Singapore – 5 November 2016 — Gajah Gallery proudly celebrates its 20th Anniversary in a monumental exhibition featuring 25 artists from Southeast Asia, China, and the United States. This hugely ambitious show brings together some of the most prolific talent throughout the region that the Gallery has collaborated with over the years. Established in 1996 by director Jasdeep Sandhu, Gajah is one of the oldest Singapore-owned commercial galleries, and among the few that regularly exhibit at international art fairs. Outside of the Gallery’s two locations in Singapore and Yogyakarta, Gajah Gallery has exhibited in London, Yangon, Havana, Hong Kong, Manila, Tokyo, and Jakarta.
“This exhibition is an embodiment of not only my twenty-year long career as an art dealer, but also a commemoration of the patronage and relations I built with these artists along the way. It is a celebration of growth for Gajah Gallery; which runs parallel to the progression of the regional arts scene.”, says Jasdeep Sandhu.
The artists featured will be Ahmad Zakii Anwar, Ashley Bickerton, Aung Soe, Chua Ek Kay, Gobardhan Ash, Handiwirman Saputra, Ho Ho Ying, Jason Lim, Jogen Chowdhury, Jumaldi Alfi, Kumari Nahappan, Li Jin, Made Djirna, Mangu Putra, Paritosh Sen, Putu Sutawijaya, Rudi Mantofani, Sabri Idrus, Semsar Siahaan, Suzann Victor, Vasan Sitthiket, Wei Ligang, Yunizar, and Yusra Martunus.
The exhibition will include new paintings and sculptures by these exceptional artists, alongside some iconic works from the region’s most historically renowned modern artists of the past half century. Indonesian artist Semsar Siahaan’s (1952 – 2005) masterpiece ‘Dalam Kamar’, for instance will be shown for the first time in Singapore. The late Myanmar artist Bagyi Aung Soe’s work will also be shown in this exhibition, following its inclusion at the National Gallery’s ‘Reframing Modernism’ exhibition earlier this year. New paintings by Ashley Bickerton, Li Jin, Ahmad Zakii Anwar, Jogen Chowdhury, Rudi Mantofani, Vasan Sitthiket and Yunizar will debut on the opening weekend, along with Suzann Victor’s stunning ‘Angel’ from her recent ‘Halo’ series, and Kumari Nahappan’s ‘Movement 1’ .
Gajah Gallery’s 6,000sq ft space in Tanjong Pagar will be filled with an array of paintings, sculptures and art-objects that collectively form a comprehensive view of contemporary art in the region over the last two decades. Gajah Gallery hence welcomes the public to view this landmark exhibition and explore its insightful look of the past as well as its bold representation of the diverse Asian contemporary art.
The catalog will offer a peek into gallery director Jasdeep Sandhu’s journey, having met and worked with some of the most admired figures in Southeast Asian art. Sandhu refocused his program in the early 2000s to highlight emerging talents in Indonesia, just before the art boom. Now, the same artists have risen to international prominence and are widely collected across the globe. This is the gallery’s largest exhibition program to date, and will be open to the public from 5 – 20 November.
