The Art of Gao Xiaowu, two Standard Times series, Fibreglass, colour coated, Edition 18/20 acquired in 2007.
After my dinner at Kaiko Japanese restaurant, my girl friend and I decided to explore the 3rd level of MBFC Tower 3, which was the DBS Office. She wanted to show me the unique sculptures that are displayed along the hallways. There stood two shiny white figures sculptures, both in different body postures, bowing down with a smiling faces pointed towards us. After some research, these are sculptures done by one of the famous China's artist, Mr. Gao Xiaowu.
About Mr. Gao Xiaowu
Gao Xiaowu (高孝午) was born in Sanming, Fujian province in 1976 and currently lives and works in Beijing, China. He enrolled in the sculpture department of Xiamen Art Academy, Fujian province before continuing his studies at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, graduating in 2004.
Gao's works are not only baed on the lives or ordinary people living in the city, they also serve as an exploration of his own identity. Although born in the 1970's, his artistic creation resembles those who were born a decade later. He does not try to express his ambitious aspirations that concern the country nor complains about the current situation, but instead more concerned about the the happiness and grief in his everyday life. Gao's aesthetics fall into the generation of comics and cartoons. He is one of the representative sculptors in these new trends and his creation avoids political symbols and totem. Like other 1908s artists, Gao spontaneously returned to the nature of artistic creation, pursuing their own aesthetic display of expressing the interest achieved by content and medium.
Another female Standard Times sculpture standing right in front of DBS Treasures.
Gao's Standard Times Series.
The Standard Times sculptures is the first thing that strikes the viewer about Gao's sculpture. Gao's works is an expression of reverence that he sees as innately Asian, and in an act similar to a genuflect, the personification of respect transcends to the motion of bending forward. Often the erect form is the norm and yet in this works, the intention of the artist manifests through the choice of overarching form of the figures. In a similar way, the smile to serves the purpose of demonstrating congenial attitudes. The viewer though is left to ponder if this is where the interpretation stops or if the works reflect a satire on the current social-political position of the Chinese.
If you are looking for more arts of such kind, you can visit the Ode To Art located at Raffles City, Singapore or at The Pavilion, Kuala Lumper.
POSB Loves SG Signboard
A huge POSB Loves SG signboard at MBFC.
We explored the rest of the level, and there was this huge signboard hidden at one corner. I have posted this onto my Facebook Page to let everyone make a guess. Scroll down further to reveal the answer !
Guessed correctly or you still cannot figure out what it is ? Scroll down further to see the final clue..
It's a board full of plastic bags ! However, there is no accreditation which organization or who has done this signboard, I believe it is one of the green environment movement to encourage reducing the use of plastics bags and provide a more eco-friendly environment.
After our dinner at Teru Sushi Zen Dining.
Happy Birthday Garry !!! Today was my best friend's birthday and he would like to keep it a low profile celebration (not sure if I posted this considered a low profile). We had a good dinner with dozen of one dollar oysters and a special made "Sushi Cake" at Teru Sushi.
Best wishes to my brother and hope that he can find good ways out of life as well !
Meanwhile, I would like to share one proverb that my girl friend has taught me yesterday as well. I will named it the best quote for today !
谣言止于智者，愚蠢在于谣传
只有足够智的智者才能止住谣言
This photo was taken about 3 months back while I was standing on the top floor carpark of NEX. The parcel of land next to NEX has been empty for quite sometime since NEX opening, but there wasn't any news on development on this piece of land at all. Wonder what will be happening next ? Residential or commercial ?
I believe that when anyone was excited to update his or her social media profile picture or page after a incredible photoshoot with your beloved girl friend, you find it hard to adjust the correct length, width or height of the photos that fits into that small window.
Supposedly, it takes only 5 minutes to complete the simple task but it drags almost the entire afternoon just to get the alignment right. Is any facing this problem ? (Hands up please !)
Definitely, like anyone that is viewing this post at this moment, I had my difficulties and thought that it will be good to share these information which I have found from the internet. I will only briefly touch on the general dimensions so you might have to read up a bit from the respective links.
Below are a list of social media which I have found to have the solutions to your problem.
Facebook Page
Want to have your logo sitting nicely in the centre and background picture with the optimised settings just like I did for my Berishiok spa blog ? I have found out from one of the PagesSizesDimensions Facebook Page that has been updating the changes that Facebook are making on their pages design. Below are the latest changes made.
The optimum size for profile image and background for facebook page. (Note this picture is not to scale).
Profile Photo: 180px x 180px.
Cover Photo: Width: 851px x 315px.
Most of the other details can be seen on the image above.
Google+ Profile & Page
Although Google+ does have their own support page, but I think it will still be quite difficult to understand without any pictorial aid. I searched through the internet and found David Coleman Photography who provided a more comprehensive explanation of the Google+ Profile & Page image settings.
Profile Photo: 120px x 120px
Cover Photo:1080px x 608px. (aspect ratio of 135:76, very close to 16:9) This is the ideal size, for smaller size you can use 480px x 270px and largest is 2120px x 1192px.
One of the important point that David Coleman pointed out was that Google+ applies pretty heavy compression to the JPEG photos for the cover photo, it will be the best that an PNG-24 image (.png format) is uploaded. Just take note it might take a little while longer to load the pictures for some users with slow connection speed.
That is how I did it exactly for my crane blog, Crane Wikipedia.
Hope that this post is beneficial to those searching for a solutions.
The giant tree stood in between the open space at One North Residences.
It was raining heavily the previous night and I was quite worried about my job at Fusionpolis. Indeed, calls poured in the following day late morning and we have some issues that requires me to go down to take a look. While I had to stay on to supervise my job, my girlfriend and I decided to grab some food at a nearby cafe, Jimmy Monkey Cafe & Bar at One North Residences.
A link bridge between the two blocks of condomium.
So far as I know, One North Residences is currently the only residential development in Fusionpolis and housed a lot of foreign talent. Entire place was surrounded by green and atmosphere was serene in a Sunday afternoon.
Inner of the Sandcrawler building from the enclosed garden.
While I was walking back to my site location, I was curious about this odd-shaped building and decided to cut through into the middle of it. What I found was a greenery sight enclosed by a sleek building design. I did some research and this is the Sandcrawler building by film making giant, Lucasfilm.
Sandcrawler building was officially opened by Mr. Lee Hsien Loong on 16th Jan 2014.
Taken directly under the sandcrawler building.
Stony Yoda guarding the garden new Sandcrawler's garden ?
Before I end my "journey" in sandcrawler, there stood the famous Star Wars character, Yoda, solitary on a stone surrounded by water. Interesting. If you does not have much activities to do on a Sunday afternoon, I will suggest walking through these new buildings in Fusionpolis. Enjoy the quietness and unique architectural designs of the buildings.
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The optimum size for profile image and background for facebook page. (Note this picture is not to scale).
That is how I did it exactly for my crane blog, 
