Aye Ko with some of his paintings

MYANMAR artist Aye Ko has been awarded a grant to undertake a three-month creative residency in New York by the Asian Cultural Council (ACC).

Aye Ko, who left for New York on September 9, will spend the rest of the year in a Manhattan studio with other Asian artists also awarded residencies.

This is the 41-year-old artist’s third trip to the states.

His first time was in 2001 to take part in the Asian Performance Art Festival in New York.

This time, he will take part in workshops with the other artists in the residency, do research and create art in the Manhattan studio.

“The main thing is I will be creating artworks at the studio as a representative of Myanmar,” he said.

Aye Ko has already received considerable international exposure participating in international performance art festivals held in Bangkok, New York, Singapore, Japan, Cambodia and Hong Kong since 1999.

He has also attended an international art symposium in 2002 and the second forum on art and culture in the Mekong region in Cambodia in 2003.

He also held a solo exhibition in New York in 2002.

This year he travelled to Japan to participate in the Nippon International Performance Art Festival held in mid-July for the third time.

Aye Ko also told the Myanmar Times, he hopes to help other Myanmar artists gain international exposure through this latest trip to New York.

“I will bring a catalogue of their paintings to show art dealers,” he said.

“We, Myanmar contemporary artists, need more exposure on the international art scene. For this reason I try to participate in as many art festivals held internationally as I can.”

He said he plans to apply what he learns in New York to establish a similar studio in Yangon, where he will hold workshops with other artists on contemporary art movements such as video art and performance art.

“For that, we need funds. I hope I can raise these funds through selling some of my work,” he said.

The ACC is a foundation supporting cultural exchange in the visual and performing arts between the United States and the countries of Asia.

The ACC, an affiliate of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, also provides individual fellowship grants to artists, scholars, students, and specialists from Asia to study, do research, travel and do creative work in the United States.

Through this, the program aims to establish long-term relationships between American artists and their Asian counterparts.

The council also awards a small number of grants for regional exchange activities within Asia.

The council celebrated its 40th birthday last year.