The award, worth $15,000, was announced together with five runner-up awards at ceremonies held at the posh Ritz-Carlton Hotel, with no less than Singapore President S. R. Nathan as guest of honor.
Titled "See-Saw," Garcia’s artwork was one of five Jurors’ Choices from the Philippines that competed in the regional finals involving 41 national winners representing the 10 ASEAN countries, with Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos fielding only two artworks each.
Norman Dreo, also of the Philippines, was adjudged one of the five runners-up earning $5,000 for his mixed-media work titled "Lipunang Teknolohiya" (Technological Society). The double win ended a two-year drought for Philippine entries in the prestigious annual contest, now on its seventh year.
The grand prize winner was reportedly a nearly unanimous choice among the seven ASEAN and four international jurors that formed the selection panel, including Filipino National Artist Napoleon Abueva.
An arresting diptych in black and white, Garcia’s work has a horizontal upper panel featuring an oil-on-canvas rendering of a cloth-wrapped object in photographic detail, with the lower panel composed of a light box and x-ray film of the wrapped object that is revealed to be a chainsaw.
The Philippine delegation, led by Philip Morris Philippines Inc. public affairs and communications manager Marline Dualan and Ayala Museum director Dr. Florina Capistrano-Baker, is due back in Manila tonight after a three-day participation in the ASEAN Art Awards program of activities that culminated in last night’s awards ceremonies and subsequent public viewing at the Singapore Art Museum.