolding, three of the city’s most iconic art institutions – The Frick, the New Museum and the Studio Museum in Harlem – will all finally reopen by this autumn. Each is offering expanded public spaces and ambitious inaugural exhibitions, reaffirming their contribution to the city’s cultural landscape. One of... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/lifestyle/article/3320460/3-newly-revived-new-york-art-museums-get-excited-about?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/lifestyle/article/3320460/3-newly-revived-new-york-art-museums-get-excited-about?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Aug 2025 01:00:12 +0000 Payal Uttam Payal Uttam When strolling through a beach resort, it is not often that you pass a sculptor chiselling driftwood or catch sight of a textile artist steeping fabric in a vat of dye. But such scenes are a daily occurrence on Nikoi Island in Indonesia. The private island resort about 50 miles (80km) away from Singapore in the Riau Archipelago not only welcomes tourists but also hosts Southeast Asian artists through its year-round Ubah Rumah Residency programme. “There is an element of surprise when guests see... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts/article/3318098/indonesian-private-island-popular-singaporeans-offers-idyllic-setting-artists?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts/article/3318098/indonesian-private-island-popular-singaporeans-offers-idyllic-setting-artists?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Jul 2025 23:15:06 +0000 In the late 90s, when rapper and record producer Kasseem Dean, aka Swizz Beatz, was still a teenager, he tried to buy an artwork from a gallery. “But they didn’t take him seriously,” says Kimberli Gant, curator of modern and contemporary art at the Brooklyn Museum in New York. “He wasn’t a typical collector – he was this young man who they didn’t really know.” But that didn’t deter Dean. He kept attending openings and museum shows, demonstrating a serious interest to gallerists who eventually... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/lifestyle/leisure/article/3303318/how-celebrity-collectors-are-shaking-art-world-swizz-beatz-and-his-wife-alicia-keys-leonardo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/lifestyle/leisure/article/3303318/how-celebrity-collectors-are-shaking-art-world-swizz-beatz-and-his-wife-alicia-keys-leonardo?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Mar 2025 23:00:12 +0000 In January 2025 collectors, curators and artists crowded into the sleek basement of Belinda Tanoto’s Singapore home. The younger daughter of Indonesian billionaire Sukanto Tanoto was hosting an intimate soirée to coincide with the city state’s annual art week. The sprawling, white-cube space was filled with monumental sculptures and large works by major Asian artists such as South Korean Mire Lee and Malaysian fibre artist Anne Samat. While this was a private party for insiders, Tanoto also... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts/article/3298689/singapore-launch-contemporary-art-foundation-focused-southeast-asia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts/article/3298689/singapore-launch-contemporary-art-foundation-focused-southeast-asia?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 17 Feb 2025 23:15:07 +0000 Payal Uttam Payal Uttam Thai artist Natee Utarit’s monumental embroidered work of a classical European building facade is the first thing that confronts viewers upon entering The Private Museum, a non-profit private museum in Singapore situated in Osborne House, a colonial mansion on Upper Wilkie Road. Graffitied onto the surface with spray paint is a fragment in English taken from the Dhammapada, a collection of the Buddha’s sayings, that states: “The flickering, fickle mind, difficult to guard, difficult to control –... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3285819/thai-artist-natee-utarits-2-singapore-exhibitions-imagine-world-where-buddha-went-west?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3285819/thai-artist-natee-utarits-2-singapore-exhibitions-imagine-world-where-buddha-went-west?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 11 Nov 2024 23:15:06 +0000 In the mid-1960s, Singapore-born artist Kim Lim appeared on British television to speak about her monumental, arched-steel sculpture Day that was displayed in London’s Battersea Park alongside works by Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Anthony Caro, some of the greatest names in 20th-century British art. The petite 30-year-old spoke assertively. “For me, a piece of sculpture has to have a presence and I want it to be seen immediately as a whole.” In many ways, this statement applies to Lim... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3283033/who-was-kim-lim-retrospective-singapore-born-british-artist-casts-her-new-light?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3283033/who-was-kim-lim-retrospective-singapore-born-british-artist-casts-her-new-light?