Today I took a trip to the SAM and National Museum of Singapore.
Was feeling really vexed over stuff that have happened
and needed a quiet trip to a reclusive area where I can silence the
nonsensical jumble of thoughts that has been disturbing my inner peace.

My first stop was at SAM.
Free entry for students.
(This is one of the few rare moments when I shout hallelujah and treasure the perks of being a student)

First up, was Mr Yeh Chi Wei and Ten Men Groups' collection :)

This was one of my favorite pieces. It depicts part of a temple in India;
inspiration drawn from one of their organised trips there.
It looks surreal, close-up, like a photograph.
Very visually appealing and portrays a sense of false 3-dimensionality.

Yeh and the Ten Men Groups' art pieces were mostly composed of realistic imitations
of the natural phenomenon although they did explore into Impressionism
and appeal largely to the sights.
Their primary aims seemed to be to invoke some sort of sensory ecstasy
on our visionary rather than to tickle our brain cells and make us think.

And then there was Seeing the Kites Again by Chinese artist Wu Guanzhong.
Some of his art pieces are really pleasing to the eyes
and somehow his impressionistic piece on the Huangtu Gaoyuan managed to
evoke such overwhelming emotions in me that
I felt I like I was for once really in China witnessing the whole stretch of plains from
a bird's eye view.
He likened that the Loess Plateau to dozens of tigers pouncing towards you,
you could feel the hunger, the ferocity and the energy.
Love it.

Last stop was the National Museum.
The only exhibition that I liked that happened to be the highlight of my trip.
I loved Cai Guo-Qiang's bit of exhibition.
There were 3 parts:
1. Head on - 99 life-sized replicas of wolves rushing blindly towards an invisible wall
It takes a jab at how conventional wisdom might be blind
and herd mentality might hinder with mankind's progress.
It also signifies the invisible wall that remains after unification of East and West Germany.

2. Illusion II - 2-channel video installations of implosions of two identical huts.
It smirks at how violence and beauty, though two very opposing concepts,
may come to manifest in the same body - irony of our world.

The final installation is Vortex which I haven't really got enlightened on
what concepts it is attempting to show yet.

I realised that I love art pieces which evokes thinking in our cerebral cortex
rather than visually-pleasing ones.
Perhaps I just like to find meaning out of nothing.
Maybe that's why Impressionism appeals more to me than Realism
I don't know.
Still pretty inexperience and know too little in this area.

:)
I did enjoy that silence I had today though :)
Pretty much.
Revitalised.