Annie Leibovitz on a rainy Sunday morning...

Just like yesterday, the rain didn't stop me from doing my plans for today. :)

Mon previously mentioned about the Annie Leibovitz exhibit at the Marina Bay ArtScience Museum. I asked him if he wanted to go this weekend, but he already went last Tuesday. PG Boy's friend was also interested in the exhibit, but she decided to see it on another day.. That left me and Tipz spending Sunday noontime at the museum.

Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer’s Life 1990-2005 is an exhibit currently ongoing at the Marina Bay ArtScience Museum. The retrospective features close to 200 personal and commissioned photographs by the famous American photographer.

I know Annie Leibovitz because of her work with US Vogue. She is certainly one of the star photographers of the fashion bible.

After visiting the exhibit, I am now a bigger fan of her work. The exhibit included landscapes, fashion photos, her coverage of the war in Sarajevo, family photos, and photos that showed her wonderful relationship with Susan Sontag. This last category was a complete surprise. I had no idea she was a companion of the late esteemed American literary icon.

We joined a guided tour that lasted for about 40 minutes. Afterwards, we stayed behind for another hour and a half. Haha! I didn't expect it would take us two hours to see the exhibit. It was that good!

The exhibit runs until October 2014. Tix is $15. $13 for residents including work pass holders.

Princely Treasures a third time...

I visited the Princely Treasures from the House of Liechtenstein exhibit at the National Museum of Singapore yesterday.

This is my third time to visit the exhibit. Haha!

Yup, yup. I can't get enough of it. There is something different about this third time though. The first two visits involved me joining the guided tours. For the first visit, it was with my Mom. For the second visit, it was with PG Boy.

Since PG Boy is away til next week for work, I decided I'll use the solo time to do errands and other things I've been wanting to do. That included visiting the Princely Treasures exhibit again. Only this time, I did not want to join any tour.

Instead, I want to visit my favourite pieces from the exhibit and just take the time to admire the works of arts.

Here are my ten reasons I'm visiting a third time. Hehe. 1. Pietra Dura Tabletop (c. 17th century); 2. Tapestries (c. 1690); 3. Raphael's Portrait of a Man (c. 1502/1504); 4. Guido Reni's St. Magdalene (first half of 17th Century); 5. Rubens' Portrait of Clara Rubens (c. 1616); 6. Rubens' The Lamentation (c. 1614/1615); 7. Jan Brueghel's Landscape with the Young Tobias (c. 1598); 8. Rembrandt's Cupid with Soap Bubble (c. 1634); 9. Waldmüller's Flowers in a Porcelain Vase (c. 1843); and 10. Low Kway Soo's Portrait of Tan Jiak Kim (c. 1919).

If I were to be asked which paintings are my faves, I'll have to say it's Rubens' The Lamentation and Reni's St. Magdalene.

There is something in both paintings that is just able to draw emotion from the viewer. For Reni's Magdalene, I am fascinated by how Reni was able to portray Magdalene in a very saintly manner but still retain that slightly eroticised feel because of the way her hands were painted.

Meanwhile, The Lamentation was a brilliant, brilliant art piece not just because it's done by Rubens but because of the fantastic use of colour and the style of painting. Try standing in front of the huge painting and just admire it. I guarantee you emotions will be drawn after a few minutes of examining the painting. Take a look at the colour of the dead Christ. Take a look at what the Holy Mother is doing. Identify who the characters are.

To me, though the subject is a bit depressing, the fact that it was able to elicit a response is one of the reasons it is such a great masterpiece.

Anyway, the Princely Treasures exhibit is ending on 29 September. I think I'm ready to say goodbye to the exhibit.

On to the next one... The next exhibit I am very excited about since it's something more "local..."

More deets soon.

Turning 28...again...

Monday (aka my birthday) was a day I was feeling extra, extra grateful.

I decided to take the day off from work so that I can just enjoy the day.

Woke up at 5AM and prepped for church. Headed to St. Anthony of Padua in Marsiling for the 630AM Mass. I was happy when one of the aunties approached me and asked if I was willing to do the offertory. Hehe!

Headed back home and spent some time Vibering with Tey.

