Wifredo Lam: Outside In

24 mai — 13 juillet 2025

STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery presents Outside In, the first solo exhibition in Southeast Asia dedicated to pioneering artist Wifredo Lam (1902–1982). On view from 24 May to 13 July 2025, the STPI Annual Special Exhibition brings together over 60 works on paper from the Wifredo Lam Estate, offering rare insight into the printmaking practice of an artist who is increasingly recognised as one of the most important figures in 20th century modern art.

Lam is best known for creating work that defied boundaries, and boldly wove together European modernism, particularly Surrealism, with the spiritual and cultural imagery of the Afro-Caribbean and avant-garde art movements that were critical of Western cultural dominance. His hybrid figures transcend form — part animal, part human, part vegetal; they appear in landscapes that defy colonial views of man and nature, reason and myth. A Cuban artist of Chinese and African descent who spent much of his life in Europe, Lam was often viewed as an outsider within the Eurocentric art world, yet his vision and influence were central to its movement.

“STPI is proud to present Outside In as part of our commitment to spotlighting historically significant yet underrepresented artistic voices through their print and paper works in our Annual Special Exhibition,” said Emi Eu, Executive Director of STPI. “Wifredo Lam’s powerful practice challenges dominant art narratives, and his print works offer a vital lens through which to revisit and expand our understanding of modernism. By bringing this landmark exhibition to audiences in Singapore, we hope to deepen regional appreciation for printmaking as a transformative medium, and celebrate artists who have long existed at the margins of mainstream discourse.”

The exhibition highlights Lam’s renewed focus on printmaking in his later years, much of which was developed in close collaboration with renowned Italian master printer Giorgio Upiglio from 1963 to 1982. Through these prints, often created alongside leading avantgarde poets such as Aimé Césaire and Gherasim Luca, Lam crafted livres d’artiste (artist books) that reflect a deep dialogue between word and image. These collaborations capture Lam’s belief in poetry, as both method and muse in his art.

This milestone presentation precedes the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)’s major retrospective Wifredo Lam: When I Don’t Sleep, I Dream (10 November 2025 – 28 March 2026), further reaffirming Lam’s growing global recognition. It also coincides with City of Others: Asian Artists in Paris, 1920s–1940s, currently on view at National Gallery Singapore, where Lam’s work is featured amongst other prominent Asian artists whose art practices have been shaped by their time in Paris during this dynamic period. Lam’s prints are also held in the collections of major institutions including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) NY, The Guggenheim, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Tate Modern, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

Outside In will also include a selection of prints from Lam’s Centennial Edition that collectors can look forward to — a remarkable posthumous tribute published between 1997 and 2002 that celebrates the centenary of the artist’s birth. Drawn from a set of unpublished plates that Lam had worked on during his lifetime, the prints were selected for having been signed or marked bon à tirer by the artist, an industry standard approval for workshops to commence with print runs. This 2025 edition of the STPI Annual Special Exhibition offers audiences in Singapore and the region a rare encounter with a compelling facet of Lam’s artistic practice and print legacy, one that resists definition and continues to inspire new ways of seeing the world.