A Merlion’s Share of Art: Shows to Catch During Singapore Gallery Month
More than 30 Singaporean galleries are stepping up to host both local and international artists this month as part of Singapore Gallery Month’s first‑ever community‑led edition. Save to My OculaIt’s a big month for art in Singapore.
The first-ever community-led Singapore Gallery Month began last week with a vibrant array of exhibitions and events for visitors to explore. And while it’s enough that more than 30 local galleries are hosting artists from home and abroad, the Gallery Month’s coincidence with another uniquely Singaporean celebration means the city-state is really having a cultural moment.
SG60 is a year-long series of events and campaigns marking 60 years since Singapore gained independence, with the goal of rallying citizens to set a course for the country’s future. For Audrey Yeo, president of Gallery Month purveyors the Art Galleries Association Singapore (AGAS), the event gives Singapore’s art scene the chance to prove its worth and to advocate for growth: ‘As we mark SG60, we’re proud to contribute to a broader cultural conversation—one that puts people and partnerships at the heart of the arts,’ she said.
And while the Gallery Month is the centrepiece of the programme, gallery shows beyond the event’s umbrella are also very much worth a look. So whether you’re in town for the country’s diamond jubilee or strictly for the art, here’s what you’ll want to mark on your calendar this month if you find yourself in Asia’s garden city.
1. Woo Kukwon, Universe’s Universe (26 July–30 August 2025) at Tang Contemporary Art
In Universe’s Universe, Woo Kukwon transforms medieval unicorn tapestries and classic literature into layered oil paintings that explore sensation, myth, and emotion. Titled after his daughter Woojoo—whose name means ‘universe’ in Korean—the show has a uniquely childlike sense of wonder while at the same time presenting an intimate depiction of human frailty. It’s a singular set of works, and not to be missed if you find yourself near Tang Contemporary Art’s Singapore gallery any time until the end of this month.
2. Suzann Victor, A Thousand Histories (31 July–7 September 2025) at Gajah Gallery
For nearly three decades, Singaporean artist Suzann Victor has transformed the simple lens into a sculptural medium to reflect upon gender, colonial histories, and perception. Her latest solo exhibition features four immense installations of thousands of Fresnel lenses, refracting archival images into shifting and fractured ‘lens-scapes’ that remind the viewer of lighthouses, lanterns, and panopticons. Don’t miss the chance to experience the work of this seminal artist.
3. Shifting Grounds (2 August–13 September 2025) at Ames Yavuz
On show at Ames Yavuz, Filipino artists Kristoffer Ardeña, Clarence Chun, Jonas Eslao, Is Jumalon, and MM Yu present works that engage with abstraction as a fluid and ever-changing language. This intriguing selection ranges from MM Yu’s disquieting acrylic paintings, which evoke the fuzz and static of an untuned television, to Clarence Chun’s And you know you’re never sure, which holds a sense of frenzied movement within the freeze-frame of its paint bubbles.
4. Kim Kang Yong, Boundaries Between Reality and Image (7 August–4 October 2025) at The Columns Gallery
Head to The Columns Gallery before early October to take in unique works by the renowned Korean artist Kim Kang Yong, which combine oil, sand, and ground stone on boards to mimic the brick-and-tile textures of urban environments. The end results blur the line between the literal and the virtual through their hyperrealistic use of shading and colour, taking the quotidian surfaces that city-dwellers pass by without comment every day and using them to muddy the line between the real and unreal.
5. Soft Power (16 August–18 October 2025) at Sundaram Tagore
For the next two months, Sundaram Tagore’s Singapore space hosts works by nine artists evoking different forms of soft power, defined as the ability to wield influence through persuasion instead of coercion or force.
Featuring work by Anila Quayyum Agha, Lalla Essaydi, Golnaz Fathi, Jane Lee, Tayeba Begum Lipi, Lê Hiên Minh, Soe Yu Nwe, Pannaphan Yodmanee, and Neha Vedpathak, the show focuses on feminine perspectives and underrepresented cultures as the artists each wield soft power in their own way, taking viewers on emotionally compelling aesthetic and narrative journeys.
There’s a wide range of work on show here, from Le Hien Minh’s paper-and-plastic depiction of an assault rifle erupting into an outstretched hand, to the stainless-steel facsimiles of infant footwear and other baby paraphernalia put together by Tayeba Begum Lipi.
6. Sama-Sama: The Art of Togetherness (8 August–19 October 2025) at Whitestone Gallery
This group exhibition at Singapore’s Whitestone Gallery gathers 60 local artists to mark the 60 years that have elapsed since the country gained independence. Meaning ‘all together’ or ‘togetherness’, the titular term sama-sama has many resonances in Singapore, and it’s this concept that curator Dr Wang Ruobing seeks to capture with this multifaceted portrait of the city-state’s evolving cultural landscape, featuring works by names like Heman Chong and Lai Yu Tong. In terms of sheer scale, it’s a hard-to-beat showcase of significant Singaporean artists’ work all in one place.
7. Holding (Space) (30 August–23 October 2025) at Yeo Workshop
Bodies, urban grids, mined landscapes, public spectacles, and armed furniture are among the forms and motifs presented by six artists in the group show Holding (Space) at Yeo Workshop, on view from the end of this month. In a show full of striking works, Aki Hassan, Justin Loke (Vertical Submarine), Marcin Dudek, Maryanto, Noor Mahnun, and Xue Mu ask what it means to ‘hold space’, and to exist within the systems that structure contemporary existence. Not to be missed is Justin Loke’s dining room chair jarringly festooned with butcher knives.
8. Lai Yu Tong, The Dogs (30 August–2 November 2025) at ShanghART
There’s something interesting going on at ShanghART’s Singapore venue this autumn, as locally based artist Lai Yu Tong turns months of encounters with stray dogs into intimate drawings, collages, sculpture, sound, and performance. Using everyday materials like cardboard and wood, Lai has created ghostly and elusive figures of the animals, reflecting on fear, empathy, and human–animal coexistence. The Dogs is a chance to get up close and personal with the creatures living on the edges of Singapore’s urban landscape. —[O]
Main image: Pannaphan Yodmanee, Cosmic Mother of the Universe (2024) (detail). Mixed media on linen. 160 x 200 cm. Courtesy the artist and Sundaram Tagore Gallery.
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