Cambodian artist Svay Sareth was named Overall Best Emerging Artist at the 2016 Prudential Eye Awards for Contemporary Asian Art in Singapore on Tuesday.
He was selected among artists from across Asia by a jury that included Fumio Nanjo, director of Tokyo’s Mori Art Museum, and Honor Harger, executive director of the ArtScience Museum in Singapore.
Born in 1972, Mr. Sareth spent his childhood under the Khmer Rouge and his teenage years in a refugee camp in Thailand.
In the early 1990s, he helped establish the Phare Ponleu Selpak art school in Battambang City.
He later studied in France and returned with a master’s degree in fine arts. The awards were launched in 2014 by Prudential Financial in partnership with Parallel Contemporary Art and Saatchi Gallery of London.
Mr. Sareth, who also received the Best Emerging Artist Using Sculpture award, will get a solo exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery and $50,000 in prize money.