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Oct 2024 03:15:07 +0000 Two years ago there was a huge line snaking outside the entrance of the Korea International Art Fair (Kiaf) ahead of its opening day in Seoul. “People were literally running into the fair with cash ready to buy works right away. But that changed this year,” said Eunice Jung, director of Kiaf, which closed its 23rd edition last week. “The pace has definitely become slower as collectors are becoming more serious and thoughtful.” A cooling art market and sluggish economy may have slowed sales, but... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3278408/art-fairs-seoul-affirm-citys-status-leading-art-hub-despite-market-drop?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3278408/art-fairs-seoul-affirm-citys-status-leading-art-hub-despite-market-drop?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Sep 2024 03:15:08 +0000 Payal Uttam Payal Uttam For centuries women have been relegated to the margins of the art establishment’s narrative, reduced to being merely muses or models, their worth determined by male artists. Historically therefore, there has been a startlingly drastic underrepresentation of the role women have played in the evolution of art. “They were just never noticed,” says Lee Meiling, head of 20th century & contemporary art at Phillips Asia, who says it’s taken decades, but the balance has finally shifted. Since the 1960s,... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/lifestyle/leisure/article/3257058/beyond-yayoi-kusama-5-more-women-artists-you-should-know-2024-wangechi-mutus-formidable-female?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/lifestyle/leisure/article/3257058/beyond-yayoi-kusama-5-more-women-artists-you-should-know-2024-wangechi-mutus-formidable-female?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 01 Apr 2024 02:00:23 +0000 Singapore may have cemented its reputation as a wealth management powerhouse in recent years, but there is still a great deal of scepticism regarding its ambition to become a major centre for the visual arts. The launch of the international art fair Art SG in 2023 was much anticipated; it aimed to be a catalyst for the art market. But sales were lukewarm, based on several gallery reports. And when it transpired that a third of its exhibitor list did not sign up for the second edition, including... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3250703/singapore-aims-be-no-1-art-market-southeast-asia-and-recent-growth-private-art-spaces-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3250703/singapore-aims-be-no-1-art-market-southeast-asia-and-recent-growth-private-art-spaces-and?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Feb 2024 04:45:12 +0000 Inside the National Gallery Singapore, two blue macaws flutter around in a large cage surrounded by potted plants on a fake island of white sand. A gravel trail leads past poems inscribed on bricks to two shack-like structures. This is a recreation of famed Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica’s 1967 installation Tropicália, a work that subtly critiques stereotypes of Brazil as an idyllic beach paradise. The piece sets the tone for “Tropical: Stories from Southeast Asia and Latin America”, which... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3243720/too-ambitious-national-gallery-singapore-exhibition-colonial-and-postcolonial-experiences-southeast?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3243720/too-ambitious-national-gallery-singapore-exhibition-colonial-and-postcolonial-experiences-southeast?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Dec 2023 04:45:26 +0000 It was a chilly autumn morning in Kyoto’s Komyo-in Temple. Facing a serene rock garden, a group of art collectors and curators were in the midst of a group zazen – a Zen Buddhist meditation session. Incense smoke rose into the air. A monk in a blue kimono occasionally tapped meditators on their shoulders with a stick, offering a gentle jolt of encouragement. After the zazen, participants headed upstairs to an exhibition featuring gold leaf, ink and charcoal paintings by Kyoto-based contemporary... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3240474/art-collaboration-kyoto-art-fair-different-pace-embraces-japanese-citys-zen-buddhist-temples-stand?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3240474/art-collaboration-kyoto-art-fair-different-pace-embraces-japanese-citys-zen-buddhist-temples-stand?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 06 Nov 2023 23:15:07 +0000 In a corner of Singapore’s ShanghART Gallery, 80-year old artist Tang Da Wu crouches down gingerly and smears orange earth onto the gallery walls using his fingers. Dressed in a torn shirt and frayed army trousers, he cuts an unassuming figure. As the Singaporean works quietly, a crowd swells around him. Eventually a raw sketch of a snake strangling a boat emerges into view. The performance is part of his solo exhibition titled “3, 4, 5, I Don’t Like Fine Art”. “There’s no pre-drawing. I’m... