UOB Artbeat turns the bank’s art collection inside out

[SINGAPORE] UOB has been collecting Singapore art since the 1970s, and its Painting of the Year competition, founded in 1982, has become one of the region’s longest-running art prizes. 

Its latest undertaking, UOB Artbeat, brings some of that history out of storage and into public view.

Held across two weekends from Aug 29 to Sep 6 at Artspace@Helutrans in Tanjong Pagar Distripark, the inaugural festival is both an art exhibition and an introduction to the machinery that surrounds art: how artists are discovered and how works are made.

At its centre is the first public showcase of shortlisted finalists from the Emerging Artist category of this year’s UOB Painting of the Year competition, featuring some striking works by artists who are largely unknown to the wider public. 

But Artbeat is also interested in what happens after an artwork enters the UOB Collection: Beyond the Canvas, a section of the showcase developed with Singapore conservation studio Barc Labs, draws 12 works from the UOB Art Collection.

It looks not simply at what is depicted, but how each piece was made, its materials, methods and, in some cases, unusual physical construction.

Five are by Cultural Medallion recipient Goh Beng Kwan, including The Dune, the mixed-media collage that won the first UOB Painting of the Year in 1982.

Works by artists including Ho Tzu Nyen, David Chan and Yong Wee Loon bring the story forward across subsequent generations.

What emerges is a compact survey of an artwork’s possible life: first created, exhibited, collected and, decades later, carefully preserved.

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UOB Artbeat last weekend runs from Sep 4 to 6, 11 am to 6 pm, at Artspace@Helutrans in Tanjong Pagar Distripark.