Description
T.K. Sabapathy has been writing on the art of Southeast Asia for over four decades (1973-2015), as a critic, curator and art historian. This collection of his work, representing the scope and depth of Sabapathy's output, and highlighting his most important and influential writings, is also a survey of the vast changes in the landscape of art in the region over the period.
A historian and educator, penetrating critic and ardent advocate, Sabapathy's early scholarly engagements were marked by clear commitments to the art historiography of the Hindu-Buddhist traditions of Southeast Asia. He later emerged as an eloquent proponent of modern and contemporary Southeast Asian art. His art historical methods, critical documentation, deep dialogue with artists and detailed explication of their works have helped define Singapore and Malaysian art. His extensive studies of Southeast Asian art and artists have helped set the course of art discourse in the region.
This publication provides an opportunity for more focused (re)reading, review and renewed consideration of T.K. Sabapathy's rich body of work, to further fuel modern and contemporary art writing, research and exhibition-making.
About the Author
T.K. Sabapathy is currently an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore, where he teaches the history of art.
Reviews
"Reading this anthology is a revelation, like encountering a Chinua Achebe novel or listening to Gayatri Spivak speak for the first time." - Mekong Review
"[A] painstakingly conceived book containing some of Sabapathy's most seminal essays, articles and speeches, is a weighty tome befitting a scholar of his stature. [...] Every dip into the book's textual tensility yields novel insights and elaborate apprehensions of the push and pull of history upon art, and art upon history. [...] Writing the Modern is a vivifying read. Sabapathy writes with such flair, such verve, such density of purpose, it is not unusual to find oneself re-reading many of his sentences simply to revel in his consummate command of the English language." - Arts Equator
"In keeping with Sabapathy's postwar Euro-American schooling, this compendium-including monographic articles, catalogue essays, newspaper features and exhibition reviews, conference papers, and public speeches-reflects his highly eclectic but always thoughtful take on Southeast Asia's modern art developments. Drawing on the theoretic and iconographic methods of Western scholars such as Michael Baxandall, E.H. Gombrich, Rosalind Krauss, Herbert Read, Barbara Rose, and Michael Sullivan (all amply cited in his texts), Sabapathy demonstrates an acute sensitivity to the visual, tactile, and symbolic qualities of artistic mediums." - Art in America
Book Information
ISBN 9789811157639
Author T.K. Sabapathy
Format Paperback
Page Count 448
Imprint Singapore Art Museum (Administrative Office)
Publisher Singapore Art Museum (Administrative Office)
A historian and educator, penetrating critic and ardent advocate, Sabapathy's early scholarly engagements were marked by clear commitments to the art historiography of the Hindu-Buddhist traditions of Southeast Asia. He later emerged as an eloquent proponent of modern and contemporary Southeast Asian art. His art historical methods, critical documentation, deep dialogue with artists and detailed explication of their works have helped define Singapore and Malaysian art. His extensive studies of Southeast Asian art and artists have helped set the course of art discourse in the region.
This publication provides an opportunity for more focused (re)reading, review and renewed consideration of T.K. Sabapathy's rich body of work, to further fuel modern and contemporary art writing, research and exhibition-making.
About the Author
T.K. Sabapathy is currently an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore, where he teaches the history of art.
Reviews
"Reading this anthology is a revelation, like encountering a Chinua Achebe novel or listening to Gayatri Spivak speak for the first time." - Mekong Review
"[A] painstakingly conceived book containing some of Sabapathy's most seminal essays, articles and speeches, is a weighty tome befitting a scholar of his stature. [...] Every dip into the book's textual tensility yields novel insights and elaborate apprehensions of the push and pull of history upon art, and art upon history. [...] Writing the Modern is a vivifying read. Sabapathy writes with such flair, such verve, such density of purpose, it is not unusual to find oneself re-reading many of his sentences simply to revel in his consummate command of the English language." - Arts Equator
"In keeping with Sabapathy's postwar Euro-American schooling, this compendium-including monographic articles, catalogue essays, newspaper features and exhibition reviews, conference papers, and public speeches-reflects his highly eclectic but always thoughtful take on Southeast Asia's modern art developments. Drawing on the theoretic and iconographic methods of Western scholars such as Michael Baxandall, E.H. Gombrich, Rosalind Krauss, Herbert Read, Barbara Rose, and Michael Sullivan (all amply cited in his texts), Sabapathy demonstrates an acute sensitivity to the visual, tactile, and symbolic qualities of artistic mediums." - Art in America
Book Information
ISBN 9789811157639
Author T.K. Sabapathy
Format Paperback
Page Count 448
Imprint Singapore Art Museum (Administrative Office)
Publisher Singapore Art Museum (Administrative Office)