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3230753/80-year-old-famed-singaporean-artist-tang-da-wu-curiosity-and-being-real-audiences-his-latest-solo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3230753/80-year-old-famed-singaporean-artist-tang-da-wu-curiosity-and-being-real-audiences-his-latest-solo?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Aug 2023 03:45:12 +0000 When the late Hong Kong artist Wesley Tongson was 15, he persuaded his parents to send him to Vancouver Island, off Canada’s Pacific Coast, to attend boarding school. About three months later, he disappeared into some nearby woods overnight because he thought that someone was after him. His parents flew to Canada and brought him home, where he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. It was 1973, and his family didn’t know what to do apart from following doctors’ instructions and giving him prescribed... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3222271/art-was-his-lifeline-how-schizophrenic-hong-kong-artist-wesley-tongson-used-creativity-deal-his?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3222271/art-was-his-lifeline-how-schizophrenic-hong-kong-artist-wesley-tongson-used-creativity-deal-his?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 30 May 2023 09:20:08 +0000 Until recently, most exhibitions at the non-profit art space Para Site in Hong Kong were like mini biennales – packed to the gills with work by multiple artists. “We really pushed the limits of the size of our space and what we could hold,” says Billy Tang, the gallery’s recently appointed executive director and curator. “There was a kind of busyness to the volume and frequency of what we did. Now it’s interesting to think about how to shift the rhythm.” Instead of a maximalist approach, Tang... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3216050/hong-kong-art-space-para-site-changes-direction-become-living-organism-longer-focused-exhibitions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3216050/hong-kong-art-space-para-site-changes-direction-become-living-organism-longer-focused-exhibitions?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 09 Apr 2023 05:15:12 +0000 For a series of performances titled A Needle Woman, 1999–2001, South Korean artist Kimsooja stood motionless in the streets of busy metropolises such as Mexico City and New Delhi while masses of people pushed past her. Despite her surroundings, she achieved a sense of stillness and inner calm. Her current exhibition in Hong Kong, “Topography of Body”, at Axel Vervoordt Gallery in Wong Chuk Hang until June 3, can be described in the same way. It’s a meditative show that invites viewers to pause... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3215445/south-korean-artist-kimsoojas-exhibition-hong-kong-invites-viewers-pause-and-reflect?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3215445/south-korean-artist-kimsoojas-exhibition-hong-kong-invites-viewers-pause-and-reflect?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Apr 2023 03:15:18 +0000 Palme d’Or-winning Thai film director Apichatpong Weerasethakul is known for his haunting films which blur the boundaries between the physical and spiritual, the living and the dead, the mythical and the real. For an exhibition in Hong Kong of his art, “A Planet of Silence”, Apichatpong has conjured a similar dreamlike atmosphere at the new Kiang Malingue gallery in the Wan Chai neighbourhood. He has filled the four-storey building with evocative, cinematic photographs and videos, including... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3203135/thai-film-director-apichatpong-weerasethakul-his-hong-kong-art-show-how-making-movies-silly?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3203135/thai-film-director-apichatpong-weerasethakul-his-hong-kong-art-show-how-making-movies-silly?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 15 Dec 2022 04:45:14 +0000 “It’s kind of like clay but softer, maybe more like playdough,” muses designer Andreu Carulla on a Zoom call, holding up what looks like a twisted pink marshmallow stick. It is, in fact, a sample of an innovative new material made of discarded polystyrene. Carulla, from Spain’s Catalonia region, recently designed colourful aluminium-frame stools with the putty-like material wrapped around the legs, topped with a recycled plastic seat made from products like old shampoo bottles. The stools are... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/interiors-living/article/3192442/furniture-made-recycled-plastic-bottles-and-food?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/interiors-living/article/3192442/furniture-made-recycled-plastic-bottles-and-food?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 15 Sep 2022 08:15:23 +0000 While Hong Kong still remains relatively closed off to visitors due to the city’s stringent quarantine measures, other Asian art hubs are slowly roaring back to life. The last weekend of August saw Southeast Asian collectors flocking to Sotheby’s first live sale in Singapore in 15 years, as well as to Indonesia’s Art Jakarta fair, which returned after a two-year hiatus. And on September 2, the first Asian edition of the Frieze art fair opened in Seoul, a large and sophisticated art market... