First Liu Kuo-sung Ink Art Award (2019)

Established in 2019, the Liu Kuo-sung Ink Art Award is jointly organized by the Liu Kuo sung Foundation and The Ink Society in Hong Kong. It is a biennial award aimed at supporting talented and promising young artists in the field of contemporary ink art and giving them an international platform. As a pioneer in modern ink art, Liu Kuo-sung has for decades tirelessly dedicated himself to the nurturing of new generations of artists, and this award is a continuation of his work in the field of ink art.

A nominating committee composed of curators, scholars and art critics from Taiwan, Hong Kong and mainland China chooses fifteen artists under the age of 40. Submitted ink artworks must be 2D works suitable for wall display; video art is not considered. A separate and independent panel of judges then chooses three finalists, who submit three to five original works from the past five years to the Hong Kong office for final consideration. The judges meet in Hong Kong to confer and choose a winner and up to two honorable mentions.

The First Liu Kuo-sung Ink Art Award nominators were Raymond Tang, Philip Wu, Wang Huangsheng, Wu Hong-liang and Shang Hui. The judges were Liu Kuo-sung, Pi Daojian, Pong Chun-Yee, Chia Chi Jason Wang and Lesley Ma. The first Winner was Wu Chi-tsung, based in Taipei, with Hung Fai and Sun Yuan receiving Honorable Mentions.

Two or three works by the Winner were shown at Ink Asia, held October 3–7, 2019 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, the Winner being announced shortly before the fair began. The official award ceremony took place at 16:00 on October 5 at Ink Asia, and a cash prize of HKD100,000 was awarded to the Winner.