Dinner with Dali anyone?
updated the 7 October 2015 à 00:03
Singapore residents and visitors alike get a chance to enjoy Surrealist master Salvador Dali’s work at a new exhibition in town. Here’s why you should not miss it!
If you’re looking to be titillated and provoked, there’s an art exhibition on at the Red Sea Gallery at Dempsey Hill – Singapore’s high-end dining enclave – that is sure to hit your sweet spot.
The month-long exhibition entitled Salvador Dali: The Argillet Collection, which is being presented for the first time in Asia, showcases 112 pieces of the Surrealist master’s work from his renowned publisher Pierre Argillet’s collection. Argillet’s daughter Christine, the epitome of Parisian chic, curated the collection and was here to present it at the preview.
Not for nothing was Dali such a draw during his lifetime and not for nothing does he continue to be even now among the X generation. His bold, detailed and quirky etchings that include women’s private parts must have been calculated to astonish and irritate then as it does now.
The master provocateur and Surrealist master artist was an extremely perceptive and skillful artist – regardless of the medium he worked with and the Red Sea exhibition includes Dali’s original etchings, drawings and tapestries.
Sharing some first-hand accounts and personal insights into the collaboration between her father and Dali, Ms Argillet described Dali as ‘shy’ and ‘extremely brilliant’ and ironically, as someone “very respectful, afraid to offend anyone.” Who would have thought so, looking at his witty and almost iconoclastic approach to some subjects.
These original works have been a part of the Argillet family collection since their creation by Dali during his collaborative years with Pierre Argillet and unlike the elaborate paintings we are most used to seeing done by him, we are privy to several aspects of Dali’s beliefs on political, social and emotional issues through his etchings and drawings, that we might otherwise overlook. “The exhibition, thus offers the rate opportunity to view and acquire works of impeccable provenance by the Surrealist master,” said Mr. Chris Churcher, The founder and director of REDSEA Gallery.
Among the highlights of the exhibition is the series Poems of Mao Zedong and The Hippies which link Dali to Asia. In 1967, at the height of the Cultural Revolution, Pierre Argillet commissioned Dali to illustrate the poems of Mao Zedong, and Dali created eight illustrations, some of which were political satires, executed in his surrealist vision. All eight works are on exhibit at the gallery.
The etchings from Dali’s series, Surrealistic Bullfight, epitomize his style with their burlesque touches. Dali used satire to show his opposition to bullfights which he found primitive. This series also features a stunning tapestry, done in the traditional Aubusson weaving style.
Dinner with Dali won’t be such a far-fetched idea for the rest of the month for Singaporeans – and perhaps neighbours who are planning to visit the little red dot should take advantage of it too.
More information about SALVADOR DALI: The Argillet Collection, can be found here.
The exhibition runs from the 22nd of March until the 20th of April at the REDSEA Gallery at Dempsey Hill, Singapore.
Diya-Maya Tsering-Bhalla