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3191478/singapore-and-indonesias-art-markets-are-roaring-back-life?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3191478/singapore-and-indonesias-art-markets-are-roaring-back-life?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 Sep 2022 23:15:11 +0000 With the world now so reliant on computers, it is easy to forget that typesetting and colour printing used to be labours of love that required days, weeks or even months to achieve precise results. The younger generations also may not be aware that Hong Kong was once a hub for the art of printing. The ongoing exhibitions “Between the Lines – The Legends of Hong Kong Printing” and “20/20 Hong Kong Print Art Exhibition” – which both opened last October at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum – share the... https://www.scmp.com/native/culture/topics/pressing-forward/article/3121288/exhibitions-uncover-hong-kongs-hidden?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/native/culture/topics/pressing-forward/article/3121288/exhibitions-uncover-hong-kongs-hidden?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 25 Feb 2021 01:00:06 +0000 Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic it has become a necessity for millions of students to resort to online learning for the first time. While education technology (edtech) businesses have responded rapidly to meet growing demand from educators and parents worldwide, this change in focus represents only a fraction of the industry’s overall expenditure. Less than 4 per cent of the US$6.3 trillion spent on global education this year has gone on digital fields, HolonIQ, a global edtech... https://www.scmp.com/native/news/hong-kong/education/topics/esperanza-reimagine-education/article/3112894/how-edtech?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/native/news/hong-kong/education/topics/esperanza-reimagine-education/article/3112894/how-edtech?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Dec 2020 05:29:14 +0000 Artists have long celebrated the beauty and power of the natural world. But as concerns grow over global warming and the melting polar ice caps, rising levels of toxic smog polluting cities and deadly wildfires ravaging forests, they have become increasingly vocal about safeguarding the planet. They are now using art, theatre, dance and music as platforms to call for change and urgent action to tackle the climate-change problems threatening the Earth’s future before it is too late. We wanted to... https://www.scmp.com/presented/lifestyle/arts-culture/topics/when-artworks-click/article/3108245/holograms-award-winning?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/presented/lifestyle/arts-culture/topics/when-artworks-click/article/3108245/holograms-award-winning?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Nov 2020 01:00:24 +0000 Literature has long inspired other art forms. Nineteenth-century painter Sir John Everett Millais famously depicted, on canvas, the tragic death of Shakespearean character Ophelia, in Hamlet, in his eponymous painting. Many of the longest running Broadway shows such as The Phantom of the Opera, Wicked and Les Miserables were all inspired by literary classics. In 2010, a “sculptural” book called Tree of Codes was published, created by bestselling American author Jonathan Safran Foer, who cut up... https://www.scmp.com/native/lifestyle/arts-culture/topics/when-artworks-click/article/3105641/how-artist-has-turned?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/native/lifestyle/arts-culture/topics/when-artworks-click/article/3105641/how-artist-has-turned?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 16 Oct 2020 06:30:13 +0000 The Interpretation Masahiro Harada: “Art projects tend to have a brief. However, the A&A [Artist & Architect, a collaborative project between the two disciplines to create a series of houses acting as hotels in Okayama] had no guidelines. “The Ishikawa Foundation, founded by collector Yasuharu Ishikawa, trusted the artists and architects it chose. It invited our firm to collaborate with contemporary artist Liam Gillick to create this hotel. Each of us was allowed to explore topics we found most... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3042715/japanese-hotel-inspired-climate-science?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3042715/japanese-hotel-inspired-climate-science?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Dec 2019 05:30:09 +0000 There has been a long-running debate in the contemporary art world: why hire curators when artists are perfectly capable of putting together an exhibition themselves? The Okayama Art Summit is a case in point. Held in Setouchi, western Japan, the event is the brainchild of Japanese fashion entrepreneur and art collector Yasuharu Ishikawa, who hopes contemporary art can revitalise his hometown. Launched in 2016, it is being staged for the second time this year. Ishikawa and Tokyo gallerist Taro... