The Cultural Development and Exchange Fund (CDEF) announces the winner of the Young Talent Prize 2010. The public has since the 10th of October been able to vote on their favourite artist. Now the online votes have been calculated and CDEF therefore announce Pham Tuan Tu as the winner of the competition.
This year’s Talent Prize in Painting has attracted attention among artists from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hue and other places in Vietnam. More than 700 images submitted by 165 applicants are to cherish young talents in paintings which illustrate an engagement among young artists.
Art critic Nathasha Kraevski, curator Malene Ratcliffe and artist Dinh Q. Le have evaluated the paintings and chosen the eight best artists for the final. Some of the main criteria for judging were aesthetics, relevance, context and originality.
The eight finalists have been exhibiting their paintings at the University of Fine Arts where the public could experience the different paintings. Furthermore, have the public been engaged in the voting process at the competitions website where 7496 online votes have been submitted. The winner of the prize Pham Tuan Tue received 2686 of the online votes.
Speaking about the winner jury member Natasha Kraevskaia says: “Pham Tuan Tu uses a reduced color palette. With his grays, grays-brownish and dim-yellows he creates an almost medieval ornamental background for his highly emotional and intimate plots. This restrained background doesn’t distract from the main very expressive personae. The viewer can see the same face, but we can’t say that it’s a recurring image. In every work it expresses different feelings: from relaxation and dreams to fears and phobia. Exploring the theme of homosexuality and transsexuality, the artist uncovers the complex inner world of the person”.
As winner of the Young Talent Prize 2010 Pham Tuan Tu has been capable of convincing both the three professional jury members and the public with his paintings. This is indeed impressing and he receives a grant of 1000 USD for his contribution. Beside the grant he will furthermore receive 2700 USD for organizing a solo exhibition, where he can present new artworks.
CDEF would like to thank all the applicants in who has contributed with painting for the Young Talent Prize 2010. The jury has been impressed by the amount of talent they have seen among the submitted paintings. Their acknowledgement also goes to the seven remaining finalists in the Talent Prize and their artworks. Hopefully, the exhibition has been a stepping stone for them to continue developing their expression and techniques within the different paintings.
The website of Talent Prize competitions also functioned as a forum for commenting upon the different paintings. Many remarks have been submitted and these discussions will, hopefully, be a part of the inspiration for upcoming artists. CDEF will within a week award the best comment with a prize of 2,000,000 VND.
The Talent Prize 2010 competition has given young Vietnamese artists, who are working with paintings an opportunity to enter a national competition and gain recognition for their talent.
