5 Bruneians for Thai art awards
By Tony Alabastro

Closing date for artwork submission in the national art competition is Oct 18.

Five Brunei painters will be competing in the biennial Asean Art Awards in 2004 in Thailand following the Brunei Darussalam-Asean Art Awards 2003-2004 painting competition.

Closing date for artwork submission in the national art competition is next Saturday, Oct 18, the organisers, Philip Morris Sdn Bhd and Brunei Artists Association, announced.

Winners will be announced during the Brunei Darussalam Asean Art Awards 2003 on Dec 18, 200 at the Brunei Museum Art Gallery, Brunei Arts and Handicrafts Centre.

Judging will be based on one's creative exploration of a medium; freedom of expression and technique; originality of artistic perception and mode of interpretation, the organisers said.

Being a two-dimensional competition, any medium, not just paintings, is acceptable. Work must be mounted on the wall for viewing.

The competition is open to all Brunei citizens and permanent residents, 18 years and above. Artists may explore any subject or theme.

They can submit recent works previously exhibited, but not entered in any competition.

National competitions in seven Asean member states will be held this year. Winners at each national competitions in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, will compete at the 9th edition of the Asean Art Awards.

The top five juror's choice in the Brunei Darussalam-Asean Art Awards will receive a cash prize of B$8,000, a trophy, and an all-expenses paid trip to the regional finals next year in Thailand.

"The most engaging works in last year's Brunei Art Awards competition forwarded conceptual moorings and formal abstraction, or delved into introspective memory and intuition," the local judges said in last year's national competition.

"There were also works that were refreshingly raw and testy, and engagingly playful and humorous," they added.

"Brunei lacks art educational institutions and non-commercial spaces for the exhibition and critical discussion of contemporary art works, artistic discourses and practices from the global arts circuit, the judges noted

Hence," the Brunei Art Awards has been a primary engine of artistic developments in painting practices here," they added.

Previous winners have dominated the Jurors' Choices dominated local competition, but the inclusion of a new winner last year showed the Brunei painting circle was widened by a ripple from a new painter after eight years of national competition, the judges said.

"The Asean Art Awards is now on its 9th year. The affiliates of Philip Morris International Inc. in the Southeast Asian region are committed to supporting the development of Asean contemporary art and increasing the exposure of the Asean Artists and their work," said Andrew White, Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Philip Morris Asia Ltd.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin