I ATTENDED THE PREVIEW of Opera Gallery's 'The Collector 1994', a transportive experience that un-stuck me from time, last year. Every step I took forward into a future space was a step backwards in the single dimension of time we inhabit. On the surface, the exhibition investigated the relationship between art and our personal histories. However, after spending enough time there, Opera Gallery and its many little universes slowly opened to me and everyone else in attendance.
For the exhibition, Opera Gallery recreated an art collector's apartment in 1994—the year it established its first location in Singapore. Among the paintings displayed was Marc Chagall's 1981 polychromatic masterpiece 'Le Peintre et sa vision des couples en rouge, bleu et vert' (The Painter and his vision of couples in red, blue and green). As I studied the oil, tempera, and graphite on canvas oeuvre, others joined me. Following the manners my mother taught me, I stepped aside to let them look at the work properly.
It was there, in the periphery, that Chagall's painting offered more than just a straight-on geometric study of human relationships. Viewed from the side, the forms and geometry apparent from the front became secondary. In contrast, the textured truths and realities of the work were more pronounced. In this way, the painting took on a new meaning and nuances.
One lover popped up more than the other. One looked more robust and energetic, while the other angled off into the distance. The painting suddenly became about the power dynamics of a relationship, the never-smooth but always transcendental nature of one of the most powerful of human emotions: love.
It was not my first moment of profundity in Opera Gallery, and it would not be my last. Even though the gallery has been the most commercially successful in our country, it continues to encourage discoveries in works we might have seen a dozen times over.
This story is from the Issue 209 (January 2025) edition of August Man SG.
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This story is from the Issue 209 (January 2025) edition of August Man SG.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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