RCGNTN: make local your focal

The opening of ActuallyActually took place last Friday on the 12th of March and to kick off the store’s launch, their upper level was dedicated to showcasing local illustrator eeshaun’s second solo art exhibition. Titled “Anything Also Anyhow“, the exhibition sees eeshaun’s chromatic world and the playful characters that live in it being brought back to life in full glory and true to his standards, these look absolutely crazy.

The exhibition is currently running from now till April 12th ‘10, at Available now at ActuallyActually, 16 Purvis Street

Via- Streething

Curated by Fine Arts lecturers Gilles Massot and Toh Hun Ping from LASALLE, “SEEN – UN – SEEN – An exhibition of light-based visual works” features work from LASALLE’s students and will run from Thursday 18th March at 5.30pm till Thursday 1st April 2010 at the Praxis Space in the school itself.

The phrase opens a Pandora jar, one in which the mystery of the image made of light has remained hidden at the bottom. Light-based images are all around us today in the form of photographs, cinema and videos. Just as the calamities freed by Pandora forever changed the fate of humankind, the multiple forms of the light-based image technology have given shape to a society that has no equivalent to whatever existed before. The predominance of vision over any other physiological senses has even given rise to the concept of “ocularcentrism”, to define a society in which look and visual information largely define human interaction. Yet, however common and widespread those images might have become, particularly in urban environments, the mystery of the light-based image remains whole. What is it that these images are showing? The thing recorded or the illusion of it? And by seeing so much of the world, do we actually know it better? Beyond the seen, what could the unseen be/revealed?

OPENING DATE & TIME: Thu 18 Mar, 5.30pm
DATE: Fri 19 Mar – Thu 1 Apr
TIME: 11am – 5pm (Closed on Mon)
VENUE: Praxis Space, Block H Level 1 #H101, LASALLE College of the Arts, 1 McNally Street

Possibly one of the better homegrown labels seen around, Know It Nothing’s in-house label SIFR recently shot their lookbook for SIFR Essentials-a basics line created by the dynamic trio Suraj Melwani, Chris Fussner and Daryl Chan. Combining the best materials for the hot and humid weather with lightweight materials, quality and finishing is never a compromise with the label and judging by the tastefully-shot lookbook, we can rely on SIFR to bring comfort and style into the same category.

SIFR is available at Know It Nothing, 51 Haji Lane

Creative Director: Suraj Melwani, Daryl Chan
Art Director: Chris Fussner
Photographer: Djulian Chng, Jovian Lim
Models: Henry Golding, Stephanie Liu
Styling: Darren Lu Kuang
Special Thanks To: Arthur Chua

The Is This Home, Truly? exhibition at Tanjong Pagar Distripark saw a showcase of familiar artists with their new art. Curated by Zaki Razak and Zul Othman, the large white clean space held works of 6 Singaporean graffiti artists who have worked hard to become the names associated with Singapore street art scene – Antz, Skope, Slacsatu, The Killer Gerbil, TR853-1 and Zero.

Another graffiti artist was holding his exhibition at the venue as well, Daze, who had the whole next room to display his works. Some might gripe about how local artists have to ’squeeze’ in one room while the foreign artist has the room all to himself, but I say that the smaller space allowed people not just to look at art but mingle; honestly, the other room was much more quiet.

What I also liked about it was that putting different products from different creative minds all together made the walls seem like a storybook to read. Instead of repeated ideas in different forms, each section off the walls told a different story and represented a different idea which was, to me, refreshing.

The different kinds of crowd that came that night was also very fascinating; we had people in the street scene and then we had people who frequent exhibitions and buyers. The responses these two groups of people have were very different; the street scene people looked uncomfortable at first but when they got accustomed to the slightly stifling environment, they were the ones who looked like they had the most fun while the other kind of crowd just drifted by, talking in soft voices possibly deciding if they should get some art for their home.

Not much can be said to sum up the art that was on display because it is so diverse and varied, and of course, inspiring. So do go check it out for yourself. The exhibition is open till 22nd March and is located at 39 Keppel Road #02-04, Tanjong Pagar Distripark.

The time has come for our first ever party set to happen on the 20th of March 2010 and we cannot be more excited!

RCGNTN has teamed up with the party demons of Sup to bring you what is possibly the best street party ever. Starting the celebrations at 7.30pm, the quiet ho-hum Haji Lane will transform before your beady eyes to become the loudest and most people packed street in Singapore.

In line with our main purpose of showcasing local talent, RCGNIZE!- The First Edition aims to bring more awareness to the talent our country has to offer. The event will see a stellar line-up of artists who will be returning street art to the streets in a live art demonstration featuring the likes of local heroes Antz, ZERO, Sheryo, Clogtwo, Anwar as well as The Killer Gerbil. Definitely a  sight to see.

Not only that, we’ve got a photography exhibition that showcases the different aspects of local urban culture brought to light by photographers Haiqal (showcasing his work with fixie event T.O.S), Bum Ariffin (on his photos of Baybeats) and Juffrie Friday (showcasing his passion with skate photography) inside Sup Clothing itself. The store will also house works by sneaker customizers Hypethetic and Lazy as well as toy customizer Phu, doing and showing what they do best.

