Little Artists’ 20th Anniversary at National Gallery Singapore

The Little Artists 20th Anniversary LAUREATES Exhibition at National Gallery Singapore from 2nd –3rd September, 2017 was a landmark twentieth anniversary celebration of our studio and the students who have helped shape our mission. We chose the National Gallery Singapore for this special exhibition because it is the world’s largest public display of modern Southeast Asian art. Students were honoured to show their works in such a revered gallery meant for Master Artists like Kusama, Picasso, Van Gogh etc. The LAUREATES Exhibition was the culmination of months of work on original concepts by 260 student artists together with the careful guidance of their specialist teachers. It was especially meaningful that this exhibition of our emerging artists was held at the same time as Master Artist, Yayoi Kusama’s, Life Is the Heart of a Rainbow Exhibition – one of the worlds most influential artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.

The Exhibition and event included installations, oral stories via student videos featured on YouTube, trophy awards ceremonies, and a series of talks by luminaries from the fields of International Diplomacy, Contemporary Arts, and Banking. Four Thousand visitors came to see the works and interact with the artists, filling the space with enthusiastic appreciation and sharing. In addition to celebrating our participating artists we also took the time to highlight our Little Artists Achievers who had been accepted to prestigious institutions from SOTA to LASALLE to Cornell University of the Ivy League and Parsons School of Design in NYC.

Industry Leaders inspired the students through engaging talks before giving them individualized trophies, including: Chief Guest, Ambassador, Deputy High Commissioner of India to Singapore, Mr. Ninad Deshpande who highlighted the richness of art in Singapore; Guest of Honor and noted Contemporary Artist and Senior Fellow in the Office of the President, LASALLE College of the Arts, Mr. Milenko Prvacki who gave a talk on the ‘Materialization of Ideas’; Guest of Honor and Banking luminary, Mrs. Ong-Ang Ai Boon, Director, Association of Banks in Singapore inspired parents to think more broadly about careers of the future; Special Guests and panelists, Mr. Alan Koh, Director, Affordable Art Fair and Ms. Saskia Joosse, Owner, Pop and Contemporary Fine Art Gallery spoke about how to get accepted by a gallery and an art fair; Special Contemporary Artist Guests and panelists, Lydia Janssen, represented by REDSEA Gallery, and Nicola Anthony, represented by Intersections Gallery spoke about the many potential roads of an artist and the path to representation; and, Special Higher Education Guest, Dr. Trisha Craig, Dean of CIPE, Yale-NUS College spoke about the importance of liberal arts learning. Through each talk and panel discussion, our emerging artists gained insight into the road ahead and many future possibilities.

This 20th Anniversary event also marked the official launch of Artrageous Pte Ltd – a contemporary art events company within the Little Artists Group. As Artrageous’ first exhibition and event, the positive public response to these pioneering young and mature emerging artists helped set the course for future art explorations. As social giving is a core pillar of Artrageous Pte Ltd, we printed a dozen different postcards featuring various children’s artworks, as well as sold tickets to the LAUREATES Exhibition, and donated this to The Singapore Children’s Society. The immediate outcome of this exposure was that participating emerging artist, Gadiel, 8yrs, with a piece called “Save the Ocean”, was bought by Art Porters Gallery and is now on exhibit there.

Little Artists together with Artrageous expects to continue to revel in such wonderful stories of talent triumphing over age, and has received meaningful media coverage in the Singapore Art Gallery Guide, Expat Living, Expat Choice Asia, The A-List, Artitude, High Net Worth, Teenage Magazine, Project Care, Today, Weekender, Straits Times, TATINIS, Yale-NUS College, as well as on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. This first show in the LAUREATES Exhibition Series was a resounding success and we take this moment to celebrate all who took part, and all future talents still to reveal to the world.