The Danish Embassy has launched its annual Talent Painting Prize contest for young artists.
The contest, held by the embassy’s Cultural Development and Exchange Fund (CDEF), aims to provide direct support to contemporary artists and performances in Vietnam, and this year, the Fund has selected paintings as key theme.
This year’s competition seeks to find original, unique and creative artists and to promote innovation in the painting field.
“We want the contest to give a young artist a chance to get away from commercial art practices and to encourage them to develop their own techniques and style,” said the Danish Ambassador to Vietnam and Chairman of CDEF Board, Mr. Peter Lysholt Hansen.
Judges for the competition included well-respected art critics such as Natalia Kraevskaia, an expert on Vietnamese art and owner of Salon Natasha, artist Lê Quang Đỉnh, a well known Vietnamese-American artist based in Ho Chi Minh City and the found of San Art, an independent space for artists, and Ms. Malene Natascha Ratcliffe, a Danish curator and director of development at Den Frie, Center of Contemporary art.
Each contestant must be under the age of 35. Entries must be original paintings done over the last two years that have not been given any prizes at other contests.
Submissions must arrive at the Danish Embassy at 19 Dien Bien Phu Street, Hanoi, no later than August 10.
The jury will select a maximum of eight best artists. The work of short-listed candidates will be exhibited in Hanoi for two weeks in October.
During those 2 weeks, voting for the best artist will be conducted via website www.cuocthitainang2010.com. The winner will be announced on the last day of October.
This year’s top prize money, US$3,700, will be split: US$1,000 will be handed in cash to the winner; the remaining US$2,700 will be used to organize a solo exhibition for the artist after the competition.