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3031521/artists-do-it-themselves-okayama-art-summit-where-less-more?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3031521/artists-do-it-themselves-okayama-art-summit-where-less-more?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 05 Oct 2019 09:30:09 +0000 Art collectors and dealers who usually complain of fair fatigue were pleasantly surprised at this year’s Art Jakarta. “It’s more exciting than other fairs, as galleries are more courageous about bringing young artists compared to Art Basel, for example, where it’s a very curated list,” says Singapore-based Indonesian collector Nathaniel Gunawan, who made several discoveries at the fair last weekend. He snapped up a work by a young Thai painter, Aracha Cholitgul, as well as a small painting by... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3025799/dynamic-passionate-cheap-art-jakarta-fair-praised-courage?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3025799/dynamic-passionate-cheap-art-jakarta-fair-praised-courage?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Sep 2019 04:00:07 +0000 French architect Virginie Moriette, who with her Chinese designer husband, Xu Ming, began the Shanghai-based studio in 2006, reveals how they discovered a gap in the market for their unusual items of furniture. How did you meet your husband and start Studio MVW? “We met in Shanghai while we were working for the architect Paul Andreu, whom we both admire. We started designing furniture for our own home. Friends liked it because it was quite creative compared to what you could find in China. When... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/2127730/studio-mvw-fills-gap-china-market-unusual?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/2127730/studio-mvw-fills-gap-china-market-unusual?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 11 Jan 2018 08:49:30 +0000 What does Kamaro’an mean? Yun Fann Chang: “Our brand is about coming home. Kamaro’an in the indigenous language Pangcah means ‘place to live’. We chose this name because we hope to attract young people back to their villages, to work with crafts from their culture.” How did the three of you come together? Chang: “When [Shane and I] were studying industrial design at the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, we met Tipus [Hafay], who wanted to support cultural industries. She... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/2119082/young-taiwanese-trio-come-together-keep?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/2119082/young-taiwanese-trio-come-together-keep?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 Nov 2017 04:47:16 +0000 How did your interest in metal begin? “I’ve been interested in metal since childhood. The first object I made was a knuckleduster, for a gang in my province, when I was nine years old. They gave me 20 pesos. I didn’t know I was making a weapon that could hurt somebody. “The aluminium I used was from a sink in a 400-year-old church. I made a clay mould in my backyard and melted the sink. When the opposing gang found out, they came to my house and hired me to make another one, to counter the other... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/2117729/how-sculptor-went-making-knuckledusters?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/2117729/how-sculptor-went-making-knuckledusters?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Nov 2017 04:15:30 +0000 You both studied at Konstfack, in Stockholm. How did your time in Sweden influence your design? Ada Chirakranont: “The school is a mix of arts, craft and design. In Thailand, if you are a designer, it’s very separate from being an artist but [in Sweden] we felt like we could do artwork even if we weren’t studying it. It changed our way of thinking because the environment was more free.” Describe your furniture designs. Worapong Manupipatpong: “We didn’t want to make tables or chairs; we wanted... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/2115780/rising-star-thai-design-couple-their-unique?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/2115780/rising-star-thai-design-couple-their-unique?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 18 Oct 2017 04:16:27 +0000 Architects Richard Hassell and Wong Mun Summ from the Singapore-based architectural practice WOHA have designed a number of luxury hotels in their time. They have also long had to fend off demands from guests who want to have various items from those hotels in their own homes. “People kept asking, ‘Why isn’t our furniture for sale?’” Hassell says. “Guests at the hotels would get quite angry … They would say, ‘If you are not going to make [the furniture] we are going to get it copied.’” Why... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/interiors-living/article/2110781/lifestyle-brand-wohabeing-launches-its-luxury-hotel?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/interiors-living/article/2110781/lifestyle-brand-wohabeing-launches-its-luxury-hotel?