TheBearProject Charity Art Show

Saturday, August 9, 2008

TheBearProject Charity Art Show

Last year, Singapore's first "bear" community group
TheBearProject made its debut at The Pink Picnic, an
impromptu National Day gathering at the Botanic
Gardens. This year, we've decided to make a bigger
splash with our first-ever event at the Indignation
festival. It's a charity art auction featuring art
works by our members and invited guest artists, and
you're invited!

Bear culture is well-established in Western countries
and in certain Asian countries like Japan, Taiwan and
Hong Kong, but many in Singapore's gay community are
still coming to grips with it. Burly, rambunctious and
sporting regulation crew cuts, goatees and knee length
shorts, Singapore bears have hung out at bars like
Same and the now-defunct Oso for years. But it was
only last year that they came together as the
TheBearProject, a social networking group founded by
Ernest Yeo and Gary Lim. The group now comprises
roughly 120 bears, bears-in-training and bear
admirers.

Why an art auction? Well, there's a wacky,
irresistible ring to the notion of big heavy guys
peddling fine art. And since quite a few of us members
in TheBearProject were in the creative industries, we
thought: why not organise a little art show of our own
works, and auction them off to our members for
charity? We also managed to rope in local guest
artists that we know personally, who have kindly
contributed original works for the show.

So come along to Play on the night of August 16 for an
art auction with a difference. Bid on art pieces from
eleven TheBearProject members (including cartoonist
Otto Fong, newspaper columnist Ignatius Low and
graphic designer Gary Lim), and prominent local
artists and photographers like Heman Chong, Jeremy
Sharma, Tay Kay Chin and Chan Wai Teik. There's also
a stunning series of six paintings from
noted lesbian artist Genevieve Chua. Starting bids
range from just $100 to $2,500.

Here are the details:
Date: 16 August, 2008 (Saturday)
Venue: Play (21 Tanjong Pagar Road)
Time: 7.30pm onwards
8pm: Official opening
8.30pm: Interviews onstage with featured artists
9.15pm: Bids closed

The event is in aid of The Triangle Project and
several other charities. The Triangle Project was
started in 1992 by local theatre group The Necessary
Stage with the aim of providing opportunities for the
less privileged to watch theatre. The Necessary Stage
matches donors and charities with the former buying
tickets to our productions for the beneficiaries. This
scheme has proven to be very successful and numerous
beneficiaries of Voluntary Welfare Organisations have
experienced theatre as a result.
Half the proceeds from the art sale will be donated to
The Triangle Project and the rest will be anonymously
donated to charities tending to the needs of children
and needy families in Singapore. A full list of
donations will be posted on our website after the
event.

You can view all the artworks on sale at:
http://thebearprojectcharityartshow.blogspot.com

This Indignation event is open only to invited guests,
so please RSVP by providing us your
1) Name
2) Contact no.
3) Email
to thebearproject.charity@gmail.com
RSVP closes on the 14th August 08, midnight. So please
do register early!

See you at the event!

Hugs,
TheBearProject Charity Art Show Organizing Committee

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