Over 100 works by Salvador Dali will be on show at Dali: The Pierre Argillet Collection. Argillet was Dali’s friend and publisher, and owns one of the most spectacular collections of Dali’s work. His daughter Christine tells us what it was like growing up with Dali.

What was your impression of Dali?

Dali was a workaholic, very much into his projects with my father. He was always busy with his paintings and talking to all kinds of people—from scientists with whom he spoke about DNA research, bakers with whom he was preparing the longest baguette in the world with, Vogue magazine when they had Dali design their summer issue, fashion designers and models—all these people would mingle together in his hotel in Paris. He loved being in the center of the royal court.

What do you remember of his working style?

Dali would stay in his home in Port Lligat, Spain, working from early morning to late afternoon on his paintings. He tried all kinds of materials—he worked on his copper plates with roulettes, scissors, nails, diamond and ruby stylus; he even asked for my mother’s lipstick to draw with. One day, he had found on the seashore a beautiful dead octopus, which he immersed in acid and imprinted on a copper plate. From this animal imprint, Dali created the Medusa from the Mythology series, which will be on display during this exhibition.

Which are your favorite pieces in the collection and why?

My favorite pieces are those where Dali used unusual tools or broke new ground, like the Hippies series. Dali placed different time periods and places together—you would discover Don Quixote next to a hippie with a guitar, a Buddhist temple and Santiago of Compostela. Dali wanted to put a link in between the various cultures of the world, and the Hippies were a fantastic vector between East and West during the 60’s.

What’s your most vivid memory of Dali?

My father had organized a huge meeting in Paris where Dali was going to etch in public—there were maybe 200 journalists present. When Dali arrived, he had strange, fixed eyes. He went on stage, drew furiously in a whirl and then left abruptly. My father ran after him, but Dali left without saying a word. A few days later, I went to his hotel with my father to bring him the copper plate, and we found out that Dali, following Timothy Leary’s suggestions, had taken LSD for the first time on the day of the public etching. A few days later, he etched the Women in the Waves, which is one of the most striking etchings of the Hippies series.

Dali: The Pierre Argillet Collection is on from Mar 22-Apr 20 at Redsea Gallery. Free.

What inspired this exhibition?

I was inspired by a monk's preaching. He said that we could find new creations within ourselves even when we abandon notions of what's good and what's not. The works in Motley & Me were created freestyle, without control or borders. I created them not because I wanted to create "good" art, but because they were what I really like and want to paint.

Tell us a bit about your previous shows.

I had two exhibitions last year, Natural Person and A Tale of Two Tribes. Natural Person was shown at Suvannabhumi Art Gallery in Chiang Mai. In that exhibition, I only displayed portraits of my neighbors to demonstrate the importance of grassroots participation as Myanmar is undergoing political change.

The exhibition A Tale of Two Tribes with Nguyen Quang Huy was at Thavibu Gallery in Bangkok. In these paintings, my inspiration was from Shan State. Colors are usually my main focus, but I wanted my works to reflect my art philosophy as well. 

What’s your daily routine like?

There is no routine. Sometimes, I just read without painting anything; sometimes I draw sketches for the whole week. If I paint, I paint a lot continuously. I like to listen to music, too.

What's your ambition as an artist?

I have the capability to create paintings with emotion, thought and skill. But I want to create works without any boundaries. My motto is: “Never stop painting till the day I die.”

Motley & Me is on through Feb 15 at Art Seasons Gallery.

When did you become interested in transgender and transsexuality?
I had read about the subject when I was in France, where I came across an article on Bugis Street and grew curious about it.

Tell us the story behind this collection of portraits.
When I arrived in Singapore in February 1981, I was dreaming of becoming a professional photographer. I bought a Nikon camera and began to spend my nights in Bugis, in a neighborhood of old Chinese houses. There, I met Anita, a Malaysian transsexual, who then introduced me to her community.

What was your relationship with the community like?
I was 23 years old then and most of the girls were about the same age, so little by little we grew closer. They liked having me photograph them and would pose like stars. I wanted to show their femininity. I was fascinated by their ambiguous identity and inner strength living as outcasts on the edges of society. There was always a sense of melancholy—for the old lives they left behind, and for the injustice of their new, hard lives.

