Artists fill out forms to submit their work to the 2008 Myanmar Contemporary Arts Awards earlier this month. Pic: Aung Tun Win

THE country’s fine arts community has responded enthusiastically to the 2008 Myanmar Contemporary Arts Awards, with almost 500 entries received by the deadline late last week.

A total of 483 artists submitted entries in the competition by the March 7 deadline. The high number of entries highlights both the enormous pool of talent within the artistic community and the importance of hosting prestigious competitions to enable artists to achieve wider exposure.

“It is simply phenomenal that we have received such an overwhelming response. This would have been unthinkable three, five or 10 years ago and proves that Myanmar is a hidden art treasury, a jewel waiting to be discovered,” said Mr Ross Dunkley, the editor in chief of The Myanmar Times.

“The wealth of talent, the youth and vitality expressed in the entries prove to me that Myanmar artists are about to shake up the region. You will soon see major global interest in Myanmar art. What we are seeing here is the tip of the iceberg,” said Mr Dunkley.

The competition, for prize money totalling FEC6500, is being jointly hosted by Yangon’s River Gallery and The Myanmar Times. The inaugural event in 2004 was a great success, attracting entries from 270 artists. It significantly helped establish several artists to raise their profile, including 2004 winner Zaw Win Pe.

His career has since blossomed and the Singapore Art Museum recently acquired one of his works, titled Kayin Mountain.

With the success of 2004 to build on, the interest in this year’s event has grown dramatically, along with the artists’ focus on contemporary work.

“The response to the competition this year has been exceptional. In the inaugural event, held in 2004, we had only 270 entries so this year’s event has been received very well by the artists. A large majority of entrants have really taken up the challenge of contemporary art,” said River Gallery’s curator, Ms Gill Pattison.

“While I have only just started to look through the entries, the overall standard of the work has improved significantly since we first held the awards. A large proportion of the entries reveal a high level of skill and an advanced interpretation of what we were looking for in terms of contemporary art,” she said.

With twice as many artists participating this year, the task of the judges may seem daunting. After an initial assessment is completed, the judges will choose 30 finalists from a short-list of between 100 and 150 entries. The works of the finalists, including the three winners, will be exhibited in Yangon in May. The opening of the exhibition will coincide with the announcement of the winners.

The 30 finalists will also be entered later this year in Hong Kong’s Sovereign Art Foundation Awards, one of Asia’s premier art competitions.

The judging panel in the 2008 Myanmar Contemporary Arts Awards will comprise Ms Alexandra Green, a research assistant professor in the Fine Arts Department at the University of Hong Kong; Ms Joanna MacLean, the co-owner of La Luna Contem-porary Art Gallery in Chiang Mai, Thailand; and Mr Dunkley.
The finalists’ entries will be featured in a catalogue that will be available during the exhibition, for which more details will be provided in the coming weeks.