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 Sep 2017 04:45:30 +0000 It’s rainy season and I am on a Suzuki dirt bike with my husband, Shriram, snaking through Costa Rica’s central highlands. Two hours after having touched down in the capital, San José, we are heading to the town of La Fortuna, in Alajuela province, 170km to the north. On the advice of local bike enthusiast Jose, of the Wild Rider rental company, we are skipping highways and spiralling down adventure trails that appear as dizzying red squiggles on the map: around cloud-shrouded mountains; across... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2107858/falling-costa-rica-how-motorbike-accident-sparked?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2107858/falling-costa-rica-how-motorbike-accident-sparked?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Aug 2017 06:00:38 +0000 Japanese artist Yukinori Yanagi uses an unusual method to carve through the intricate sand flags he creates in plastic boxes – living ants. In an installation titled Union Jack (1994), which is the centrepiece of his solo exhibition at art advisory firm Ticolat Tamura’s viewing space in Central, visitors can see the cracks and scars left by the insects, which travelled through a network of tubes leading to 20 flags of former British colonies including Hong Kong. Yanagi says he has always been... https://www.scmp.com/culture/arts-entertainment/article/2094055/japanese-artist-yukinori-yanagi-presents-moving-tapestry?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/arts-entertainment/article/2094055/japanese-artist-yukinori-yanagi-presents-moving-tapestry?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 14 May 2017 09:01:00 +0000 South African artist William Kentridge was six when he stumbled across a box in his father's study in Johannesburg. What he discovered was to have a big impact on his life. "I was ... expecting it to be a box of chocolates, but inside were photographs of people who had been shot dead," he recalls. The images were from a police massacre in Sharpeville in 1960. His father was an anti-apartheid lawyer defending the victims' families. "I was shocked. It was like coming across pornography, both... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-entertainment/article/1849508/south-african-artist-william-kentridge-his-beijing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-entertainment/article/1849508/south-african-artist-william-kentridge-his-beijing?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 15 Aug 2015 15:55:16 +0000 It is almost noon and Pakistani artist Imran Qureshi is struggling to hold back yet another yawn. Jetlagged and unshaven, he apologises and explains that he has been painting non-stop for his show at Pao Galleries in Wan Chai, which ended on Friday. "Usually when I work, I work madly. Sometimes I don't sleep for two days," he says. Judging by the exquisitely detailed works around us, it's been a while since he has had a decent night's rest. Known for his installations of blood-like paint... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1437154/pakistani-miniatures-artist-gets-bigger-picture?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1437154/pakistani-miniatures-artist-gets-bigger-picture?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 02 Mar 2014 10:41:28 +0000 Who started it? Edge of Ember was founded early last year by Singaporean-born ex-banker Lynette Ong, who recently relocated from Hong Kong to London. Tired of throwaway fashion, she began working with local craftsmen in Cambodia, Nepal and Indonesia to create handmade accessories. Not only does the label promote fair-trade wages, it also donates 10 per cent of sales income to charities that help victims of sex trafficking. Why we love it: sustainable, ethical and socially responsible, Edge of... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1263675/behind-label-edge-ember?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1263675/behind-label-edge-ember?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Jun 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Who started it? Australian-born designer Belinda Pasqua founded The Sway three years ago in Brooklyn, New York, in the United States. After studying art and fashion in Florence, Italy, and designing swimwear in Sydney, Australia, she moved to New York to work with corporate giant Li & Fung. Disillusioned with the waste she saw in the industry, she struck out on her own. Taking an eco-friendly approach, she uses salvaged leather to create sustainable handbags and jackets. Celebrity fans include... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1252582/behind-label-sway?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1252582/behind-label-sway?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 08 Jun 2013 16:00:00 +0000 There was plenty of drama at Christie's Hong Kong Magnificent Jewels auction on Tuesday, which raked in just over HK$640.5 million from about 290 lots including signed pieces from Cartier, Tiffany & Co and Van Cleef & Arpels. In late afternoon, a bidding war raged over an ornate Boucheron necklace from the 1950s. An elderly Asian woman in a pale blue suit battled with a telephone bidder for several minutes before throwing her hands up in concession. The crowd erupted into applause when the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-watches/article/1250682/stonelove?