Singaporean painter Tang Kok Soo, 51, won the 2026 UOB Southeast Asian Painting of the Year on 28 October at National Gallery Singapore with A Big Flower, a flower built from countless tiny hearts. You can see it in person from 1 November 2026, when the regional winners go on display at the gallery until 31 January 2027.
The win is a double. A Big Flower took the 2026 UOB Painting of the Year (Singapore) award as well, the national prize in a competition United Overseas Bank (UOB) has run since 1982. The ceremony, attended by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, brought together the country winners from Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, and this year the regional title stayed at home!
Every Heart Gets Its Own Halo
According to UOB, the work is mixed media on paper, made with graphite ink and collage. Its building block is the heart. Together those hearts form a monumental flower rising from a single flowerpot, which UOB says becomes “an endless field of light, energy, and unity.”
The thinking behind it goes deeper than a pot plant. Tang drew on geometric structures and the idea that “the greatest forms transcend fixed definition,” and the painting explores the relationship between centre and deviation, and between reality and perception. Put simply, it asks what happens when one tiny shape is repeated so many times that it stops being a single heart and becomes part of something much bigger.
Doodling, but Make It Meditation
Anyone who has filled a notebook margin with the same small shape during a long lecture knows how calming repetition can be. Tang turned that feeling into a method. UOB says the artist came to see the process behind grid structures as “a form of meditative painting,” where returning again and again to a single point of attention generates a sense of energy, vitality and light.
That’s why this win is worth noticing. It’s easy to assume a big regional art prize goes to the loudest, flashiest canvas in the room. This year’s top painting in Southeast Asia is a slow, personal practice built on grids and repetition. If you’ve ever lost an afternoon to a colouring book or a crochet project, you already understand what drives this painting.
Paris Isn’t Locked In Yet
The regional title doesn’t come with a ticket to France. As this year’s Singapore winner, Tang will compete with the four other country winners for a UOB-sponsored overseas art residency at Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. The National Gallery has looked to Paris before, in its City of Others exhibition, and this residency is one more connection between Singapore’s art scene and the French capital.
Tang has been here before. He won the Gold Award in the 2016 UOB Painting of the Year (POY) Singapore Established Artist category for Elephants Crossing the Water, so this double win comes ten years after his first big result in the same contest.
The competition itself has a long record. Now in its 45th year, it has uncovered more than 1,000 artists across Southeast Asia, by UOB’s count. It began in Singapore in 1982 and later expanded to Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, with Vietnam joining in 2023. UOB says seven alumni have gone on to receive the Singapore Cultural Medallion, a national arts honour. They include Goh Beng Kwan (1982 winner), the late Anthony Poon (1983 winner) and the late Chua Ek Kay (1991 winner).
The Other Winners Worth Finding
The regional line-up has ten winners across two categories. One piece stands out as the best companion to Tang’s flower. Wong Yik Knee, 50, won the 2026 Most Promising Artist of the Year (Singapore) in the Emerging Artist category for Echoes of Belongings, an oil on canvas of worn containers marked with individual names. UOB describes them as “quiet records of human presence.” Tang’s painting dissolves thousands of small units into one big image, while Wong’s keeps each name visible, so the two make a natural pair to see back to back. Her win is a useful reminder that in this competition, emerging is about career stage, not age.
From the rest of the region, two titles stand out because they speak to each other. Vietnam’s Le The Lam won with Life, Death and Neon, and Thailand’s emerging winner Watcharaphong Seethiang won with Life Is Impermanent, but Death Is Certain. Next to Tang’s field of light, they make for a fittingly reflective walk through the room.
The other country winners are Begok Oner (Indonesia) with Urban Realism Layers, Lim Tong Xin (Malaysia) with She Waited, Alif Lamra (Indonesia) with Liminal Fragment 03, and Harpreet Kaur (Malaysia) with Matriarch.
S$5 Million for the Arts Scene
Before the ceremony, UOB and the National Arts Council (NAC) signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), following on from their first agreement in 2022. Under it, UOB will commit S$5 million to NAC’s Sustain the Arts (stART) Fund. The partnership covers residencies, professional exchanges, exhibitions and collaborations for artists and curators from Singapore and the region. It will also bring UOB’s art collection, built over more than 40 years, to Singapore Art Week (SAW) through large-scale public events, ahead of the 60th anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2027.
“We believe supporting the arts goes beyond recognising artistic excellence,” said Wee Ee Cheong, UOB’s Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “It is also about creating opportunities for artists to grow and realise their potential.” For you, the practical upshot is more public chances to see the bank’s collection during SAW, and more overseas opportunities for local artists you might already follow.
Plan Your Visit
🗓️ Date: 1 November 2026 to 31 January 2027
⏰ Time: 10am to 7pm daily, as listed by UOB
📍 Location: Concourse Gallery, Level B1, Supreme Court Wing, National Gallery Singapore
🖼️ Exhibition: 2026 UOB POY Regional Winners’ Showcase
💻 Online: The winning artworks can be viewed on UOBandArt.com
A painting about returning to one point of attention deserves more than a glance on your phone, so head to the Supreme Court Wing and give A Big Flower a slow look in person. If you enjoyed regional crossovers like the gallery’s earlier Tropical: Stories from Southeast Asia and Latin America, this one fits neatly into a Sunday afternoon there. Can’t make it down? Browse all the winners on UOBandArt.com, and keep an eye on UOB’s art programme to see which of the five country winners heads to Paris!
Photos and Visuals courtesy of UOB.
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