The veil has been drawn over the first instalment of the Collector's Award global art competition. Along with its closure comes an emergence of promising artists who have pushed the envelope of their art-making endeavours. 2020's competition roster of artists stood at 16 strong from 9 countries, each bringing to the table 2 artworks congruent to the theme of Resilience. 2020 has proven to be one of the most trying years for most industries, yet our initiation into a new year has demonstrated that the art industry is, in fact, far from obsolete and even more relevant than ever before.
Undergoing individual assessment by a panel of 4 jurors, the works were graded on their composition, concept, creative use of mediums, and overall aesthetics. Top placements of each category are awarded a 1-year representation with Taiwan-based gallery, Studio-ID Art Gallery.
The Young Artist category celebrates the prowess of young creatives aged 16 to 30-years-old who are demonstrative of the developments in art-making. These individuals and their works are markers for all to remain engaged with the growth in present-day art education and the opening of doors for these brilliant minds into the industry; after all, the future does indeed fall into the very hands responsible for bringing to us these artworks.
Of course, the audiences are fully immersed in the current state of the art world, so what better way to showcase a snippet of it than to invite its frontline stakeholders to bring forth and lay bare their own practices. Allocated to artists from all walks of life and proficiency levels, the Open category aims to, as by the words of one esteemed gallerist, "uncover diamonds in the rough."
28-year-old Taiwanese artist Huang Wu-Peng claims first place in the former category alongside fellow winners Christine Lok (aged 26, Malaysian) and Clara Lim (aged 26, Singaporean), all whom have demonstrated an astounding sense in drawing concepts from personal knowledge and experiences that have unabashedly put their thought processes and artistic considerations way beyond their years. The latter category has Singaporean painter Chia Chor Hua (b. 1950) clinching the top position and closely followed by French sculptor Vérône (b. 1971) and Taiwanese artist Leland Lee (b. 1989). While disparate in their use of mediums, each has exhibited remarkable execution in their technical approach to the construction of their art, leaving audiences little to doubt them as masters in their own rights.
The Jurors
Nidhi Samani is a British artist with Indian origins living between Singapore and Taiwan. She is a trained Fashion Designer turned artist and explores multi disciplines with oils, acrylics, charcoal, mixed medias, and chinese brush painting.
In 2018, she launched her online art gallery Studio-ID with the focus of bridging Contemporary Art from the East and West, and build privileged relationships with other artists.
Studio-ID harbours platforms for collaborations via exhibition and events and various pop up opportunities around the globe.
Deborah Henry-Pollard is a creative coach, author, and public speaker. She works with international professionals who want to find clarity, overcome blocks, get into action, and thrive. She has run her own coaching company, Catching Fireworks, since 2009. Prior to that, she worked in arts and charity sectors. She is a Trustee for ArtCan, a non-profit arts organisation supporting artists through profile-raising activities and exhibitions — an open network of ‘likeminded’ peers with practical support structures.
Deborah’s coaching book, What’s Your Excuse for not Succeeding as an Artist, was published by WYE Publishing in October 2018.
Joan Marie Kelly has artistic education and profession spanning five continents. She was educated in America and has held a position as a senior lecturer of art at the Nanyang Technological University (School of Art Design and Media) in Singapore since 2005. Joan reinvigorates concepts of figure painting through ethnographic practices. Joan’s solo shows were exhibited in New York, New Delhi, Baltimore, Fez Morocco, and have had group exhibitions in Beijing, Italy, France, Bangladesh, Morocco, Mexico, Russia, Korea, Thailand, Mongolia, and Egypt. She was a participant in Salon du Beaux Arts, Carrousel du Louvre Museum and presented at the 2019 Athens Google Newsgeist.
Gerald Tay is an entrepreneur and an educator. From ground up, his role in business development required his attention to details concerning the branding, visuals communications and marketing of his business, including content creation, and digital marketing plans. Leveraging on his vast knowledge in business, Gerald now holds the position as a full time academic lecturer in Singapore Polytechnic'sSchool of Business. Of the modules Gerald presides over, design appreciation, photography, videography, and digital marketing are the few which he believes to help students strike a balance between aesthetics and purpose in their designs.
Proceed on to the following posts to tour through the winners' features in their respective categories, or browse through the ensemble of participants here.