Digital Portfolio

Quarter Four Museum/Gallery Visit

Botticelli Exhibition at MGM Macau VS. SAS Photography Exhibition

• One similarity between the two exhibitions were that they both contained prints. Since the SAS exhibition was of photography, obviously it had prints of the photographs. And although I expected the Botticelli exhibition to display genuine works from the painter, most of the paintings being displayed there were actually only prints. However, unlike the SAS exhibition, they were prints of paintings and not photos. It was a bit disappointing.

Disappointing that I was only able to see a print of this piece

SAS Prints

• A major difference between the two exhibitions was that one showed works of a professional and incredibly famous artist while the other showed works of multiple student photographers. While the SAS students were taking these photos for a class and will probably never pursue a career in the subject, Sandro Botticelli worked as an artist and was commissioned by several people to create his paintings. Also Botticelli would have had years of training while the SAS students would have only taken a few classes.

Would have commissioned portraits of his patrons

Photography of an SAS student

• The exhibitions were also housed in very different locations. The Botticelli exhibition was placed in a  hotel in a special space specifically designed for and dedicated to art exhibitions. It's very clean with it's walls that are only used to hang works of art. The SAS photography exhibition's location is very different. It was placed in a school's multi-purpose atrium with it's art being placed on cork board panels. The school exhibition is also outdoors and thus very open which invites more people to come look at it while the Botticelli exhibition was indoors and kind of hidden from public view.

A Botticelli piece hung on the wall of the MGM Art Space

SAS Photography was hung on Cork Board

• The medium of the artworks was also a big difference between the two exhibitions. The SAS exhibition used photography while the MGM exhibition showed paintings that used oil paint. They're very different because oil paint is a very traditional art medium, that would've been available in Boticelli's time (15th/16th centuries), while photography is a very modern digital medium that has only been available since the 19th century.

One of the only original works which was housed in a special small room

The exhibition was placed outside

Quarter Two Gallery Visit

1. This was probably my favorite piece of his that he showed. I love how it wasn't just an aesthetically pleasing piece of art but a social commentary about how technology is affecting the way we live. And he also talked about how he added a personal touch to it by having the guy watch TV indoors because his father had social anxiety.

2. I really like how although he acknowledged the fact that getting a successful art career can be tough , he didn't discourage pursuing it. And hearing his experiences from before he got successful when he worked at a restaurant and still remaining positive and how he never stopped pursuing his dream was really inspirational.

3. I think it's really cool how he branches into many different areas of art like he illustrates magazine covers, writes & illustrates children's books, draws his own comics. It's really nice to see how he has a job where he can do whatever he likes. It's nice to see how although art is seen as a really difficult career path to take, there are actually a lot of jobs that require it. 

4. It was also really inspirational how he never stopped drawing even after being rejected multiple times for years. It shows that if you don't give up you will eventually achieve what you want. I want to double major in graphic design and go into a job that would incorporate it in the future and it's really nice to see that it is possible to make a career out of it.

Museum/Gallery Visit

  National Museum of Singapore 

(They had run out of the English pamphlets) 

I hadn't been to this museum in quite a while, so it was nice to go back and see it.

 1. This was really cool. I've always been really interested in vintage packaging designs - I even have a few old coke bottles that I found at a thrift store. But these were from the 1950s and they were brands I had never even heard of like Green Spot and Framroz. And the coffee cups were so tiny and cute and those had brands that I recognized like Milo and Ovaltine.

2. This bicycle is so cute, it's in my favorite shade of green. It reminds me of the carts they use to sell ice cream nowadays but this one is from the 1960s and they used it to sell little cake pastries at hawker centers. It's pretty crazy to see how some vendors really haven't abondoned this particular form of selling goods. I think it really adds to the culture of Singapore.

3. They also had this area where you could smell different spices. I love when museums add interactive sections in their exhibit because it makes it more interesting. And in this case you could smell them and get instructions telling you how to use them. Pretty cool. 

4. These tools looked like they were used in ancient times when they were only being used like fourty to fifty years ago. It's so incredible to see how some items have been used for so long and remained unchanged. Kinda like the bicycle cart (mentioned in #2) used to sell stuff here in Singapore.