5 young and emerging artists were honoured recently to have won the bi-annual MEAA 2011 (Malaysian Emerging Artist Award). The artists are Chong Ai Lei, Sun Kang Jye, Siund Tan, Muhammad Syah Bandi Samat and Ng Swee Keat whose works were chosen as winning entries of the competition.
Datuk Mohd Yusof Ahmad, the Director-General of the National Visual Arts Gallery officiated the award ceremony where he said that the award would surely propel the young artists to set their marks in the Malaysian art scene and create the platform to bridge them with the collectors and art galleries.
The competition is a result of the collaboration between HoM (House of Matahati) and Galeri Chandan which was designed to discover new artists and to serve as a platform for young Malaysian artists to reach the level of excellence.
According to the organisers, they received 75 entries in the year’s competition which was then shortlisted to 39 artists before the 5 winners were chosen
The artworks were judged by a team of 15 juries who are experienced practitioners in their own respective industries. The panel of judges were comprised of industry practitioners, renowned and senior artists as well as some very well recognized art collectors. The works that were submitted for judging are all for sale and an exhibitions is planned later this month.
Bayu Utomo Radjikin, the director of HoM and an established artist himself said that the competition was envisioned and conceptualized by Malaysian artists which makes it all the more appropriate and suitable for the emerging artists to excel. For this edition, the competition was held in collaboration with SGM (Soka Gakkai Malaysia) and a loose collective of 30 South-East Asian art collectors known as the 30 Artfriends.
For winning the competition, the artists will each receive a 10 day travel grant to Manila, a dedicated showcase exhibition for the winners as well as cash vouchers for art materials and cash prizes.
