RI painter gets ASEAN art award

By Ati Nurbaiti

MANILA (JP): Yuswantoro Adi became Indonesia's first painter to win in the ASEAN Art Awards, receiving the grand prize trophy and a cash prize of US$10,000 from Philippine First Lady Amelita M. Ramos here yesterday.

Titled Masterpieces of Indonesia, Yuswantoro's piece was selected from among 35 works by artists from seven countries.

It was also one of five Indonesian works to reach the finals in the competition which has been held four times under the auspice of ASEAN.

"I'm very surprised and happy," said Yuswantoro, who hails from Yogyakarta, after receiving the prize.

The seven-member jury chose four other winners: Ahmad Shukri Mohamed of Malaysia (Insects Diskette, mixed media); Daniel A. Coquilla of the Philippines (oil), Tan Juat Lee of Singapore (A Wedding Gift from My Mum, oil) and Tran Van Thao of Vietnam (Human Environment, oil).

Indonesian jury member Amir Sidharta said Yuswantoro's work won seven of nine votes by the judges. The work of another Indonesian painter, Yang Tersisa, Sebuah Panorama (A Panorama is all that's left), and Air Kaki -- Doa untuk Korban Kekerasan (Water of the Feet: Prayers for Victims of Violence) by Tisna Sanjaya, also attracted the judges in an earlier stage of the four rounds.

The other entries from Indonesia were works by painters Nasirun and Hanura Hosea, both from Yogyakarta.

Yuswantoro and the other four painters had earlier won the top five awards from Indonesian Art Awards 1997 organized by the Indonesian Fine Arts Foundation and the Philip Morris Group.

Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Brunei Darrussalam and the Philippines also held similar national competitions. Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia are expected to join in the near future.

Philip Morris is also the sponsor for the ASEAN Art Awards.

Jury chairwoman Mayching Kao of Chinese University in Hong Kong said that Yuswantoro's piece, apart from its technical quality, reflected the artist's ability to create "a new vocabulary".

Yuswantoro integrates color in his painting of children playing with objects made of various world currencies.

The piece of work, Kao said, "enables us to share with the artist our social condition of being dominated by money... which transcends national boundaries."

Yuswantoro said, "I just want to say that money should not be our destination, just a tool... but from the minute we wake up we're always money-oriented."

But, he added with a laugh, "I received money from Philip Morris, and that's a different story."

"I don't know what I'm going to do with the prize money yet," he said.

All 35 entries which made it to the finals will be on display for a month at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, after which they will be exhibited in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.