OWEN LEONG // Final days to vote for 'Infinite Love' for the Asia Pacific Breweries Signature Art Prize's People's Choice Award

Image: Infinite Love 2011. HD video 6:18 minutes, Edition of 5 + 1AP

With less than a week to go until The Singapore Art Museum (SAM) and Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) Foundation announce the winners of this year's APB Foundation Signature Art Prize, there is still time to cast your vote for the People's Choice Award, which will be awarded to the artwork that receives the highest numbers of public votes via the online submission here.

Next Thursday, 22 January 2015 the awards ceremony will announce the winner of the Grand Prize, two Jurors' Choice Award winners and one People's Choice Award winner.

Owen Leong, the only Australian finalist to be shortlisted as a finalist, has been selected for his powerful video artwork, Infinite Love, is a performance work that explores the body as a physical site for social, cultural and political forces in relation to the artist’s Asian Australian identity.

“I am thrilled to be selected as a finalist for the Asia Pacific Breweries Foundation Signature Art Prize 2014, and to be in the company of some of my favourite artists from the Asia-Pacific region is a huge honour,” said Leong.

The Prize, now in its third year, spotlights the most compelling contemporary artworks by artists practicing within the Asia Pacific region from over the last three years.  Leong joins 14 other finalists from 12 other countries including Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

All 15 works will be exhibited at the Singapore Art Museum from 14 November 2014 to 15 March 2015, with the final winners announced at an awards ceremony on 22 January 2015.

Selected by a panel of five judges from across the Asia-Pacific region, the finalists’ works were selected from over 105 entries from across 24 countries and territories. While the finalists works span multiple mediums, from painting and sculpture to photography, video works and performance art, what they share in common is their thematic reference to topical issues, not just on our region’s contemporary art landscape but also conversations relevant in the broader community.

The 15 finalist artworks include:
–Australia: Infinite Love (2011) by Owen Leong
–Bangladesh: Rankin Street, 1953 (2013) by Naeem Mohaiemen
–China: Letters From a Distance (2012–14) by Peng Wei
–China: Trace (2011) by Liu Jianhua
–India: House of Opaque Water (2013) by Ranbir Kaleka
–Indonesia: I’m a Ghost in My Own House (2012) by Melati Suryodarmo
–Japan: One places / on “the room” (2013) by Go Watanabe
–New Zealand: In Pursuit of Venus (2012) by Lisa Reihana
–Pakistan: Kahani Eik Shehr Ki (story of a city) (2012) by Farida Batool
–Singapore: Eskimo wolf trap often quoted in sermons (2013) by Zhao Renhui
–Singapore: PYTHAGAROS (2013) by Ho Tzu Nyen
–South Korea: Custos Cavum (Guardian of the hole) (2011) by Choe U-Ram
–Taiwan: Mirage – Disused Public Property in Taiwan (2010–13) by Yao Jui-Chung & Lost Society Document
–Thailand: Golden Teardrop (2013) by Arin Rungjang