Becoming the region’s art hub takes decades of conscious effort, as was obvious at the fifth edition of Art Stage Singapore.
Malaysia’s strong presence at Art Stage Singapore 2015 would have passed relatively unnoticed if not for Vincent Leong’s Kenapamu Malaysia (II), an ironic jibe at the popular tourism jingle, Keranamu Malaysia. The work, under a unified South-East Asian showcase component, had the officious pictures of what looked like the constitutional monarchs and the Prime Minister, so ubiquitous in business premises, but taken from the back.
This can be read on so many levels; for a Malaysian Chinese like Goldsmith- College-trained artist Leong (b. 1979), it was probably with some ennui and estrangement, and in light of the posturing of the 3Rs (Race, Religion, Royalty) back home of late. But as was to be expected, some viewers took it as an affront to royalty and all that it stands for, and a rebuff to the ethnocentric notion of ketuanan Melayu (Malay supremacy).
