The Star Online: Lifestyle: Arts & Fashion

Posted: 03 Jul 2011 02:14 AM PDT

Visitors get to immerse themselves in famed works by two geniuses in exhibitions created around a multi-sensory approach.

MANY luminaries have daubed their names indelibly on the world of art, leaving behind works that are adored and dissected years after their creation. But only a handful are so incredibly famous that even casual observers of the visual arts scene instantly recognise their names.

Vincent van Gogh and Salvador Dalí are two such artistic geniuses.

Granted, both men are equally famous for their outsized personalities. Van Gogh is as well known for cutting off his own left ear in a fit of madness as he is for creating sublime pieces like Sunflowers and The Starry Night. Dalí's mustachioed countenance and flamboyant behaviour was as commented upon as his contributions to Surrealism.

Nevertheless, any art lover worth his salt would kill – or at least shove a couple of people out of the way – for a chance to personally experience the works of these two men. While vastly different in terms of their output, each left behind a unique legacy that changed the way the world saw "art".

It is this legacy that the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, celebrates with its two current exhibitions: Van Gogh Alive and Dalí: Mind Of A Genius. Presenting the works in a completely original and unique setting, the stunning lotus-inspired museum invites visitors to not only familiarise themselves with the art pieces, but also to enjoy themselves while doing so.

"Most museums can be very intimidating, and this has always bothered me," says museum director Tom Zaller.

"I want whatever we bring in to be accessible. Our exhibits will always be things that sound interesting and have a degree of popularity, and they will be introduced in a way that even people who don't know anything (about the show) will be able to enjoy.

"We want people to come in, have a great time, and hopefully, they'll learn something, too."

Nowhere is this ethos more apparent than in Van Gogh Alive, a multi-sensory presentation of the post-Impressionist painter's life and works.

Over 40 high-definition projectors are used to project about 3,000 super-large format images onto surfaces within a custom-designed gallery. The moving images combine photographs of the artist's life, handwritten letters, and his paintings, and are choreographed to a meticulously synchronised musical score of classical pieces from his time.

Exploring Van Gogh's life from 1880 to 1890 (when he tragically shot himself), the show centres around his time in Arles, Saint Remy and Auvers-sur-Oise in France, where he created many of his timeless masterpieces.

"It is not just an exhibition; it is an emotional, evocative experience where you are immersed visually, aurally and physically in Van Gogh's life and work," explains Zaller. "It's a very visceral, personal experience."

Made available by Grande Exhibitions Australia under the artistic direction of VisionsCom, France, Van Gogh Alive floods your senses from the moment you enter the gallery space. Not only are the images projected onto the walls and floor, but the cavernous hall is split by columns and islands of different sizes, which double as projection surfaces.

Each sequence of images is about 30 minutes long, but it doesn't really matter which point you catch it at. The images swirl and move in time to the Romantic-era music, zooming in and out as they undulate over the slopes and corners of the room. It is a multi-dimensionary experience; moving around the space automatically yields a new angle or point of view. Indeed, the best way to take it in is to slowly walk around the whole space, lingering at points that particularly interest you.

As Van Gogh's famed cypresses, flowers, wheat fields and portraits magnify around you, each brushstroke and each dazzling drop of colour becomes intensely obvious, and draws you right into his works.

As for the musical accompaniment, it is nothing short of inspired. Elegantly moving from light-hearted to passionate to darkly foreboding to complement the mood of the images, the music provides an emotional connection and depth that is very unusual in an exhibition.

So hypnotic and absorbing is the experience, one can quite easily spend a couple of hours sitting in the space, or drift in several times over the course of a visit.

In its own way, Dalí: Mind Of A Genius is equally immersive, placing visitors squarely in the surreal mind of the Spanish Catalan artist who is perhaps the best known of the Surrealists (although he also dabbled in Dadaism and Cubism).

Combining excerpts from Dalí's life with his artworks in a dreamlike setting, the museum pays ultimate homage to the eccentric genius. From zany corridors and slanting frames to a towering display of furniture drifting up a wall, it is an exhibition that is as visually arresting as it is enlightening.

This, of course, is thanks in no small part to Dalí's works themselves, each of which offer a vividly original point of view that's as bizarre as it is beautiful. Wandering around his works is truly an adventure into the subconscious, where dream and reality merge into fluid concepts.

Dalí explored a wide range of artistic expressions, ranging from paintings, sculptures, literature and cinema to decorative art, fashion, furniture and jewellery. This exhibition, showcasing pieces from The Stratton Foundation, focuses more on his sculptures, lithographs, decorative art, furniture and jewellery. Over 250 pieces are on display, grouped under three themes: Femininity And Sensuality, Religion And Mythology, and Dreams And Fantasy.

"The idea of the exhibition is to understand the man behind the artist," explains Lise MacDonald, ArtScience Museum's project manager and curator, who personally oversees Dalí: Mind Of A Genius. "Dalí was an artist without any boundaries, and the themes characterise the wide span of his creations."

MacDonald adds that she also wanted to show how Dalí's highly symbolic art brought the subconscious to the forefront. "We wanted to highlight the contrast and coming together of the dream and reality."

Seeing the artworks grouped under their respective themes provides unique insight into Dalí's mind. Under Femininity And Sensuality, pieces such as Woman Aflame – a sculpture which shows a woman with drawers on her body set aflame – hint at both his love and fear of the feminine.

Space Venus, too, brings together some of his most famous symbols, including the melted clock, ants and an egg. Perhaps most captivating is Anthropomorphic Cabinet, where drawers appear to take on human form.

The Religion And Mythology section, on the other hand, reflects Dalí's ambiguous relationship with the Catholic Church. It features a collection of powerful sculptures that speak of both religious fervour and sly subversion, such as Snail And The Angel, Adam And Eve, St George And The Dragon, and Unicorn. A beautifully-displayed series of lithographs depicting scenes from the Bible is another highlight of this theme.

Of course, it is in the Dreams And Fantasy section that Dalí's matchless imagination truly comes alive. From his famed melted clocks, such as Persistance Of Memory and Melted Clock, which ruminate on the impermanence of time, to the wondrous Alice In Wonderland sculpture and engravings, this is where the truly surreal takes shape.

Sculptures like Space Elephant, where an elephant on impossibly spindly legs bears an obelisk on its back, seem straight out of science fiction, while Venus With Drawers, a classically sculpted Venus interrupted with drawers, blurs the line between the traditional and the avant-garde.

Dalí enthusiasts will be further thrilled to personally see Spellbound, a massive 11mx5m painting that is the result of a collaboration between the artist and Hollywood auteur Alfred Hitchcock (the painting appeared in his film of the same name), as well as iconic furniture pieces such as the Mae West Lips Sofa and the Vis-A-Vis Sofa.

Indeed, seeing Dalí's work is not only a real privilege, but incredibly liberating as well, for here is an artist to whom imagination was the only limit. As MacDonald sums it up: "He liberated us by allowing the dream to be a part of our everyday life."

Dalí: Mind Of A Genius – The Exhibition is showing at the ArtScience Museum, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, until Oct 30, while Van Gogh Alive – The Exhibition is on show until Nov 6. Admission is S$30 (RM73) for adults, S$27 (RM66) for senior citizens, and S$17 (RM42) for children 12 and below. Opening hours are 10am to 10pm daily. For more information, visit marinabaysands.com.

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Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Ahad, 3 Julai 2011