Bangkok--Dec 8--Philip Morris (Thailand) Limited
In a competition judges said reflected current mutual concerns within ASEAN, Malaysian painter Kow Leong Kiang tonight won Grand Prize in the Philip Morris Group of Companies 1998 ASEAN Art Awards. In this fifth year of the one of Southeast Asia’s most prestigious painting competitions, artists from Thailand, Indonesia and two from Vietnam won Jurors’ Choice prizes.
The winners were announced at a gala ceremony in the Hanoi Opera House, hosted by Vietnam’s Ministry of Culture and Information. His Excellency Nguyen Manh Cam, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam, attended the ceremony as guest of honor.
His Excellency Minister Cam presented the Grand Prize trophy, along with Philip Morris Asia Inc. Vice President Harold Dyrvik. His Excellency Minister of Culture and Information Nguyen Khoa Diem presented the Jurors’ Choice trophies.
“The cultural and art exchanges between ASEAN countries play an important role in linking the special cultures of Southeast Asian countries, reflecting the spirit of unity in diversity,” Minister Diem told an audience of more than 400 people, including officials of the Vietnamese government and ASEAN, diplomats resident in Hanoi, and artists from all ASEAN member states. “We highly appreciate the assistance and sponsorship of the Philip Morris Group of Companies, which encourages ASEAN artists’ creativity.”
Madame Vu Giang Huong, head of the Vietnam Fine Artists’ Association, represented Vietnam on the nine member judging panel, which included one representative from each participating ASEAN member state plus two international judges, chaired by Professor Mayching Kao, Director of the Art Museum at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
“We are proud to have the ASEAN Art Awards finals in Vietnam,” Judge Huong said. “This year’s paintings were of very high quality.”
“These works reflect common issues throughout the region,” Judge S. Chandrasekaran of Singapore said of the 35 paintings the panel considered for top honors. “These works define the present for ASEAN.”
Malaysian Kow Leong Kiang’s haunting oil painting “Mr. Foreign Speculator, Stop Damaging Our Country!” was a consensus choice for the Grand Prize trophy and US$10,000 cash prize, according to the judges. “In this elegant deployment of simultaneous contrast, the viewer’s gaze is met by the pathetic yet defiant communal glare of the victims of economic devastation,” Judge Niranjan Rajah of Malaysia said.
The Philip Morris Group of Companies 1998 ASEAN Art Awards Grand Prize and Jurors’ Choice winners were selected from among five winners of each national competition held in participating ASEAN member states : Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Those 35 works, plus two specially selected paintings from each of ASEAN’s newest members, Laos and Myanmar, will be exhibited to the public at the Hanoi College of Fine Arts from November 26 and at the Fine Arts Museum in Ho Chi Minh City during January. The Ministry of Culture and Information has designated the Philip Morris Group of Companies 1998 ASEAN Art Awards exhibition as one of Vietnam’s special cultural events celebrating the Sixth ASEAN Summit, to be held in Hanoi in December.
“We are dealing with 35 winners. All of the paintings here have achieved national and regional recognition,” International Judge Neil Manton of Australia emphasized. “The works this year are challenging without being confrontational. They make you think, they make you look at what the artist is trying to say. It is a body of work that can travel anywhere and be recognized as successful.”
Le Thanh Thu, Jurors’ Choice winner for “Urbanization”, also represented Vietnam at the Philip Morris Group of Companies 1996 ASEAN Art Awards in Bangkok. “Urbanization” was “impressive from the first instant,” Thai Judge Sawadi Tantisuk declared. “I did not know immediately what it meant but I was drawn to it, like a piece of foreign music which you don’t understand but which you find fascinating.”
Vietnam’s other Jurors’ Choice winner, Nguyen Huy Hoang’s “Return”, drew praise for skillfully utilizing lacquer, mainly used traditional wood crafts, to create contemporary art. “Vietnamese artists have transformed a medium for decorative arts into a medium for expressing their emotions,” Chief Judge Kao said.
“Indonesia is Lamenting”, a pencil drawing on canvas, “is very modest in its approach and rendering,” Judge Niranjan said. “[Artist Isa Perkasa
] nevertheless has dealt with the country’s state of turmoil. He’s created a very complicated narrative that cannot be unraveled in one viewing.”
“The Power of Richness” is also not a traditional painting, but a collage of unpainted natural grains and seeds sweeping across a frame curved at the top. “The curve of the frame helps the work find perspective,” Judge Chandra said. “The natural color is articulated in a subtle yet extremely effective fashion.”
Each Jurors’ Choice winner received a US$5,000 cash award.
The Philip Morris Group of Companies, sponsor for the ASEAN Art Awards since its inception in 1994, is the world’s largest producer and marketer of consumer goods. The Group has been active in Asia since the early 1970s.
The Philip Morris Group of Companies employs more than 150,000 people worldwide, and its products are sold in nearly 200 markets. Its thousands of global and local brand-name products include: Kraft cheese; Miller beer; Tang powdered drink; Oscar Mayer meats; Jell-O desserts; Post and Nabisco cereals; Milka, Sugus and Toblerone confectioneries; Maxwell House coffee; and Marlboro, Parliament and Virginia Slims cigarettes.
Philip Morris Vietnam was established in 1994 and operates branch offices in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi for Marlboro cigarettes, which are produced in partnership with Vinataba, the Vietnamese tobacco company. Philip Morris Vietnam is a very substantial taxpayer to Vietnam’s government and also contributes to Vietnam’s economy through investment in agronomy and employment of Vietnamese staff.
Taloca, the coffee procurement subsidiary of Kraft Jacobs Suchard, opened a representative office in Vietnam in 1997 and is one of the largest purchasers of Vietnamese coffee for export. During the 1997-98 coffee season, Taloca directly purchased more than 35,000 tons of coffee valued at US$51 million, and its total purchases were more than US$80 million.3/4
The Philip Morris Group of Companies consists of six principal operating companies: Philip Morris U.S.A.; Philip Morris International Inc.; Kraft Foods Inc.; Kraft Foods International, Inc.; Miller Brewing Company; and Philip Morris Capital Corporation.
For more information, please contact Dr. Darmp Sukontasap Corporate Affairs Manage Philip Morris (Thailand) Limited Tel:636-1840 Fax:636-1855 End.