SINGAPORE – With a line-up of 114 galleries at the sophomore edition of the recently concluded Art SG, a record 45,300 visitors streamed through the halls from Jan 19 to 21 to relish some of the best international artworks today.

For those who missed out on this year’s fair, here are five artworks that stole the show, from an intriguing double portrait to an interactive plastic-based sculpture.

1. David Chan’s Lee And Raffles – 5 Stars Rising (2024)

When a viewer beholds Singaporean artist David Chan’s strikingly realistic double portrait bringing together Sir Stamford Raffles and Mr Lee Kuan Yew, does one detect likeness or antagonism?

Undoubtedly one of the most talked-about pieces at Art SG, the shared intimacy of two founders of Singapore on a single canvas is rich enough in its surreal composition to yield a thousand interpretations and talking points.

Chan, who was present at the fair, was swamped by curious visitors and students asking questions about the running cats and curios in the 160 x 200 cm painting.

He told The Straits Times that the work is part of a new series titled National Identity 4.0, which seeks to introduce political leaders to a new generation. He is working on new pieces and teases a future double portrait that will feature Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as the PM prepares to step down.

Lee And Raffles (2024) sold to a Singapore-based private collector for an undisclosed amount, and a spokesman from Art Seasons Gallery said there was considerable interest amongst collectors to be placed on a waitlist for Chan’s work.

2. Marcos Kueh’s Woven Billboards: Nenek Moyang (2023)

Draped from the ceiling in lush scrolls, Sarawak-born textile artist Marcos Kueh’s woven billboards naturally became the gravitational centre of the art fair.

The work weaves Malaysian and Bornean imagery with street advertisements and brand logos to create a delicious tapestry of modernity and tradition. They are part of Kenyalang Circus, which interrogates the artist’s identity as a Chinese-Malaysian from Borneo who currently lives among Europeans in The Netherlands.

The work, presented by Kuala Lumpur-based gallery The Back Room, consists of two editions and both were sold during the fair: one to an unnamed Singapore institution for between $50,000 to $100,000 and the other to a future private museum in the region.

3. Red Hong Yi’s Mother! (2024)

For those familiar with Malaysian artist Red Hong Yi’s large-scale installation works, such as her portrait of action star Jackie Chan made of 64,000 chopsticks, this work will appear modest – but it is also much more intimate.

Hong, as a new mother, has created a piece – a mix of body paint, embroidery, baby diapers, pregnancy test pill strap, gauze, cotton bud, stocking and napkin – that responds to the experience of motherhood in a refreshingly confessional manner.

Visitors stood in front of this work at The Back Room’s booth to read its text, almost invisible as it blends in with the background, as if to emphasise the mother’s inner monologue.

The moving text begins: “I cannot believe that I will be a mother, that my life will revolve around yours, that I will be birthing a complete new pure and innocent human with dreams and desire.”

4. Eko Nugroho’s We Are Here Now (2023)

Visitors relished a chance to step into two colourful mask sculptures by Yogyakarta-born artist Eko Nugroho and snap polaroids that were stuck onto a third sculpture in the interactive work We Are Here Now (2023).

Nugroho, who has a background in street and community-based art, fashioned the sculptures out of recycled materials such as bottle caps collected in his home town in a comment on plastic waste and environmental awareness.

The artist said in a press statement that the interactive work is “a symbol of our collective responsibility, representing our shared commitment to find solutions and break the cycle”.

Presented by UBS, also the founding and lead partner of Art SG, visitors have posted photographs of the artwork under the hashtag #weareherenow.

5. Mona Hatoum’s Fossil Folly (2023)

You can be forgiven for missing Mona Hatoum’s humble pair of red oil barrels amid blue-chip gallery White Cube’s superstar line-up of artists such as English artist Tracey Emin and German artist Georg Baselitz.

But the British-Palestinian artist’s quietly surreal work, conceived specifically for the 2023 Sharjah Biennial, rewards the eye for simplicity.

It features plant-like figures emerging from a beaten-up barrel of oil, and reads like a comment on the ability for hope to emerge from the rubble.