And who can resist FREE stuff? Doorgifts for the first 50 and if you like what we do and support our cause, do spend on our lovely limited edition tees (only 40 made!) and you may just stand to win some sneakers from our sponsors New Balance and PF Flyers as well as Hundreds tees from Boards n Stuff. Damn even I want in on that!

On top of that, it’s going to be a hell of a party with help from our sponsors (New Balance, PF Flyers, Tiger, Bacardi, Redbull, Boards n Stuff and Stage57- THANK YOU!) as well as the very generous and very crazy guys of Sup Clothing.

Here’s to an awesome night!

Personally, I believe that passion burns out of an artist or designer brightest through their experimentation with different mediums and concepts, and it is of no surprise that they go at it and produce results with flying colours. Honestly, I cannot say the same for Plastikxp, whose work seems to be fantastic no matter commissioned or experimental!

Especially loving the way he plays with shapes, lines and geometry in his work, they create illusions and create a whimsical parrallel universe where landscapes are dominated with large, bold shapes and lines. But it doesn’t stop there. The man has tons of other work which you should check out over at www.plastikxp.blogspot.com and www.stixpaint.blogspot.com.

Having landed a solo exhibition, “You’re Standing On Our Streets” sponsored by Carlsberg and Converse just last year, 21 year old Heider Ismail looks set to have big things in front of him. Having established himself as a pretty dope BMX photographer, what I love most about his photos are his excellent composition and play on lighting. As you know BMX riders are pretty crazy, acquiring tons of air and are friggin’ fast that they are almost a blur, this guy can capture them at their peak and bring beauty into the extreme sport.

Perhaps one of his strongest points about his photography is his use of lighting in plenty of his night shots. No easy feat, it  injects the “epic” juice into the photograph without missing a crucial detail. His secret? Trial and error. Check out more of his work over at trnsm.blogspot.com

For the first time in Singapore, Red Bull will be hosting it’s popular international pop art competition here on our sunny island. We have come to associate Red Bull with vibrancy and creativity and this competition proves that the brand strives for nothing less.

Red Bull Art of Can was officially launched on the 1st of March, and will be concluding with an exhibition for 10 days at the new *SCAPE from 2nd to 11th of July and finally a judging. The only rule participants have to abide to is to use Red Bull’s trademark cans as part of their artwork, which deserves more thumbs up from us for their recycling efforts.

The great thing about Red Bull Art of Can competition is that anyone can take part and the sky’s the limit. I love how they don’t put a cap on anyone’s creativity because creativity is wild and unpredictable. And the prizes are nothing less than the best, I personally feel that getting even the 3rd prize would make me a very happy winner; the prizes are a trip for 2 to Berlin, weekend trip for 2 to Melbourne and a Canon DSLR camera for 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Red Bull sure knows how to make people happy.

It’s a win-win situation for everyone because even the public (for the self-proclaimed uncreative people) can get in on the fun by voting on their website! A lucky voter will win a Canon digital camera.

SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! Registration is now open online at www.redbullartofcan.sg from now to 15 May!

Clogtwo is dbl O’s featured artist for the month, and if you missed out his opening exhibition or came in a little late, you would’ve missed this ingenious video thought out by the man himself. Screened when the exhibition was about to start, the video is proof of the effort put in by the artist, who thoughtfully put up a short skit where he was caught by terrorists and couldn’t appear at the exhibition.

Clog’s work never ceases to impress, and his new work “The TerrorWrist” is of no exception. The big-ass 6×3 meter mural pictured above depicts the meaning of Scientology translated through his own vision, with the analytical mind battling the reactive mind in the struggle between religion and science.

above: Organic Pseudo People
Totally love the way he incorporates the body’s inner organs such as the heart, brains, guts and gore.

above: Tumorism on a skate deck

above: Circus Freaks

above: The Virgin Mary (Science vs Religion) – via Syamim Mom (c) 2010

On top of that, Clogtwo also released an album titled “We’re Not Enemies”, a collaboration between five non-musicians, namely Imran Zainal, Desmond Shen, Musa Bagushair as well as members of Electrocaine Avneesh and Clogtwo himself, to produce an experimental album based on actual occurences that our beloved world is facing today. A pretty good listen, and an intriguing one at that.

Overall, the experience was a good one. Though more can be done to make the place more conducive for showcasing artwork, it is a good initiative by dbl O. Check out more of Clogtwo’s work over at www.clogtwo.com.

Kudos to the guys for coming up with this bloody awesome video, the first ever to marry both extreme sports- drifting by the 9tro drifters and breaking by the Radikal Forze bboys. Doing what they do best in one video, you can say that this is definitely uniquely Singapore and out of this world!

On a side note, the Radikal Forze boys will be opening their dance studio in June this year,so show your support in raising funds for this by purchasing tickets to watch their b-boy jam which will involve over 200 b-boys & b-girls from all around the world. For more info, visit their website at www.radikalforzecrew.com/jaminfo2010/

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