Portraits After Dark at the Red Dot Museum

When I lived in Singapore, I read about OIC's (Organisation of Illustrators Council in Singapore) Portrait Day, which was held at the MAAD (Market of Artists and Designers) event at the Red Dot Museum in Tanjong Pagar, across Maxwell Food Center - which has the best Hainanese Chicken Rice from TianTian.

So one weekend, when I felt like an OFW because my daughter was in
Manila while I was busy working for her future, I dragged Tim to go with me
to check it out.

You need to sign up before hand to pose for
OIC Portrait Day. Signing up is free.
You just pay for the portraits you like.

This is me while waiting to start. The artists also volunteer because this
is practice for them. They keep the money if you choose their work.

If I remember correctly, you need to pose for 15 minutes. Then the artists are given time to finish their work, then you can choose which ones you want to buy.

These are the portraits done of us.

Not much likeness...

But I loved the spirit of this one.
Just not enough to buy it.

I ended up buying this one,
which I displayed in my Singapore home.

Day-off pics before we called it a day.

This is Chinatown. It's just a stone's throw away.

The first time I went with Tim was actually a trial to figure out if we could do it with Sofia. She was only 3 years old then so I wasn't really sure that she could sit still. After a few months, I managed to book a slot to pose when we happened to be in town for MAAD, which is now a Night Market selling a lot of handmade stuff, together with Portraits After Dark. We got a slot after dinner so we were conveniently able to eat Hainanese Chicken at Maxwell beforehand.

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It's still at the same location.

Ready to pose...

I brought Sofia an iPad which we brought out when she started to get
fidgety.

Artists at Work

The finished products. I think I ended up buying two portraits.

Some pictures were just of Sofia.

The Red Dot Museum is also near the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple
in Chinatown. This is what it looks like at night.

I loved posing for portraits. The outcome is always a surprise because you never know what you're going to get, and there are so many options to choose from. You only have to pay for the ones you like, and when we went, it was very affordable at only $10 per portrait.

You can visit the OIC Singapore website here to check the schedule and sign up for artist or posing slots. For me, I find it a great souvenir. But I'm just vain that way. just saying.


Red Dot Museum Singapore
28 Maxwell Rd,
Singapore 069120
+65 6327 8027