KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 9 (Bernama) -- The 2024 UOB Painting of the Year (UOB POY) awards ceremony on Tuesday celebrated the creative talents of local artists, from emerging to established categories, who share a passion for art.
UOB Malaysia Chief Executive Officer, Ng Wei Wei said that the annual award ceremony, now in its 14th year, has fostered growth within the local art community.
"The remarkable number of entries we receive reflects the popularity, as well as a growing passion for art in Malaysia. Trust me, year on year, the number of entries just gets higher and higher and it is very gratifying to know that our award ceremony has played a role in this development.
"I’m also proud to share that POY offers the highest cash prize among art competitions in the country, as we value talents of our artists," she said in her speech at the event.
Ng added that the annual winner would receive a cash prize of RM100,000 and an opportunity to participate in a UOB-sponsored overseas art residency programme.
She emphasised that UOB's effort does not just stop at POY as they continue to support their winners to gain local and international exposure as well as providing them opportunities to showcase works on a broader platfrom.
"For instance, earlier this year, we showcased our 2016 UOB painting of the year winner, Ding Nian Sam's artwork at Hong Kong Arts Centre, a cornerstone event of Hong Kong Arts Week.
"Most recently, we also sponsored Ahmad Syakir Hashim, last year's Gold Award winner of the Emerging Artist category, for his first international exhibition at UOB Art Space at Art Jakarta. We want POY to be a platform which continues to unearth more local talents and help to elevate the country's artistic standards," she added.
Ng said also shared that this year's UOB POY has opened a new catagory for UOB employees to showcase hidden talents.
Separately, lead judge for the competition who is also Art Advisor, Academician and Malaysian Contemporary Artist Bibi Chew said that the evolution of artwork submitted each year has been mesmerising as the quality of art produced is seemingly increasing.
"Malaysian element in the artwork is what we are always looking for because that is how it speaks out values. It is something that we are proud of representing to other countries," she told the media after the ceremony.
Meanwhile, the winner of the 2024 UOB POY competition, Hasanul Isyraf Idris, 46, expressed delight at winning with his artwork titled 'Durio', noting that the recognition would inspire him to create even better pieces for future competitions.
" Durio, presents a captivating glimpse into the interplay between nature and my observations as I spent four years documenting the biodiversity surrounding my retreat studio in Perak," said the RM100,000 winner about artwork.
Awards and cash prizes in the Established category ranged from RM22,000 to RM45,000, with Hug Yin Wan taking home the Gold Award, followed by Muhamad Amsyar Ramly (Silver) and Mairul Nisa Malek (Bronze).
As for the Most Promising Artist of the Year Award winner in the Emerging Artist Category Nurul Shahida Ibrahim, 36, shared that her intricate artwork titled "Baruh," which depicts the harsh realities of life hidden beneath an idyllic rural landscape, took about two months to complete.
"The process of weaving threads to create precise strokes was challenging,if anything didn’t look right, I would remove the threads and start over", expressed the mother of three after winning RM16,000.
Other awards in the Emerging Artist category were presented to Ahmad Muhamad Mohamed Kamal (Gold Award), Lee Yaw Chu (Silver), and Aer Loo Xin Theng (Bronze), with cash prizes ranging from RM6,000 to RM11,000.
The winning artworks from the Established and Emerging Artist Categories of the 2024 UOB POY (Malaysia) competition will be displayed at The Linc, here, from Oct 29 until Nov 4 2024.
UOB’s involvement in art started in the 1970s with its collection of paintings by Singapore artists.
To date, the UOB Art Collection has more than 2,600 artworks, made up primarily of paintings from established and emerging Southeast Asian artists.
-- BERNAMA
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