Singapore

Explore The Unchartered Urban Street Art in SG Street Festival 2017

July 14, 2017

Who doesn’t like graffiti art? Oh well, probably not all people, but if you are an art lover then you probably share the same feeling like me when I run into this urban street art among the shops at Bugis Junction, Singapore.

It was the annual Singapore Street Festival (SSF) which was held from 2 June until 2 July 2017. The festival that celebrates young talents in Asia. The theme of the festival this year was Unchartered. The meaning of the theme was more about traversing into territory that has yet to be explored. I love festivals, especially when it comes to the art festival. This festival was quite exciting though, for it is a platform for budding young talents to showcase their diverse skills and crafts.

The Collaboration

As it mentioned in their official website SSF Street Art Showcase this year focuses on collaborations. It is a cultural norm in street art that artists take on collaborative opportunities when creating their art. Collaborations are not always easy; there is a need to find harmony and balance so as not to overpower one another’s style. Often, this creates tension, as they step into the “unchartered”, out of their comfort zones as they try to combine two or more differing styles.

Following its theme “unchartered”, you might find out out the harmony and balance in these pieces where the showcase invited two or more artists to work together on a canvas, trying out of their comfort zones as they tried to mesh different styles of art together in order to create one coherent masterpiece.

The Musings

When it comes to collaborative artwork, the artists learned the importance of flexibility as well as to give and take since they had to collaborate in one canvas.

It was a surprise for me to enjoy graffiti art in Singapore though. I used to live here, and I knew that graffiti is often labeled as vandalism in Singapore. It was a delightful moment to see and enjoy the artists having fun though in the short festival. Still, I guess the artists could feel a sense of pride when they see people either children or elderly came across and enjoy their art, most would take pictures of the arts. The graffiti was more than just pretty to look at.

Again, art is about learning yourself and others everywhere.