Vue Privée: The Affordable Art Fair

My truth about art: “I’m not quite sure what it means. But I know when it looks good.”

And I like the images from Vue Privée. It’s one of the many art galleries at The Affordable Art Fair. And its key niche is photography and art-related photography.  According to founder Olivier Henry, the gallery was as result of a dream: “to create an exciting platform for artists and collectors to share their love and passion”.

I like good-looking photographs. The kind that tells a story of more than 10,000 words.

The Sky Is Black by Craig Redman | Gallery: Vue Privée

This post contains additional material that I couldn’t fit into an article for CNNGo (5 galleries to visit at the Affordable Art Fair).

What is your gallery all about?

I created Vue Privée 12 years after moving to Singapore. I am a professional photographer from France, and I wanted to expand my love and passion of photography and towards the arts in general to a wider public.

Why take part in the Affordable Art Fair?

We believe that art should be accessible to a wider audience, not only to the elitist. There is a huge gap in the art world for beginning and young collectors.

Beside buying art museum posters, there is only fine art gallery works that are available for art aficionados. These works usually cost 1,000s of dollars. We wanted to fill that gap by creating museum-quality photographs and photography-inspired artworks in editions of 100. Hence making them more accessible to a wider audience.

We believe in democratizing art and that everyone should be able to own at least one original piece of art, numbered and signed, in their home. The AAF seemed to be the obvious platform for us to launch our new venture.

Les 7 pelücheüs capitaux by Olivier Henry | Galley: Vue Privée

Wouldn’t selling an art cheaply devalue it?

There is no cheap art, there is just art. The monetary value attached to an artwork is not necessarily an expression of its intrinsic worth. Something bought today for $200 from a new or emerging artist could be worth $10,000 in the future if the artist becomes a sensation.

The value of the work should first be the value it holds in the person's heart and how that person connects to it. At the end of the day, one should only buy art because he or she is in love with the art piece first.

Which artwork do you admire?

I would admire any artwork that triggers an immediate response from the heart.

It sounds clichéd, but one should not even have to consider to buy a piece that he or she does not fall in love with at first sight.

An art piece that creates inner passion is a wonderful opportunity to share with friends and family as the collector would feel excited when talking about their new possession.

Vue Privée

Where: 20 Cairnhill Road
Tel: +65 6339 6271

Music: Shirlyn Tan of The UnXpected

I first saw Shirlyn Tan at Wala Wala (31 Lorong Mambong). She was a slip of a girl with colourful streaks in her hair. She sauntered to the stage in slippers, slipped the guitar strap over her head, ohhh…how she riffed that guitar.

Her voice was earth and soul akin to Alannah Myles on Black Velvet. That night Rock (of the Jon Bon Jovi breed) wasn’t dead. And here’s hoping that it never does – at least when Rock chic Shirlyn’s up on stage.

Photo by Shirlyn Tan

This post contains additional material that I couldn’t fit into an article for CNNGo (5 great live music acts in Singapore).

How did you get started in the pub circuit?

I am a fan of live music and I used to follow a few bands for their gigs. I got the opportunity to start gigging in the now defunct Off Quay when I watched a guitarist play and asked him if we could jam together.

What’s the best thing when performing?

Getting the crowd to move with the music!

The worst?

A flying beer mug barely missed me when a fight broke out midway through my gig!

Walk Away by UnXpected

Your thoughts on your audience

What an eclectic bunch of people! Young or old, they really love the music we play, which is why we keep at it. The music that we play hardly gets any airtime on the radio but we choose the best that we can offer and love to share it.

Your fans say?

Mostly good things, I hope. It's nice when they come up and tell me the memories that the songs bring back, and how they relate to the music.

Where does she play?

• Thursdays & Saturdays at Wala Wala -- Shirlyn & The UnXpected
• Friday at Barstop (Devonshire Road) -- Ren & Shirlyn

All I wanna do is make love to you–UnXpected

Music: Chicken Shack Revival

“So long
It was so long ago
But I've still got the blues for you.”

- Still Got The Blues by Gary Moore

This is an unusual find – a band that plays old blues, jazz, swing and roots music.

The Chicken Shack Revival is comprised of four friends: lead man and multi-instrumentalist Louis Lam; bassist Chris Gomez; drummer Justin Teo; and guitarist Gregory Leow.

Photo by Chicken Shack Revival

Jammin’ the Blues isn’t the easiest road for the band. As Gregory Leow says:

“Pub owners feel that Blues doesn’t sell. It’s really due to the stereotype that Blues is boring, very samey and depressing, or too rockish and loud.

 

“Truth be told, it’s the sound for much of Blues music that’s out there. So I don’t really blame them for sticking to top 40s and established genres to sell their bar (Funk, Jazz, Latin and Bossa Nova) but hey, we try.”

And so they do.

This post contains additional material that I couldn’t fit into an article for CNNGo (5 great live music acts in Singapore).

How did you get started in the pub circuit?

We started by asking around for pub gigs through friends and family. Then it became a mailing list approach, and we got offers to play. We also sent emails to pub owners and showed them our gig list and YouTube videos with the hope that they’ll take us up.

We get quite a bit of repeat business from bar owners who have taken a chance on us and we credit them for being forward-thinking.

What’s the best thing that happened?

The usual applause, encore and dancing people. Personally as a guitarist, the cheers that I get from doing a conceived surf medley is satisfying.

The worst?

An unappreciative audience. On the whole, expats seem to get our music more than locals, which is a shame. We try our best to reach out to Singaporeans to show them that Blues music is not slow, boring or with droning vocals. :P

Oh Baby - Little Walter @ Prince of Wales (Singapore)

Thoughts on your audience?

