Alive Gallery @ Downtown East

i wasnt back in singapore for long before i saw the advertisement for the Alive Gallery on TV. it was marketed as an interactive exhibition “where paintings come alive” and help you to understand and appreciate them better.

since i quite like looking at art (except modern or abstract art) and do wish i were able to appreciate them better, i headed down to check it out at Downtown East.

tickets are $17 for adults, and NTUC U card members get discounts, as well as students, senior citizens (above 55 years, $13), etc.

i think the tagline of the exhibition wasn’t inaccurate, as it featured many animated versions of paintings and even this short 3D clip that featured 4 famous classical Greek sculptures – Venus of Milo being one of them.

Unfortunately, the exhibition failed to impress.

While it did a good job of trying to make art more interesting and accessible, with one section even allowing you to talk to an animated Mona Lisa, the images were blurry and didn’t always provide enough background for the viewer to fully understand what’s going on in the painting and in the animation as well. One of the pieces – an Egyptian painting featuring a pond with animals – was animated such that there were ripples across the surface of the painting, but the end result was that you couldn’t see anything at all, not even to make out the shapes of the animals in the artwork.

Also, the organisers might have spent too much money and attention on the interactive element and neglected a significantly more important aspect – the art piece itself. For example, there was this long and frankly rather boring video clip featuring Michelangelo giving some explanation on his frescoes adorning the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel – yet the images in the clip were dark and blur, with the only other versions of the frescoes being tiny (and blurry as well) ones on the explanation panel. i mean, why bother telling a story of what a fresco is, how it was painted and the story behind its painting, when the only reference the viewer has to it is something at least this small?:

(The Last Judgement, Michelangelo)

The replicas of the paintings – actual, inanimate ones hanging on the wall – were also not very well made. I’ve seen some original versions in museums in Europe, and because I'm not very well versed in the technicalities of art appreciation, most of the time what hits me is the very bimbotic thought of, Oh these colours are so pretty – especially when looking at the pre-Renaissance (?) pieces depicting either war or holy figures, as the reds and blues used in them are quite stunning.

Sadly, the replicas here had none of the vibrancy of the originals and seemed – you’ve guessed it – slightly blurry too. Perhaps it was the dim lighting as well, but it was a bit disappointing to see paintings that i really like, such as Seurat’s Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (below) appear less pretty than they really are, especially when this exhibition is meant to stir up more interest in art – and beauty will always attract its admirers.

There were, however, two fun photo opportunities. here below, mum and i appear to have stepped right into a painting by an artist whose name i’ve unfortunately forgotten – he was hailed for his skill in the use of perspective, with the row of trees converging to a point in the distance:

and another scene from Van Gough’s Cafe Terrace at Night:

    

I think if you have children it might well be worth checking out this exhibit, but if you’re hoping to gain a lot more art education then perhaps you could give it a miss.