RI painter gets ASEAN art award

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.