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Artwork that portrays the chaos of everyday life wins
the 2018 UOB Thailand Painting of the Year Competition Award

United Overseas Bank (Thai) (UOB (Thai)) has awarded the 2018 UOB Thailand Painting of the Year award to Mr Apiwat Banler for his acrylic on canvas painting titled Persistent Problems.  Through the painting, the 38-year-old artist conveys the impact of being surrounded by chaos in everyday life through persistent problems such as Bangkok's traffic gridlock, urban sprawl, the deferred construction of transport infrastructure and mass transit system outages. It was the richness in detail and the message behind the painting that made this artwork a unanimous choice for this year’s top award.

On winning the award, Mr Apiwat said “I have encountered all these issues and I admit that they have frustrated me but instead of being restive, I have used them as my inspiration in creating my artwork. As a Thai artist who has just started the artist career in the recent years, I am honoured to win the UOB Thailand Painting of the Year award. This is an international and contemporary art competition that has provided me with a rewarding experience.”

Persistent Problems was chosen from the Established Artist category at this year’s UOB Thailand Painting of the Year competition. As the winner, Mr Apiwat received a cash prize of US$25,000 (750,000 baht) and his artwork will go on to compete with the UOB Painting of the Year winning entries from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore for the UOB Southeast Asian Painting of the Year Award. Mr Apiwat also stands a chance to win a one-month residency programme at the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum in Japan. In addition, his artwork Persistent Problems will be exhibited at the UOB Art Gallery, located at the Bank’s regional headquarters in Singapore.

In the Emerging Artist category, 27-year-old Mr Chaichana Luetrakun won the UOB Most Promising Artist of the Year award for his painting titled Rhythm of Transformation No.4. The acrylic painting on canvas uses a landscape of junk cars to represent the change of humans through time. In the artist's eyes, he views society as consisting of people with different backgrounds, experiences and memories. He reinterprets the human form through the asymmetrical arrangement of cars to symbolise how humans grow up and become different elements driving a society.

Mr Tan Choon Hin, President and Chief Executive Officer of UOB (Thai), said that the UOB Thailand Painting of the Year competition is one of the Bank’s ways of engaging and giving back to the community.

“At UOB, we believe in supporting and encouraging those in our community who have passion, talent and drive. For close to a decade, the UOB Painting of the Year competition has helped to launch the careers of many promising artists in Thailand and to provide an avenue for the country’s emerging and established artists to share their works with a wider audience across the region. By creating opportunities for artistic talent to pursue their passion, we hope to discover and nurture the next generation of great Southeast Asian artists. We would like to congratulate this year’s winners and we hope all the artists will continue to pursue their passion and to realise their potential.” Mr Tan said.

The panel of judges for this year’s UOB Painting of the Year competition comprised Assistant Professor Somporn Rodboon, a virtual art adviser and independent curator; Mr Amrit Chusuwan, a consultant and a curator at Art Mill, Songkla Art Centre; and Mr Chalermchai Kositpipat, one of Thailand’s most successful artists and who has received the visual arts honouree for the Visual Arts National Artist in 2011.

The 2018 UOB Thailand Painting of the Year winners’ showcase

The winning and shortlisted paintings from both established and emerging categories will be exhibited at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre from 2 to 11 October 2018 and at UOB (Thai)’s Head Office on Sathon Road from 12 to 26 October 2018. The exhibitions are open to the public and admission is free.

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List of winners of the 2018 UOB Thailand Painting of the Year competition

2 October 2018
For More information, please contact
Strategic Communications and Customer Advocacy
United Overseas Bank (Thai) Pcl.
Nida Puwanich Tel. 0-2343-4963