SINGAPORE – Local artist Yong Wee Loon, 63, won the 43rd UOB Southeast Asian Painting of the Year (POY) award at a ceremony held at the National Gallery Singapore on Nov 13.

Mr Yong also won the award for Regional Painting of the Year for Singapore in the Established Artist category. This is designated for submissions from artists who have been signed to galleries, been part of exhibitions or received accolades for their art.

He is the first Singapore citizen to win the POY award in more than 10 years. German-born Singaporean permanent resident Stefanie Hauger was the first artist in Singapore to win the award in 2013.

The POY award is for submissions from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Sponsored by UOB, the award recognises 16 winners in person across the five countries.

The top winners from the Established Artist category in each country compete for the Southeast Asian POY award.

Mr Yong’s winning artwork, A Sip Through Time, is a diptych, comprising two canvas panels painted with acrylic paint.

It depicts a traditional coffee shop frozen in time, featuring posters and traditional sweets, along with surveillance cameras and a QR code, merging past and present.

A Sip Through Time is meant to invoke nostalgia in the viewer over once-loved items lost to progress.

Said Mr Yong: “It’s a big surprise, I’m overwhelmed and speechless. I wasn’t intending to submit this for the competition, but I finished it right in time and thought, ‘Why not?’ – and that was it.”

Along with the four other UOB POY country winners, Mr Yong will compete for a two-month UOB-Nafa, University of the Arts Singapore (UAS) artist residency programme at Cite internationale des arts in Paris.