asian artists gallery & co national gallery

asian artists gallery & co national gallery

You might have been to Gallery & Co. for its unique gift shop offerings or for a coffee date in its adjoining cafe space. With National Day around the corner, there’s one more reason to pay a visit: To check out non-kitschy, ultra-cool merchandise that pays homage to the Singapore story.

All the works are inspired by an ongoing exhibition in the National Gallery titled “Siapa Nama Kamu” (it means “what is your name?” in Malay). Local and international designers, artists and brands were invited to create works that represent contemporary Singapore, and its first capsule collection – which features works by the likes of local award-winning visual artist Robert Zhao, Singapore graphic designer Vanessa Ban and Spanish graphic design studio Hey – sees these works translated into wearable, usable forms of art.

asian artists gallery & co national gallery

Take Ban’s work (above), which focuses on how our nation’s progress has been monumental, even if we are only 51 years young. The result: Slogan tees, postcards and posters bearing familiar construction hoarding signs and in stark red and white, the colours of the Singapore flag.

asian artists gallery & co national gallery robert zhao

Zhao’s work (above), meanwhile, is full of stark irony: A play on the familiar terminology of Singapore as a lion city, the image reflects how “the relationship that we have with nature, even when nature seems to be all around us, is one of control, especially that of the lion state.”

asian artists gallery & co national gallery

Also in the collection are graphics by local design studio Somewhere Else (their postcard design of blocks being stacked on top of one another is an ode to Singapore having the highest home ownership in the world) and Spanish studio Hey (they’ve created everything from a cute rendering of the Merlion to brightly-coloured postcards based on the restored window facades at Clarke Quay). All items are available now at Gallery & Co. (Level 1 National Gallery), and prices range from $3.90 for a postcard to $29.90 for a tote bag, $39.90 for a t-shirt and $45.90 for an A3-sized poster.

 

Like this? Check out the amazing artwork these Asian artists did for Gucci, meet the Singapore artist who creates the most beautiful paper sculptures and don’t miss a Singapore artist’s exhibition inside the new Hermes store.