SINGAPORE: You've just finished that assignment your boss wanted yesterday and now you’re in the mood to look at something more sublime than a spreadsheet.

But darn, it’s already eight o’clock. You’ve just missed that play, and the museums and galleries are closed for the day. Where can you go for a little dose of art?

While Singapore’s clubbers and cine-philes have lots of after-office hour recreational options, the odd workaholic art buff will sadly have to wait until the weekend.

A quick check with some of the main arts and culture places revealed that most of them close early around 6pm or 7pm barring the regular 9pm Friday night closing time at the Peranakan Museum and Singapore Art Museum.

But for the next two weekends at least (July 18 to 19 and 25 to 26), arts and culture events at the city centre will run well up to 2am because of the inaugural Night Festival.

On July 25, Singapore’s museums Asian Civilisations Museum, National Museum of Singapore, Peranakan Museum, Singapore Art Museum and the Singapore Philatelic Museum will also open their doors to the day-fearing public for free until 2am, including tours that end at midnight.

While such moves to extend museum hours are very welcome, they are few and far in-between and are usually tied in with special occasions.

So, what about the rest of the year?

TODAY asked arts practitioners for suggestions, and drew some varied responses.

: Artist Brian Gothong-Tan suggested: “Well, most art openings in galleries are in the evenings. Usually with free wine and sometimes food.” Interesting idea there ... But what if you don’t know anyone?

:Freelance curator Tay Swee Lin said: “We don’t have one single place at night were you can go. It’s all scattered.”

We agree. So, we sucked up our double espresso and proceeded to hunt for such alternative places. And hey, what do you know most of these places aren’t new at all. Some of them even are in plain sight.

That cute blue sculpture that spells “Love” at Park Mall where you took a photo with your girlfriend? That’s by pop artist Robert Indiana. The weird-looking, Dali-esque mother-and-child sculpture in front of Far East Shopping Centre? That’s Ng Eng Teng’s, well, Mother and Child.

That rustling in the bushes at 3am? Erm, run as fast as your little legs can carry you.

Here’s where else to go peruse art after the sun’s long gone.

DRINK IN THE SCENE

Art isn’t the raison d’etre for food and beverage orentertainment places, but there are establishments that actually treat it as more than mere wallpaper.

the coffee connoisseur (tcc) regularly exhibits works at their outlets. The Circular Road outlet currently displays an exhibit by Australian artist Frank MacKenzie. It is open until 11am on Sunday to Thursday and 2am on Friday and Saturdays.

Meanwhile, tcc at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Bencoolen Street has been displaying works by Nafa students on a regular basis. It’s open until 11pm.

If you’re at Zouk, mind your lychee martinis and you can soberly admire the art works at Velvet Underground. These include prints by Japanese pop artist Takashi Murakami that line the walkway, the Andy Warhols in the pre-lounge area, the Romero Britto over the bar and, of course, that Keith Haring looming over the Velvet dance floor.

Over at entrepreneur and art lover Loh Lik Peng’s Majestic Bar in Chinatown, a 7.6m outdoor sculpture by UK-based artist Zadok Ben-David titled All Open greets habitués. Inside, you’ll find works by local artists Donna Ong, Yuki Chong, Sandra Lee and Jason Lim.

The latter’s work, Another Dharma, is a giant chandelier similar to the one that came “crashing down” during last year’s Venice Biennale.

Two places in particular are run by artists. The bar-cum-gallery Night and Day at 139 Selegie Road is run by designer Kelly Cheng and architect Randy Chan, and features contemporary, funky works by design artists. It’s open until midnight.

Meanwhile, the relatively new artist space Post-Museum has been getting a buzz — and not just for the nice food.

Two shop houses in Little India form this exhibit space-cum-vegetarian cafe area, that also houses artist studios. They’ve always got an exhibit on and it’s open until 10pm.

LOBBY FOR IT

If you’ve got cash to spare, you can book a room at Hotel 1929.

The rooms were designed by local artists like Heleston Chew, Miguel Chew and Kng Mian Tze. That’s, like, a whole night to ponder on the existential significance of living inside an “art work”.

And if that fails, there are always hotel lobbies.

The St Regis hotel in Tanglin boasts over 100 original works, some of which you can see at the lobby, and others outside, like those by American architect Frank Gehry, Fernando Botero, Marc Chagall, Gu Gan (er, not Gauguin), and pioneering local artists like Georgette Chen, Anthony Poon and Chen Wen Hsi.

Marina Mandarin beautifully lines the walls of its fifth floor with regular artworks. Beginning on Thursday, former UOB Painting of the Year winner and the hotel’s current artist-in-residence Lin Bao Ling’s month-long show Nocturne IV will be on display.

For a year now, the Ritz-Carlton has been offering podcast guided tours of its collection to in-house guests, which we guess is just a fraction of the hotel’s more than 4,200 pieces.

But you don’t have to check-in to see works like Frank Stella’s roof sculpture Cornucopia in the entrance area, or pieces by David Hockney, Henry Moore or Andy Warhol.

PUT IN SOME ‘OVERTIME’ IN THE CBD

But the best place to see art at night in Singapore? It’s outdoors.

“Most of the public art in the Central Business District looks better at night with light,” said Gothong-Tan, citing Han Sai Por’s Shimmering Pearls installation in front of the CapitaLand Tower as an example.

Raffles Place denizens are literally surrounded by art, from Yang Ying Feng’s huge abstract-meets-cityscape sculpture Progress and Advancement on the edge of Raffles Green to Henry Moore’s Reclining Figure in front of OCBC Bank.

Just across Chulia Street, at UOB Plaza, there’s Salvador Dali’s Homage to Newton and Fernando Botero’s Bird.

And of course, the ubiquitous sculptures-cum-tourist magnets along the Singapore River like Aw Tee Hong’s The River Merchants and Chong Fah Cheong’s rowdy boys of First Generation “jumping” into the river just outside the Fullerton Hotel.

Over at Millenia Singapore, there’s the Roy Lichtenstein Sculpture Plaza, which the acclaimed pop artist had landscaped, plonking in his monumental Six Brushstrokes series for good measure. Installed in 1998, it’s still a sight to behold.

If you come out of a performance at the Esplanade or a late night movie at Marina Square, you can check out exhibits at the latter’s Concourse area and Tunnel, both of which are open until midnight.

And then there’s The Record, a wall installation consisting of more than100 bronze tablets by Cheung Yee. It’s found at the entrance into CityLink from Marina Square. Even better, you can actually sit down and enjoy it at your leisure, with two benches at your disposal. - TODAY/ar