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-watches/article/1250682/stonelove?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 02 Jun 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Who started it? Founded in 2010, Thu Thu is the brainchild of designer Thuy Duong Nguyen. Born in Vietnam, the 26-year-old studied fashion in Berlin, Germany, and interned as a stylist at MTV Germany before starting her own label. The catalyst for her first collection was a trip to the Vietnamese town of Sapa, where she discovered vintage fabrics made by Hmong tribeswomen.   Why we love it: made from repurposed blankets and skirts from Sapa, Thu Thu's designs feature simple silhouettes with an... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1242611/behind-label-thu-thu?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1242611/behind-label-thu-thu?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 25 May 2013 16:00:00 +0000 "I don't know what I'm doing and why I keep doing it." Carved into moss-covered tiles on the ground, these are the words that greet me when I arrive at the artist-run space Cemeti Art House in Yogyakarta. The artist collective Tromarama created the installation, Unconsciously Conscious, during a recent residency in the Indonesian city. The statement is a playful jab at local belief in Javanese myths. Known for its batik artists, puppet makers and silversmiths, the central Java city of Yogyakarta... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1229225/welcome-yogyakarta-hive-alternative-art-spaces?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1229225/welcome-yogyakarta-hive-alternative-art-spaces?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 May 2013 16:00:00 +0000 British guitarist Eric Clapton is one of the world's best examples of why it pays to invest in art. The purchase of an abstract painting in 2001 for £2 million (HK$23.7 million) paid off hugely for the 68-year-old inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, earning a more than 10-fold return when it sold for £21 million at auction in London in October. The work by German artist Gerhard Richter even entered the record books, fetching the highest amount ever paid for a painting by a living... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/money/article/1213100/modern-love?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/money/article/1213100/modern-love?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 21 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0000 " When you stand in front of it, you don't know what it is. You have no clue whatsoever," says Christian Schwamkrug, design director of Porsche Design Studio. A gleaming tower of stainless steel, the Johnnie Walker Blue Label Private Bar looks more futuristic time capsule than something that houses your preferred post-prandial tipple. "Normally if you tell a friend, 'I've got my private bar', you would imagine a piece of furniture, where you open doors and drawers. This is something different,"... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/money/article/1080814/extreme-home-entertaining?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/money/article/1080814/extreme-home-entertaining?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 18 Nov 2012 16:00:00 +0000 "Nothing is fair in life. You get what you negotiate," says Chris Atkins, Asia-Pacific partner of The Gap Partnership, which does negotiation training. Knowing the right moves at the bargaining table can help you save money in everyday situations and lead to professional success. Skilled tactics can help you bargain for a pay rise or rent cut, or the dozens of other scenarios people encounter daily that involve negotiation. Be prepared. "Information is power," says Stephen Nason, a professor of... https://www.scmp.com/business/money/markets-investing/article/1042374/bargaining-tactics-talk?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/money/markets-investing/article/1042374/bargaining-tactics-talk?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 23 Sep 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Imagine a luxury flat on the northern tip of Koh Samui perched over Thailand's turquoise waters. The interior is fitted out with white couches, a flat screen television and stylish wooden furniture. Now imagine being offered the keys at a massive discount. Ready to put down a deposit? For retiree David Martin, the answer was 'yes'. There was just one catch. The property had not yet been built. 'It's a strange concept to be honest, but I saw the renderings and I could just see the potential,'... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/money/article/999622/buy-now-and-save?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/money/article/999622/buy-now-and-save?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Apr 2012 16:00:00 +0000