The building next to my office is Singapore Art Museum. Although I’ve working in my office for almost 1 year (8 months to be exact), I never visited the museum (^_^)! . Btw, if you never been to the museum before, you can view the map at StreetDirectory.com or at Google Maps.

FYI, free entrance is on every Friday from 6 PM to 9 PM. Which is why last Friday I visited the museum. 🙂 The current main exhibition is featuring the works of Feng Zhengjie.

Quoted from Wikipedia:

Feng Zhengjie (born 1968, Sichuan Province, China) is an artist based in Beijing. Originally a high-school and college art teacher in Sichuan, he came to Beijing in 1995.

His best-known work is his Portrait of China series, very large Warhol-style oil portraits, in a red/turquoise palette, of Chinese fashion model faces with vacant diverging eyes (his signature style). Critics view his work as a critique of contemporary consumer society. His early paintings were inspired by 1930s Shanghai posters. His more recent work is based on the red and green of traditional Chinese New Year art, the colours made “more acid, a representation of the flashy, commercial nature of modern China”

When I looked into his paintings, especially those from “Portrait of China” series, I sensed a strange mixed feeling between glamor and emptiness, or perhaps sadness. I also admire his painting techniques. Especially his usage of subtle color that cannot be differentiated from close-look, but from distance it will be visible and make the painting looks like 3D. I recommend you to look closely, especially in the eyes of the person on the painting. It’s really beautiful 🙂

You can view other examples of his works here:

1. Feng Zhengjie – Geodhuis Contemporary
2. Feng Zhengjie – Painting – Saatchi Gallery
3. Feng Zhengjie at Marella Gallery
4. Feng Zhengjie at Willem Kerseboom Gallery

I think you can enjoy his works best by seeing the real thing. If this Friday (8 Feb 2008) the museum is not closed because of Chinese New Year public holidays, I will surely visit the museum again. Let me know if you want to tag along 🙂

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