Taken from blogs.todayonline.com
Barely a week after an art elective student from Hwa Chong Institution won this year's UOB Painting Of The Year award; debate about whether his work deserves the top honour has been raging among observers, professional painters and the so-called art lovers.
The lucky boy, Esmond Loh, named his self-portrait Just Let Me Sleep. The painting consists of (I assume) a youngster who is stressed of life and trying to escape from the harsh reality of doing well academically. The oil painting is made up of coarse brush strokes and consists of mainly dark colours.
A number of people, including full-time artists as well as ordinary folks, have hurled brickbats at Esmond for his mediocre work. They believe that it is disrespectful to professionals and older painters for judges to pick Just Let Me Sleep as the winner.
Although it does look chaotic when I first saw it, I realized that it is supposed to be disorganized. Many claim that the messiness showed a lack of technical ability and the casual title was chosen to cover things up. I think that while the title sounds rather direct, it is there so that people can focus on the picture.
I am indeed impressed that a 17-year-old like Esmond is able to pull off such great work. It stands out visually as a distinctive piece while the dark colour tones make viewers ponder about youngsters in current society and how the latter affects them in their growing years.
Anyway, since I was checking out about this annual art competition, I recalled that my art teacher, Namiko Chan (heck, there's even a Wikipedia article on her), in secondary one was the 2006 champion. However, hers pales in comparison to this year's winner. That is at least what I thought.
Just Let Me Sleep certainly deserves to be crowned as the champion because of its visual appeal and message that it conveys. If a piece of art is judged by the painter's technique, how can it still be considered art? All those so-called art lovers should just shut up.
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