What do you like most about the photos?
I love the beautiful night lights, a mix of artificial lights that result in strange colors. The girls’ poses also add to that feeling of cinematographic artificiality—it reminds me of the atmosphere of Wong Kar Wai films. Maybe I was drawn to Bugis Street because it looked to me, unconsciously, like a film set.

What do you want your audience to get out of the show?
An open window to Singapore during the eighties. Bugis Street’s nightlife was world famous at the time. Even though the scene has made way for consumerism, it’s still part of Singapore’s history.

Bugis Street is on from Jan 30-Feb 17 at Objectifs, 56A Arab St., 6293-9782, www.objectifs.com.sg.

Tell us about the exhibition.
I created three fine ink paintings and three large charcoal drawings that look like ocean waves, river currents and waterfalls from a distance. However, upon closer inspection, you can see that each image is made up of strands of hair that represent my identity.

What was the inspiration?
I’m inspired by the natural environment of the Pacific Ocean (as experienced in California, where I lived for seven years) and the Yellow River in my homeland, China.

What’s the process like?
It’s very time consuming, especially for the large scale charcoal drawings. I always begin with a small study first and work on a larger size second. I also take pictures of my own hair as reference to get detailed information. For large works, I start with a light composition and then work on sections with details and darkness.

How does your current exhibition relate to your past works?
I have been working with hair imagery since 2000. In my early work, I used the disembodied image of long, straight, black hair to represent my own identity through a series of large scale charcoal family portraits. Then I combined my hair with everyday objects to create a second series of small graphite drawings and oil paintings that evoke different emotions through a surrealistic approach.

What aspects of your art are you most proud of?
My work is a mix of traditional skills with contemporary ideas. It’s a combination of craftsmanship—I’ve trained in Chinese ink medium and use charcoal on a monumental scale—and a modern hair/water concept that explores identity.

Tell us more about the installation.
There are two projection-mapping installations at the exhibition. Both works are poetic expressions of time-space in the city. The first installation, titled Path. 5, Silent Conversation with a Friend, involves projecting text and video onto 13 sheets of drawings on paper that's mounted on a wall, referencing the number of times I have moved as a foreigner in Singapore. The work speaks of time-spaces in friendship and the transformative potential. The second installation, titled Metron, is essentially a metronomic clock that doesn’t tell time but rather suggests its passing. 

How do the projectors contribute to your work?
The exhibition is held at a former military barracks that offer interesting and at times, challenging spaces. For example, Path. 5 is installed in a room that's only 1.5m wide. I needed a reasonable sized projection area. This is where the Canon XEED WUX 400ST full HD short-throw projector comes in handy—I was able to achieve a 1.7m wide projection area using a throw of 1.4m. Similarly with Metron, the high-resolution, short-throw projector allows for a compelling presentation of the work.

What is it about John Cage that inspires you?
The man was all about taking chances and making mistakes, so that is pretty inspiring to me.

How did your childhood experience in Surakarta influence your work?
I wish I knew. This is an ongoing question that I continue to ask myself, through the process of making art, one work at a time. Having said that, Drawing Cage seems to be concerned with certain peculiarities of the city, in particular the linearity of its physical environment and the non-linearity of its time. My childhood in Surakarta, being a rustic and much less urban place than Singapore, more or less contributed to this concern found in my work.

What strikes you most about people in general from all your years of observation? 
I find everybody I have met in my life to be creative in their own way. For instance, I invited my friends to draw a one centimeter line in 4’33'' for the making of Path. 5. It was an eye-opener to see the many ways in which such a line can be drawn.

Is Singapore a good location to do art? What could be improved?
Singapore is currently a very open and global city in Asia to base my art practice, given that my concerns revolve around Asian cultures, the city, home and identity. Having more centrally located art studios with low rent would be great.

Drawing Cage runs through January 24 at The U Factory. #01-06, Blk 38 Gillman Barracks. Free.

What's the meaning of art?
Art is a methodology of communication and expression that is based on emotion.

How is art different from design?
Design fulfills a set criterion or function and is confined to certain perimeters. Art is infinity, an adventure of the mind without boundaries.

What's your fascination with chilli and plants?
I wanted to explore the metaphor of energy in taste. Chillies have the most amount of energy and they are also connected to our culture. Once you delve into this concept, it just grows bigger and bigger.

What fascinates you most?
Nature. Space. Cosmos.

Famous last words.
Nine steps forward, three steps backwards.

See Kumari Nahappan's "Revisiting Nature" showcase at Art Stage Singapore.