UOB Paintings of the Year Award
by Kenneth Lyen
Wong Tze Chau (41) won the United Overseas Bank (UOB) Painting of the Year (Singapore) 2019. Entitled “War and Peace” it consists of black and white dots on a grey background. Congratulations!
When I saw a picture of this painting, it immediately reminded me of a painting by Ad Reinhardt that I saw at the Tate Modern Art Gallery in London, which was pure black. An elderly woman standing next to me uttered: “I don’t understand it!” I turned to her and said: “This is modern art, you are not expected to understand it!” We both laughed.
Although I could not see the details in Wong Tze Chau’s War and Peace, journalist reviewers say that this painting is actually dotted with Hebrew and Arabic Words for War an Peace. The artist explained that the word “peace” is very similar in both languages: the Arabic for “peace” is “salaam”, while the Hebrew is “shalom”. The artist went on the explain that he wanted to bridge the gap between abstract and representational art. He is using dots to convey a deeper meaning of dark and light, a metaphor for war and peace, a recurring theme of human history.
I then looked for other works by Wong Tze Chau and found the ones below. He is indeed a talented artist.
The other Singapore winner of the UOB Painting of the Year 2019 contest is Casey Tan Jie Wei (25) who won the Most Promising Artist of the Year category.
His painting entitled “The Water is Wide” is a complete contrast to Wong Tze Chau’s War and Peace. This is a realistic painting and Casey Tan says that it is inspired by the humanitarian disasters and crises in the world. Refugees escaping danger undertake hazardous journeys in rough seas for survival, and he is trying to capture their “profound and resonating struggle for safety, fulfilment, and a sense of home”.
Casey goes on to say: “The artwork is framed in an enclosed space, set with stained glass hills and a hopeful sky as the backdrop, yet juxtaposed to induce a sense of compression and disorientation. The viewer is forced to confront the unspoken realities of human life. Yet, brief flashes of optimism are embedded to symbolise hope that is ever present even in the pit of despair.”
Below are more examples of his paintings.
I remember another young artist winning the “UOB Most Promising Artist” award in 2015. This is Ezra Chan, an autistic 15-year-old attending Pathlight School won the prize for his painting entitled “Play”.
Ezra's award winning painting, "Play" (2015):
Below are some other paintings by Ezra Chan.
In 2006 Glenn Phua Yi Jue a student with autism attending Pathlight School was awarded the “UOB Most Promising Artist” award. The photo below shows him with President Xi Jinping of China and Singapore’s president Tony Tan.
Below is his prize-winning artwork, "Fullerton Building".
More art work by Glenn Phua are shown below:
Conclusions
We are grateful to United Overseas Bank (UOB) for supporting the arts in South-East Asia. Their awards to people with autism has been particularly welcome for recognizing these talented individuals.
Written by Kenneth Lyen
16 Nov 2019