The audience reacts to a band playing well and having a good time. It’s not just about the skill of the band but how entertaining we are. So we inject some humour into it by putting little Showtune licks that people might recognise – Pop Goes the Weasel, Sheik of Araby etc – to break up the Blues form.

What do fans say?

Aside from the usual compliments on our playing ability, people who haven’t seen our band normally say that they didn’t think Blues sounded like this, and that it is refreshing to hear us.

Where do they play?

Chicken Shack Revival doesn’t have a fixed gig list. Do check out their Facebook Fanpage for more information.

Hossan Leong: Singapore Boy

“Any ACS boys? All grow up to become con-men … I should know, I’m one.”

I wrote and filmed Hossan Leong for an interview with CNNGo.com. Hossan’s one of Singapore’s funniest comedians and he has some of the strongest and funniest insights into our society.

The crowd laughs because it’s funny. More importantly, they know it’s true. That’s Hossan Leong for you -- the “Singapore boy” who turns mundane observations into side-splitting jokes.

Here’s more….

Interview with Hossan Leong

Leong isn’t just a comedian. He’s also an award-winning stage actor, radio show host, director, and knight as he has received the Order of Arts and Letters from the French government for his ongoing promotion of cultural ties between France and Singapore…

Read more: Hossan Leong: Making comedy in Singapore, with a little help from his friends

Interview with Bey Kok Cheng: Wheelchair bound & livin’ it up

Bey Kok Cheng is a smiley man despite being in a wheelchair. His positive vibe is quite infectious and it’s probably why he lives life as if he wasn’t wheelchair bound.

That’s my first impressions when I interviewed him.

The 34-year old entrepreneur started two business ventures, gotten married, and started a Facebook fanpage to share his thoughts on living. I think that he’s the epitome of looking on the bright side even "In brightest day, in blackest night".

Comments welcome and I'd appreciate your candour.

Interview with Bey Kok Cheng: Wheelchair bound & livin’ it up

Link to article: Akan Datang!

Interview with Kumar: Singapore’s #1 drag queen

Interviewed Kumar, drag queen and funnyman extraordinaire, for a story on CNNGo. Captured it all on video. So I wrote it up, got photos and edited the interview into a video.

Kumar’s quite the interviewee as he’s amazingly quick witted and loquacious. And his answers aren’t on-the-beaten track. Catch him at Three Monkeys at Orchard Towers on Fridays and Saturdays, and Hard Rock Café on Mondays.

Link to article: CNNGo

Peace One Day: 21 Sept

If you looked for one day of peace but couldn’t find it…what would you do then?

Filmmaker Jeremy Gilley tried to look for one day of peace. But couldn’t find it at all. Not a paltry 24 hours of non violence within any continent – Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe or Australia.

And that drove him to launch his Peace One Day where one day is dedicated to 24 hours of non-violence.

“Pretty cool. But what’s the big deal with just one day of peace?” you might ask.

Oh nothing much, except for ruminating on what might have been… In a day of peace Gilley estimated that we could vaccinate a country, or drop enough food aid to feed starving nations, or even teach much-needed skills to anyone.

But now they’ve either gone up in gunpowder and artillery shells, or spent cowering behind mud packed walls. 

So if you think a day of peace is important, then keep 21 Sept circled on your calendar. And tell your friends and friend’s friends.

Understatement of the day: “The important thing about it is to keep talking about it and keep trying, you know.” – Chris Martin, Coldplay.

Read it over at Peace One Day

Turning an interview into an audio stream

I like new stuff and ways of presenting things. So I thought “why not stream parts of an interview to accompany the written portion?”

I went off, did the interview, wrote the story.

And cringed when I listened to it on mp3.

“Errr… i think… I mean y’know that it really isn’t like that…”

We don’t speak like we read, do we?

So here’s eight short tips to turning your interview into an audio stream.

1. Start off the interview with an explanation.
2. Ask the interviewee to pause after every answer.
3. Pronounce your words care-ful-ly. Wecan’tunderstandwhatyou’resayingifyou’rerattlingitofflikeamachinegun! Whew!
4. Make sure that you’re not “eeee”, “ahhh”, “orrrrhhh”, “errrrmmm” when phrasing questions. Editing it out is a bitch.
5. Record in a quiet environment. Otherwise you might just inadvertently pick up things that weren’t met for your ears (“Ehhh, I heard that she went for breast surgery…”).
6. Don’t move the microphone when we’re speaking. Screechy noises are not good on the ears!
7. Make sure that you’ve got a script. And your interviewee has read it.
8. Inject enthusiasm into your voice or find someone who can.

For more podcasting tips head to Jack Herrington’s O’Reilly page.

I used Wavepad sound editor.

Fourwallsofsound: Mixcloud’s top community member

Now this is almost fame for you.

My mate – fourwallsofsound – was interviewed by Mixcloud for their Best of 2009 series.

It’s the guy at the bottom right.

I’ve extracted a part of the interview where he describes himself as:

“Just a fella who grew up on music that I was exposed to in the 80s and heard it evolve through the 90s. The first time I heard the electronic sound at a club was at a John Kelley guest night at Zouk, Singapore circa 1996 and I was hooked. Many educational club nights later, I bought my Technics MK2s, a Pioneer DJM 500 (on hire purchase naturally), pulled out my dad’s knackered old Koss’ and figured out how to mix records in a way that would connect with a crowd in the same way that each track was connecting with me; along the way I’ve played some small gigs and parties as fourwallsofsound, but remain a bedroom DJ at heart.”

Head over to the full interview for more salacious details. And drop him a line on his profile.

30 Love .. Sometimes That's All You Got by Fourwallsofsound on Mixcloud

PS: Dude, I’m done my best to pimp you out… :D Keep the music flowing.