Noema

The Gallery — Est. 2014

A gallery built on patience and provenance.

NOEMA began as a single room and a conviction: that a collection is composed slowly, work by work, with full knowledge of where each piece has been. A decade on, the conviction has not changed.

Saigon · Singapore · By appointment

Philosophy

Few works, fully known.

We represent fewer artists than most galleries our size, and we know their work completely. Every painting, bronze and edition that enters the programme arrives with its history intact — exhibition records, studio documentation, an unbroken line of ownership. We would rather decline a remarkable work than offer one we cannot fully account for.

The same restraint shapes how we sell. There are no countdowns here, no scarcity theatre. A first conversation at NOEMA usually concerns the work itself — its making, its context, the artist's trajectory — and only later, if at all, its price.

This is slower than the market prefers. It is also why collections built with us tend to hold together: each acquisition was chosen, not sold.

Mai An Nguyen

Founder & Director

The Space

Two rooms, one rhythm.

( swipe )

Main exhibition room with white walls and large-scale paintings, Saigon
Main Room · Saigon
Project space with a single sculpture under natural light, Saigon
Project Space · Saigon
Private viewing salon with armchairs facing a hung canvas, Singapore
Viewing Salon · Singapore
Archive and library shelves holding catalogues and framed works, Saigon
Archive & Library · Saigon
Courtyard with a bronze sculpture between two gallery rooms, Singapore
Sculpture Court · Singapore

Chronology

Twelve years, kept in order.

  1. The first room

    NOEMA opens in a converted printing house in Saigon, with six artists and one exhibition a season.

  2. First museum placement

    A painting from the programme enters a public institutional collection in Southeast Asia.

  3. The catalogue practice

    The gallery begins publishing a documented plate for every work it handles — now standard across the programme.

  4. Digital provenance

    NOEMA authenticates its first digital editions, pairing each with chain-verified provenance.

  5. Singapore salon

    A second viewing room opens by appointment on Duxton Road, Singapore.

  6. Today

    Twenty-two artists, two cities, and the same rule: nothing leaves without its history.

The Team

The people behind the walls.

Mai An Nguyen — Founder & Director

Mai An Nguyen

Founder & Director

Daniel Okafor — Senior Curator

Daniel Okafor

Senior Curator

Lin Yu-Chen — Registrar & Provenance

Lin Yu-Chen

Registrar & Provenance

Hugo Marchand — Collector Relations

Hugo Marchand

Collector Relations

As featured in

  • Art Review Asia
  • Monocle
  • Tatler
  • The Art Newspaper
  • Ocula
  • Wallpaper*
  • ArtAsiaPacific
  • Frieze

Visit the gallery

Visit

Saigon

12 Đồng Khởi, District 1Hồ Chí Minh City, VietnamTue — Sat, 10:00 — 18:00

Singapore

47 Duxton RoadSingapore 089511By appointment only

The gallery opens by appointment — and the door is always worth knocking.