The UOB Art Collection: Drawing from our Past, Framing our Future

The notion of corporate art feels like an unsavoury oxymoron – art that is sacred and transcendent now acquired at sky-high auction prices by ostentatious capitalists who are less concerned with matters of taste than the occupation of wall space or the decoration of a lobby. Not to mention any piece of art that ends up in private hands equates to one less piece available for public appreciation, leaving us only with paltry photographic reproductions. Yet perhaps these business monoliths have genuine good intentions in their voracious art acquisitions, and can be considered as modern day artistic patrons not unlike the Medici family or the Rothschilds.

Crafting their Way Back into Contemporary Art

The debate between what is art and what is craft has been a long and ongoing one. In (Western) art academic terminology, crafts such as needlework, quilting, beading, batik and rattan work are seen as decorative and/or functional in purpose, and have therefore not been considered fine art. Rather, they falls into the category of applied art, craft or handicrafts.