The National Gallery Singapore was opened 2015 and is a smart new art museum housed in a pair of colonial-era buildings, the former Supreme Court and the adjacent City Hall.

There was a temporary exhibition held in February this year on Minimalist Art. Many just don’t get Minimalism. Put it down to being unsophisticated ignoramus but take a look at this piece for example called “Blank Paper” by Liu Jianhua.

The explanation reads: “At first glance, Blank Paper resembles three large, empty sheets of paper … which is in fact white porcelain … each monochromatic rectangle is devoid of narrative elements, suggesting a tabula rasa upon which we can project our own meaning.” Is the artist having a good laugh at how he can pass off this work as art?

This work is a little better, a one-tonne cube of dried Pu’er tea leaves by Ai Weiwei. Other pieces include a room full of blue LED lights representing “the radiance of human life”, another room bathed in intense yellow neon light which makes your skin look blotchy, and a thick carpet of porcelain sunflower seeds.

Fortunately the National Gallery has a large collection of more traditional paintings, mostly by Southeast Asian artists, which is more everyone’s cup of tea.

Here is a selection:

This article first appeared on thriftytraveller.wordpress.com