S'pore artist bags top UOB painting award for first time in a decade

Singaporean artist Yong Wee Loon, 63, won the 43rd UOB South-east Asian Painting of the Year (POY) award at a ceremony held at the National Gallery Singapore on Nov 13.

- Charmaine Lim

Mr Yong also won the award for Regional Painting of the Year for Singapore in the Established Artist category. This is designated for submissions from artists who have been signed to galleries, been part of exhibitions or received accolades for their art.

He is the first from Singapore to win the POY award in more than 10 years. German-born Singapore permanent resident Stefanie Hauger was the first artist in Singapore to win the award in 2013.

The POY award competition is open to submissions from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Sponsored by UOB, the competition recognises 16 winners in person across the five countries.

The top winners from the Established Artist category in each country compete for the South-east Asian POY award.

Mr Yong's winning art piece, A Sip Through Time, is a diptych, comprising two canvas panels painted with acrylic paint. It depicts a traditional coffee shop frozen in time, featuring posters and traditional sweets, along with surveillance cameras and a QR code, merging past and present.