Life Power List 2024: UOB cements position as most influential patron in Singapore art scene
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Besides its UOB Painting of the Year contest, the bank has invested in arts education and supported its competition winners.
ST ILLUSTRATION: CEL GULAPA
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SINGAPORE – UOB’s “day job” is handling loans, deposits and a wealth of diverse portfolios. But the bank cemented its role as the most influential patron in the Singapore art scene in 2024, investing good chunks of cash in both arts and arts education.
It has a long, illustrious history as an arts patron. In November, the UOB South-east Asian Painting of the Year ran its 43rd edition, which was won by 63-year-old Yong Wee Loon
The longest-running art contest in Singapore has expanded regionally and evolved to become one of the most prestigious in South-east Asia.
This fixture on the regional art calendar capped off a year of unprecedented initiatives by UOB, which dramatically deepened its support for the arts, already at $5.6 million in 2023.
In January, the founding partner of National Gallery Singapore renewed its partnership with the museum for another five years, promising money that will go to gallery research and the acquisition of new works for the South-east Asia gallery.
Then in April, the bank gifted an undisclosed sum to the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in a new tie-up.
The five-year collaboration funds an annual South-east Asian Arts Forum, as well as a new online South-east Asian arts module that will enrol more than 700 students yearly.
The donation will also support some 150 underprivileged students in overseas exchanges over five years, and enable four artists to take up residencies in Singapore and Paris annually.
Finally, in May, the bank announced that it was establishing an artist alumni network for its stable of more than 1,000 UOB Painting of the Year winners.
This means vital support for past winners in the form of exhibitions at marquee fairs such as Art Jakarta and Hong Kong’s Art Central, where UOB is a lead partner; commissions from the bank and its clients; and networking opportunities.
UOB also identified more commercial opportunities for artists in 2024, including a collaboration between six Painting of the Year winners and Pan Pacific Hotels Group chefs, who created high tea sets, available to the public, based on their art.
The bank’s new branch at Pasir Ris Mall features for the first time a commissioned mural. Former Painting of the Year winner Wong Sze Yoong has captured the iconic playground and birdwatching tower of Pasir Ris Park, with sea and sky blended together in UOB’s trademark blue.
Mrs Christine Ip, UOB’s head of group strategic communications and brand, says of its commitment: “We believe in the power of art in inspiring and connecting people. Our long-term commitment to art aligns with our broader mission to build the future of Asean.”
UOB’s sustained involvement in the arts dates back to 1982, when the UOB Painting of the Year competition was founded as an open call for undiscovered artists in the region.
Informally, though, the bank’s enthusiasm for the arts goes back to the 1970s, when the institution’s founding Wee family led the charge in collecting art by Singapore artists.
Today, UOB’s art collection includes more than 2,600 artworks. Some are in its vaults, but many are on display, such as the fang-like bronze by Italian sculptor Anna Chiara Spellini along the Singapore River.
Mrs Ip says private entities that ignore art miss opportunities. “Art offers unique insights into the region’s culture, history and issues. It is also an avenue through which businesses may deepen their connections in the region.”
In both subject matter and presentation, South-east Asian art has evolved significantly over the years, increasingly permeating public spaces such as transport hubs and building facades, and people and companies should take notice, she says.
It is also a way to stimulate cross-border dialogue, Mrs Ip adds, dovetailing with UOB’s mission to have an “unparalleled regional footprint” and help its clients capitalise on the bigger Asean market.
In recent years, the bank has taken its art initiatives to Hong Kong and other parts of China too. It inaugurated the Art in Ink Awards in Hong Kong in 2017 to promote the development of ink art there.
This competition was extended to students in China in 2023, and in 2024 was further broadened to include an emerging artist category.