At 10AM, left the house and made my way to Somerset. Had brunch and chikahan with Richie at Jones the Grocer in Manarin Gallery. This guy is one of my closest friends in SG. We've known each other for more than 10 years!

From Somerset, we took the bus to Bras Basah to get to the National Museum. I told Richie I wanted to check out the exhibit The Wedding Dress. Apparentl, he was also interested. Good to see works by some of the world's best couturiers.

Afterwards, I headed to Cathay because I wanted to attend gym in the evening. Killed time by watching the Korean film Soar into the Sun. It was so so. Just wanted to kill time. Hehe!

By time time it finished, I had enough time for treadmill before doing back-to-back Pump and Combat classes.

Good day it was! :)

Hyung Koo Kang's exhibit at SAM...

Another recent exhibit I got to visit was The Burning Gaze which featured works by Korean artist Hyung Koo Kang.

The exhibit was at the SIngapore Art Museum, and I got to see the exhibit for free because I went on a Friday at 6PM. (Free entrance to SAM every Friday, 6-9PM).

Almost all the pieces on display were paintings of well-known personalities, as well as a number of self-portraits.

From what I read, Kang's technique is a style that seems like photorealism.Simply put, works under this genre are paintings that appear photographic.

And appear like photographs the paintings did.

I couldn't help but be amazed at the tremendous attention to detail seen on each work.

Most of the pieces were huge, occupying a significant part of each wall of the exhibit space.

Intense. Hyper-realistic. These were some of the words use dto describe the works of Kang.

I have to agree.

Another thing I have to agree on is how SAM described what the paintings do to exhibit visitors.

"In our media-saturated age, the sheer quantity of images that we encounter daily in print and digital forms encourages us to look, but not see. Kang's paintings precisely force us to stop, and see," wrote SAM.

Looking back now, that's exactly what I did while I was at SAM for the exhibit. I stopped. And I didn't just look, but I saw. And I was conquered by the paintings.

Vacheron Constantin exhibit...

The other highlight of the weekend was a visit to the National Museum for the Vacheron Constantin exhibit.

As I mentioned in a previous blog entry, I was quite sure my friend Mon would be interested to go see the exhibit. If I-vanchy were here, he would've probably gone as well.

Mon and I agreed to meet at the museum by 4PM. Another friend from Manila, Kate, joined us. Yey.

The exhibit was set up at one of the halls in the basement.
More than 100 pieces were on display. Some pieces date back to the 1800s. Some pieces are very new.

As we went around the exhibit, I couldn't help but be in awe of the patience, dedication and skill of the Vacheron Constantin people. (Uhm, what do you call watchmakers?)

The patience and attention to detail needed to finish one timepiece was just tremendous. I can't imagine myself doing it.

Between being a timepiece creator and an artisan for uhm, Hermes (hehe!), I'd choose the latter. I think I would be better at making bags by hand.

Anyway, my favorite pieces from the exhibit are the ones that featured so much detail. The ones that had paintings and engravings really, really caught my attention.

Amazing, it was just amazing.

Now I have an idea why some timepieces are priced the way they are. Hehe!
Still, I don't see myself getting one of these timepieces even if I can afford it. Maybe because I'm really a bag person.

Vacheron Constantin at the National Museum...

Vacheron Constantin.

I only know the brand because of its shop in Greenbelt 5, which is right beside other luxury watch stores.

I didn't know that it is the world's oldest watch manufacturer. Since 1755! Wow! That's a lot of history.

Though I'm not really a watch enthusiast (I've been using the same watch for the past how many years!!!), anything historical is something I find interesting. Haha!

When I saw that the watch manufacturer is having an exhibit at the National Museum, I definitely wanted to check it out.

Some 180 exceptional heritage pieces. Archived documents. Watchmaking tools.
The best part - free admission. Haha!

The person who I thought would be most interested in this exhibit is friend Mon. I messaged him about the exhibit, and true enough he was planning to go visit.

All we have to do now is schedule the visit. Woohoo!

Treasures of Vacheron Constantin : A legacy of watchmaking since 1755
Exhibition Gallery 1, Basement | 24 June - Fri 14 Aug 2011 | 10am - 6pm

Make time for it.