The Singapore Art Museum's prize

Five Indian artists, namely Atul Bhalla, Prabhavathi Meppayil, Ravi Shah, Sheba Chhachhi and Shreyas Karle, have been nominated by the Singapore Museum for a prestigious art prize, worth $ 45,000. Their works are part of a total of 130 selected from 24 countries vying for the triennial Signature Art Prize.

The prize, set up in 2008, recognizes significant works from the Asia Pacific region. Suman Gopinath and Pooja Sood, two leading art professionals, have nominated the artists with works spanning an array OF mediums like painting, drawing, print, mixed media, installation and photography, and discuss a wide range of issues such as social and environment concerns.

Apart from India, entries for the prize have also been received from countries such as Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Bangladesh, Brunei, Myanmar, Nepal, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Oceania (Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia), South Korea, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Taiwan.

Established in 1996, Singapore Art Museum boasts a large collection of modern & contemporary Southeast Asian works of art. It is incidentally partnering National Museum of India. In February 2010, it had shown princely artifacts from the Mughal era featuring nearly 400 jeweled works like household items, jewelry, weapons etc sourced from private collection.

The Director of Singapore Art Museum, Mr. Tan Boon Hui, states, “As a museum dedicated to contemporary art of the region, SAM is keen to bring together all these finalist artworks and showcase these marks of distinction in Asia Pacific contemporary art in our galleries.

The Signature Art Prize is one-of-its-kind in this part of the world, and is a wonderful and democratic way to recognize good, quality work by artists in the region, regardless of their origins or whether they are established or just emerging. The impressive range of works and artistic concepts reflected will undoubtedly give visitors further insight into the region and its distinctive and dynamic contemporary art practice.”