Bassan in Singapore, Duality and Unity in Art

It will end on May 30th at Loy Gallery "There is no Rose Without Thorns", the first exhibition in Singapore by Italian artist Giovanni Leonardo Bassan. The exhibition, presented under the patronage of the Embassy Italian, offers a fascinating journey through duality, tension and perception. In response to ANSA's question regarding the role of artists contemporaries should have in shaping more cohesive societies and compassionate, especially considering the hotbeds of war in the world and the growing intolerances, the artist Bassan has replied that artists have always been mirrors of their time. He stressed that art, from the first forms of expression up to now, it has been a way of speaking, reflect and ask questions. In a historical moment marked by divisions, distractions, conflicts and intolerances increasingly common, according to Bassan, we need artists who remain faithful to empathy and an art that invites contemplation rather than to judgment. The artist added that art should challenge both the artist himself and the viewer to stay engaged with the world, especially with the challenges current. He stressed that the role of the artist is not to provide answers, but to offer a space where emotion and complexity can be felt and considered, which, in his opinion, represents a powerful form of unity and understanding. Bassan, an artist based in Paris, has managed to blend painting European classic with the raw energy of figurative art contemporary. His layered compositions reflect the Jungian concept of the integration of light and shadow in the psyche, in addition to the Daoist principles that see duality as unifying force. Through fragmented images and figures veiled, the exhibition explores the interaction between beauty and pain, visibility and darkness, finding resonance with the unique balance of Singapore between modernity and tradition. Bassan does not seek to resolve the duality, but to show it as a unifying fabric of reality, where each pole defines the other and together they create a dynamic harmony. This vision aligns with the principle Daoist that our mind is not just the sum of our personal experiences (the so-called personal unconscious), but has even a deeper and more universal layer, the unconscious collective. The exhibition is an opportunity not to be missed for a meditation on resilience and the invisible forces that shape our world.