Robert Zhao, Singapore Wild Dogs – From the series Singapore 1925-2025, 2014, Archival Piezographic Print in frame, 121 cm x 84 cm
The third edition of the Prudential Eye Awards returns to Singapore in January 2016 as part of Singapore Art Week. The Awards celebrates emerging Asian contemporary artists with a ceremony that will take place at MasterCard Theatres – Sands Theatre at Marina Bay Sands on Tuesday 19 January 2016. This is accompanied by a public exhibition at ArtScience Museum which will run from 16 January to 27 March 2016. This is the second year that the Marina Bay Sands is the Official Venue for the prestigious awards ceremony and the exhibition.
This edition follows the breakthrough international success of last year’s overall winner, Japanese collective Chim↑Pom, who went on to feature in museum shows in the UK, Denmark and Australia following their success at the Awards. As part of the prize, Chim↑Pom also had a solo exhibition at emerging art fair, START at Saatchi Gallery in September 2015, which opened to great critical acclaim. The 2016 edition features 15 artists that an eminent panel of Judges believe have the potential to go on and develop significant careers on the international art world stage.
The Judges for this edition of the Prudential Eye Awards are Johnson Chang, Serenella Ciclitira (CEO & Founder of Parallel Contemporary Art), Honor Harger (Executive Director, ArtScience Museum, Marina Bay Sands), Nigel Hurst (CEO, Saatchi Gallery), Fumio Nanjo (Director, Mori Art Museum), Rosalyn D’Mello (Writer, Editor and Art Critic), and Gu Wenda (Celebrated contemporary artist and 2015 Prudential Eye Awards Lifetime Achievement recipient). They reviewed the submissions of over 100 artists put forward by curators, critics and art experts from across Asia in order to produce shortlists of three artists in five categories for Best Emerging Artist.
The annual awards focus on emerging artists from across Greater Asia and highlight the breadth, range and diversity of the works made by emerging Asian artists. The total prize money amounts to USD$150,000, of which USD$20,000 as well as a specially commissioned trophy, will be awarded to the winner of each category. An overall winner will be chosen from the winners of the five categories and will be awarded the prize of ‘Best Emerging Artist’, winning a further USD$30,000 and a solo exhibition at START, Saatchi Gallery in London.
Best Emerging Artist Using Digital/Video: Anupong Charoenmitr (Thailand), Sutthirat Supaparinya (Thailand), Trinh Thi Nguyen (Vietnam)
Best Emerging Artist Using Installation: Huang Po-Chih (Taiwan), indieguerillas (Indonesia), Aditya Novali (Indonesia)
Best Emerging Artist Using Painting: Toshiyuki Konishi (Japan), Manish Nai (India), Tawan Wattuya (Thailand)
Best Emerging Artist Using Photography: Shumon Ahmed (Bangladesh), Zhang Wei (China), Robert Zhao (Singapore)
Best Emerging Artist Using Sculpture: Promotesh Das (Bangladesh), Sareth Svay (Cambodia), Yang Mushi (China)
Digital and Video work is strongly represented by three artists, Anupong Charoenmitr, Sutthurat Supaparinya and Trinh Thi Nguyen whose works touch on issues that include the passage of time, mortality, environmentalism and migration.
In addition to the awards for Best Emerging Artist categories and Overall Winner, the Prudential Eye Awards will also feature four special awards. These are the Best Asian Contemporary Art Institution, Best Exhibition of Asian Contemporary Art, the Lifetime Achievement Award for Asian Contemporary Art and the Award for Visual and Popular Culture. For the first time the first two of these awards will be decided by public voting on the Prudential Eye Awards website. (www.prudentialeyeawards.com)
The shortlist for the Best Asian Contemporary Art Institution is: NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore (Singapore), Para Site (Hong Kong), Spring Workshop (Hong Kong) and the land foundation (Thailand).
The shortlist for the Best Exhibition of Asian Contemporary Art is: ‘Great Crescent: Art and Agitation in the 1960s – Japan, South Korea and Taiwan’ (Para-site, Hong Kong); ‘Twin Tracks: Yang Fudong (Yuz Museum, China), ‘Chen Zhen: Without going to New York and Paris, life could be internationalized’ (Rockbund Museum, Shanghai) and ‘Go East: The Gene and Brian Sherman Contemporary Asian Art Collection’ (Art Gallery New South Wales, Australia)
The awards is accompanied by a public exhibition at ArtScience Museum which will run from 16 January to 27 March 2016.
Venue: ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands
When: 16 Jan - 27 Mar 2016,
