In the early 80s, corporate art competitions among local companies were unheard of, although banks like UOB had already started to build a serious art collection.
SIA took the lead when in 1981; they approached the Ministry for assistance in organizing their first and one-off contemporary art competition. The Ministry’s support was extended in the forms of: conceptualizing the format, rules and prize structure for the competition, receiving and processing the entries, sourcing the panel of adjudicators and finally staging the art exhibition.
Launched in May ‘81, the “Singapore Innovations in Art” (SIA) attracted a total of 157 entries – 124 paints and 33 sculptures. The 153 entries vied for the first prize of a 21-day Europe Roundtrip holiday plus $1000 cash and the second prize a USA Roundtrip Holiday with $700 cash. Other prizes took winners around the ASEAN region – Manila, Bangkok and Lake Toba, all reflective of early SIA routes.
The Competition was judged by a six-member panel comprising artists drawn Singapore (Museum Art Curator Choy Weng Yang and sculptor Ng Eng Teng) and the ASEAN countries whom we had met through the ASEAN art projects. They were: Prof Dr Ahmad Sadali (Indonesia), Prof Syed Ahmad Jamal who was both a painter and Director of the University of Malaysia Cultural Centre, Prof Napoleon Abeuva, Dean of College of the Arts, University of Philippines who created the concrete “Ship” sculpture (I wonder where is it now) in our ASEAN Sculpture Park on Fort Canning Hill and Panom Suwannath, Artist Lecturer, Silpakron University Faculty of Graphic Arts.
A total of 104 entries were exhibited from 20 to 25 November 1981 at the National Museum Art Gallery. Tay Chee Toh won the first prize in the Painting section with his surrealistic painting “Rising” while Chong Fah Chong won the Sculpture category with a wood sculpture “Tried”. I believe that the competition helped launch the careers of both artists who continue to be active and prominent today.
After SIA, UOB approached the Ministry to organize its first “Painting of the Year” Competition carrying the largest cash prize in Singapore ever, a princely sum of S$10,000 for the Open Section! Entries were invited in March 1982 and the competition attracted works from well-known artists and young artists. The Competition was judged by a five-judge panel comprising Choy, Syed Ahmad Jamal as well as Mr Ho Kok Hoe and the late Dr Earl Lu who was had both chaired the Ministry’s Visual Arts Advisory Committee; and Jose Joya, Dean of the University Of Philippines College Of Fine Arts.
The Competition was won by Goh Beng Kwan (S$10,000) with his abstract expressionist work “Dune”. Tay Chee Toh who had won the SIA competition the previous year, clinched 2nd prize (S$3000) with an equally surreal piece “Dream” while Teo Eng Seng won 3rd Prize ($2000) with “Busy Birds). All three artists are formidable artists who have carved a niche for themselves in the art landscape. The Ministry continued to extend a helping hand for the 2nd and 3rd “Painting of the Year” Competitions after which UOB carried on independently even until today.
Aside from making new friends among curators and artists, the competitions gave me a crash course into an already vibrant Singapore visual art landscape. I was very privileged to observe the judging process which sensitized me to good and bad art. This equipped me to publish the first-ever coffee table book on Singapore artists titled, Singapore Artists and to start a modest contemporary art collection of my own in the ensuing years.

























