Art / Sake Pairing for Enchantment @ 55

Artist: Kiat with Hideyoshi LaChamte Sparkling

Kiat is a Singaporean artist who has an experience of more than 15 years. He is the founder of Freemind art process and used this practice on his artworks. His artworks can be described as primitive pop art which has won him many accolades amongst his collectors. His artworks have been exhibited in Paris, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

Kiat’s art feels playful and lighthearted, as so, the sake we chose is also not too serious. LaChamte is from an Akita sake brewery north of Japan. It is a low alcohol fruity sparkling sake that has a good balance of sourness and sweetness. You get cheerful notes of white peach and honeysuckle. The duck art on the bottle is also equally whimsical.

Artist: Agnieszka Koltun with Keigetsu Junmai Daiginjo Nature

Agnieszka Koltun is a Polish artist. She describes her work as Art Photography. She has been experimenting with linear vision observation aesthetics in the urban environment. The technique is called Fikus and Pompon which is a long hard line and a soft line photography. Her work has been exhibited around the world. The Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Singapore has used her works to promote Poland.

Vertical orientation is counter intuitive to how people see the world. It limits our peripheral vision, and focus attention on the intended subject. Keigetsu makes sakes from organic rice grown in the vertical rice terraces of Tosa in Kochi Prefecture. They go up to 600m above sea level. With a mild aroma, dense flavours with good structure, its contrast reflects in its black and white bottle, which juxtaposed against Agnieszka’s black and white works.

Artist: Alan Tan with W Junmai Muroka Genshu Yamadanishiki

Alan Tan graduated from Singapore Polytechnic with a Diploma in Architecture Technologies and obtained his Business and Management BSc (Hons) degree from the University of Bradford, UK. He was an urban greenery specialist and a part-time tutor at the National University of Singapore before leaving the corporate world to pursue his dream as an artist. Alan Tan is a self-taught artist and a member of the International Art and Culture (Singapore) Federation. He harnesses the pour acrylic technique to create modern abstract artworks which incorporate lots of flow and dynamics; showering art enthusiasts and collectors with plenty of positive vibes.

Alan is a professional Architect that found art as a 2nd life passion. W is made by a 150-year-old Gifu brewery. It is a bold expression that is only allowed by labelling under a different brand, as it expresses bright pronounced flavours not usually associated with sake. This is achieved by not filtering and watering down the raw sake. Feel what the brewery creates by putting down the burden of 150 years of tradition.

Artist: Bodhi with Kamoizumi Junmai Zoka

BODHI is a Malaysian artist from Penang. He is a multidisciplinary artist who graduated from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. He is recognized for his paintings, murals, and photography. BODHI delves into traditional and unconventional mediums with innovative methodologies into his creation of art. Inspired by his religion and the diverse spiritual belief systems within his social environment, his art practice engages the concept of the afterlife and brings forth its notion and reflections from its various perspectives. BODHI has sold his works in many international exhibitions and has been featured in the media in this region.

Kamoizumi is made by a Hiroshima Brewery. From its beginning, it is strongly associated with Shinto where sake barrels are presented up as religious offerings. Their sake maintains its very traditional taste, a martyr to the old brewing methods. The current young owner, Maegaki, operates under the watchful eye of his predecessor, Maegaki Senior. Zoka is their rice fields where they grow the king of sake rice, Yamadanishiki, which is used to make this sake.

Artist: Daw Ohr Luce with Gozenshu Ukigumo Junmai

Daw Ohr Luce is an Australian artist whose work focuses on the study of light, perception of night and day and the evolution of society. His practice includes abstract painting, drawing, mixed media, digital and experimental works. He is regarded as a purist painter with a background in traditional classical art and portrait techniques. His private and corporate collections can be found in Sydney and Canberra, Australia, Singapore and Vienna, Austria.

Gozenshu is an interesting brewery in Okayama, where the owners, a young brother and sister team, use the oldest sake rice and oldest brewing methodology to make their own style of modern sake. This is a lightly fizzy nigorizake, which reminds me of drifting fluffy clouds. This sake was made through repeated trial and error, creating unique flavours that is up to personal interpretation.

Artist: Patwardhan Dhruva with Imayotsukasa Junmai Daiginjo Tiger

Patwardhan Dhruva is a young emerging artist from Singapore. Following traditional processes, he has merged vintage photographic technique and modern style to create a great sense of immediacy. His works will be introduced for the first time to the audience in Singapore.

Imayotsukasa is a brewery that make the light and dry style of sake that Niigata is famous for. Clean and refreshing, this special release is made for the 2022 tiger year, where the brewery can rise up from the dormancy during the covid period to make a fresh start.

Artist: Mark & Ina with Senkin Classic Kimoto Kamenoo

Mark Chavez and Ina Conradi are American artists. Mark is an animation design veteran who has worked on more than 15 award-winning feature films from Hollywood. As founding faculty at Nanyang Technological University Singapore’s School of Art, Design & Media, he established a content development think tank as part of his research. He makes short films and immersive interactive artworks that utilise intuitive, assumptive cultural models to describe the nature of existence as confirmed through Art/Sci concepts and experiential interpretation. In his current work, he examines AI-generated imagery using vqgan+clip techniques for NFT (non-fungible token) or crypto-art distribution at events such as Art Basel Miami 2021.

Senkin brewery, from Tochigi, loves to creates postmodern style of sakes that subvert expectations. This is a special sake that has been aged by myself for 5 years. Kimoto sake typical has a certain elegant funkiness. The extra aging gives this sake some unpredictable character, accentuating its high acidity and nuttiness, while surprisingly still keeping its freshness. Kamenoo rice is considered a phantom rice, which use to be extinct because it was difficult to grow. It has since been revived in the 1980s.

Artist: P Gnana with Kiminoi Junmai Yamahai

P Gnana is a Singapore artist who paints, sculpts and creates conceptual installations. Gnana is a recipient of the LASALLE scholarship of the LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore from where he received his formal training. His artworks are in the collection of the former President of the Republic of Singapore and the Singapore Art Museum of the National Heritage Board. He has exhibited his artwork in many exhibitions in South and South-East Asia. His sculptures on Cows and relationships and his paintings are in the private collections of many prominent art collectors throughout the region.

Kiminoi is a brewery straddled between Niigata, the Burgundy of Japan, and Nagano, where the Japanese Alps is located. They create their own style of sake, which has more rice sweetness and umami from the Yamahai style of brewing. This rich style of sake is both modern and classic at the same time.

Artist: Paul Hume with Terada Honke Katori 90

Paul Hume is a UK born-Singapore based multidisciplinary artist working in drawing, painting, film, composition, writing and digital design. In his visual work he challenges assumptions about the human domination of the planet. He says that, "Creativity runs over the borders between what we think we know and what we don't. This should make us humble, not self-important. Our ability to imagine new things, new products, new cities, new worlds makes us dangerous. We must not forget that fundamentally we are cells and atoms, just like every other living thing on Earth." He continues to use traditional ways of making an image, combined with motion and digital possibilities. He looks forward to meeting you at the exhibition, Enchantment@55

Terada Honke is a frontrunner in the natural sake movement. They use ambient yeast and believe in minimal human intervention to create their sakes, trusting the invisible power of microorganisms living in their brewery. This means not even using sake rice, and minimising rice polishing. It is a type of self-masochism in sake brewing. The result is a wild and funky sake, full bodied, with flavours of rice, pickled ume and citrus.