SINGAPORE.- Starting today, National Gallery Singapore unveils its highly anticipated show, Tropical: Stories from Southeast Asia and Latin America, which represents the first large-scale museum exhibition to take a comparative approach between artistic expressions from both regions, united by their struggles against colonialism. Tropical spans the 20th century, tracing how artists from Southeast Asia and Latin America forged connections and nurtured solidarities, defiantly reclaiming their place within the story of art.

Over 200 paintings, sculptures, drawings, performances, and sensorial installations will be displayed through radical exhibition designs the Gallery developed in close collaboration with an acclaimed architecture firm. The exhibition features approximately 70 renowned artists from the two regions, some presented for the first time in Singapore, including David Medalla, Diego Rivera, Emiria Sunassa, Frida Kahlo, Hélio Oiticica, Latiff Mohidin, Patrick Ng Kah Onn, Paul Gauguin, Tan Oe Pang and Tarsila do Amaral.

National Gallery Singapore is home to more than 8,000 artworks from across Southeast Asia spanning the 19th century to the present. “Southeast Asia” here refers to the region encompassing Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, The Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Brunei. This unique transnational approach and collection forms the basis for the Gallery’s curatorial and research efforts to (re)write the art histories of this region.

The Gallery’s Collection comprises part of Singapore’s National Collection, managed by the National Heritage Board. The beginnings of the Gallery’s Collection can be traced to the donation of over 110 artworks in 1960 by art philanthropist Dato Loke Wan Tho. The Collection has borne witness to the changing landscape of art institutions in Singapore, with its custodianship shifting from the National Museum Art Gallery (est. 1976) to the Singapore Art Museum (est. 1996) to the Gallery (est. 2015). It encapsulates the institutions’ complex histories as well as contributions made by artists, artists’ estates and private individuals through donations.

National Gallery Singapore
Tropical: Stories from Southeast Asia and Latin America
November 18th, 2023 - March 24th, 2024