News
Sovereign Art Prize finalists 2016
The Prize’s 12th edition sees the “strongest yet” selection of museum-quality works.
The 30 shortlisted works will be on show at Christie’s Hong Kong from 9 to 12 May 2016 and at The Rotunda, One Exchange Square from 21 to 31 May 2016.
Sherman Ong, ‘Dream – Spurious Landscape’. Image courtesy the artist and The Sovereign Art Foundation.
The 12th Sovereign Asian Art Prize
The 12th edition of the Sovereign Asian Art Prize announced its 2016 finalists last week. 30 artists were shortlisted from across 16 territories in Asia, voted by a judging panel comprising renowned international curator David Elliott, Chinese artist Song Dong, independent Indonesian curator Asmudjo Irainto and Taiwanese artist Michael Lin.
This is the second year that the Prize is accepting sculpture entries. The top 30 artworks for 2016 include 11 three-dimensional works. Highlights include Thai artist Imhathai Suwatthanasilp’s ethereal sculpture made of human hair, a sonic sculpture by Kian Peng Ong, and exquisite skulls made of Vietnamese spring roll paper by Vietnamese artist Richard Streitmatter-Tran.
Imhathai Suwatthanaslip, ‘The Cotton Angel’. Image courtesy the artist and The Sovereign Art Foundation.
Strong and “museum quality” selection
David Elliott, leading member of the judging panel, observes that this year’s selection of artists is the “strongest and most challenging yet” in the history of the prize:
This year’s submissions to the Sovereign Asian Arts Prize were so wide ranging and of such high quality that it was very difficult indeed to reduce it to a shortlist of 30. The nominators and judges have done a wonderful job with a stellar selection of both established and emerging artists.
Richard Streitmatter-Tran, ‘Fragile Matter’, 2015. Image courtesy the artist and The Sovereign Art Foundation.
Howard Bilton, Founder and Chairman of the The Sovereign Art Foundation, echoed the sentiment:
I think this selection of work is the strongest we have ever had. The judges agree. Their overwhelming feeling was that these works are all very original and very different from the normal work you see coming out of Asia. “Museum quality” was a phrase which cropped up frequently.
Minyoung Cha, ‘Immersion’. Image courtesy the artist and The Sovereign Art Foundation.
Asia’s most prestigious contemporary art award
The annual Sovereign Asian Art Prize is billed as Asia’s most prestigious contemporary art award. Around 200 nominations are submitted each year by fifty independent art professionals from around the Asia-Pacific region. Such professionals include critics, lecturers and curators who work closely with the most cutting-edge artists within the region.
30 finalists are then chosen by an esteemed judging panel headed by renowned British curator David Elliot. The full list of shortlisted artists are as follows:
- Latthapon Korkiatarkul, Thailand
- Sherman Ong, Singapore
- Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan, Philippines
- Bani Haykal, Singapore
- Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro, Australia
- Toshiyuki Kajioka, Japan
- Shakila Haider, Pakistan
- Miti Ruangkritya, Thailand
- Imhathai Suwatthanasilp, Thailand
- Mark Salvatus, Philippines
- Aditya Novali, Indonesia
- Cha Min Young, Republic of Korea
- Baptist Coelho, India
- aaajiao, China
- Ong Kian Peng, Singapore
- Teppei Kaneuji, Japan
- Pradeep Thalawatta, Sri Lanka
- Eiji Sumi, Thailand
- Gary-Ross Pastrana, Philippines
- Bagus Pandega, Indonesia
- Joan Ross, Australia
- Urich Lau Wai-Yuen, Singapore
- Piyarat Piyapongwiwat, Thailand
- Rosanna W.H. Li, Hong Kong
- José Drummond, Macao
- Hanifa Alizada, Afghanistan
- Azizullah Hazara, Afghanistan
- Richard Streitmatter-Tran, Vietnam
- Mia Wen-Hsuan Liu, Taiwan
- Arin Rungjang, Thailand
Eiji Sumi, ‘Sinusoid I’. Image courtesy the artist and The Sovereign Art Foundation.
Their works will be on show at The James Christie Room, Christie’s, Level 22, Alexandra House, 18 Chater Road, Central Hong Kong, from 9 to 12 May 2016. They will then be exhibited at the Rotunda, One Exchange Square, 8 Connaught Place, Central, Hong Kong from 21 to 31 May 2016, where the public will have a chance to view the works and cast their vote.
There will be a champagne opening of the exhibition at The Rotunda from 7pm on 24 May 2016, and winners will be announced at the Sovereign Asian Art Prize Gala Dinner to be held on 3 June 2016 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong. The shortlisted artworks will be auctioned, and proceeds will be allocated on a 50/50 basis between the artists and charitable projects of the Sovereign Art Foundation.