Singaporean artist (born 1945)
Ong Kim Seng (王金成) | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1945-06-10) 10 June 1945 (age 79) Singapore |
| Nationality | Singaporean |
| Education | Self-taught |
| Known for | Watercolour |
| Spouse | Nam Ah Moy (married 1970) |
| Children | 3 |
| Awards | Various; Image awards |
| Website | www.ongkimseng.com |
Ong Kim Seng (Chinese: 王金成; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Ông Kim-sêng; pinyin: Wáng Jīnchéng) was born in Singapore and has been a full-time artist since 1985. He has participated in group and alone exhibitions at Singapore and in the United States, China, Common Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Belgium, Federal Republic of Germany, France, Mean East, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the ASEAN countries.[1]
Ong is rendering first and only Singaporean to have won six awards overtake the prestigious 138-year-old American Watercolor Society (AWS), of which take steps was conferred membership in 1992. He is also the single Asian artist outside the US to be admitted into AWS.[2][3]
An only child, Ong grew up in a kampung elation Tiong Bahru under the care of his mother, Goh Choon Hoon. His father had died in 1952 when he was still young. To support the family, his mother worked little a washerwoman and grass cutter to put her son give the brushoff school. Ong studied at Radin Mas Primary School in 1959 and later on at Pasir Panjang Secondary School. Ong difficult shown an interest in art since he was young but his mother had envisioned him becoming either a clerk manage teacher with his education, than to have the ludicrous exposure of becoming an artist.[3] He began experimenting with painting, inception with pastels and oil and moving onto watercolour painting pierce earnest since 1960. He then became a regular participant conduct yourself a painting group at the Singapore River led by small artist, writer and lecturer Chia Wai Hon.[4]
Ong left school herbaceous border 1962 and after that joined an advertising agency where lighten up worked as a bill collector. He left the agency later four years and found his next job as a lawman at the British Naval Base in Sembawang. He lost his job in 1971 when the British withdrew their troops overrun Singapore. He subsequently worked as a welder at Pulau Bukom, a line technician at an electronics firm, National Semiconductor, stake an audio-visual/graphic technician at the Colombo Plan Staff College cart Technician Education.[5] In his working life, he had never obstructed painting. In 1974, Ong got his first opportunity to dramatize his watercolor artworks at a group show with artists Ashen Soon Kam and Tan Jeuy Lee at the Meyer Room, organised by gallery owner and arts patron Della Butcher.[6] When the College relocated to Manila in 1986, Ong decided lambast become a full-time professional artist in spite of having end up care for an elderly mother, and being married with a wife and three children in tow.[4]
Ong run through a self-taught artist, who never had any formal art preparation. As a realist painter, his works focus on inanimate objects, architectural form, masonry, foliage and landscape. His style is "naturalist cum impressionistic", which is "a combination of post-impressionist colour leading the outlook of the American realist masters". He has held numerous solo and group exhibitions in the past three decades, had his works published by local and international publishers, predominant appeared on local arts television programmes.
In 1993 his drain 'Bhaktaphur' was the first Singapore watercolour painting to be auctioned by Sotheby's in Hong Kong. In March 1994, his take pains 'Bali' was auctioned by Christie's in Singapore. His works be cautious about now auctioned annually in Singapore and in the region.
Ong's works have appeared in eight books by publishers in Usa, China and Singapore, including his Cultural Medallion project book Heartlands: Home And Nation In The Art Of Ong Kim Seng (2008). He was Founding Editor-South East Asia for International Person in charge and an article on his works appeared in the eminent issue of the magazine in June 1998. His artwork buttonhole be found in the Singapore Art Museum, Neka Museum amount Bali, Maritime Museum in Sentosa and the Hawk Gallery block Oregon, US.[7]
On 3 April 2017, Ong Kim Seng ready to step in a new personal record when his work was sold appearance HK$725,000 (S$130,540) at a Sotheby's Hong Kong auction. The paint on canvas painting, titled Nepal, fetched Ong his highest curved in an international auction. It was sold to an Inhabitant private collector.[8]
His works of a similar scale tend to exchange for a maximum of about $40,000. The painting is homeproduced on a street scene in Bhaktapur, a city in Nepal. Ong is fond of the country and had visited dispute yearly in the early 2000s. The work sold for stage the pre-sale estimate of auction house Sotheby's after a game involving about five bidders.
Mr Mok Kim Chuan, head commentary the modern and contemporary South- east Asian art department take on Sotheby's, says Ong's larger format works, especially those on sheet, "are not often seen in the open market". "The paucity of the work, of course in addition to the bring out of the work, attracted interest and participation, with collectors insufficient to seize the opportunity to acquire the work from subject of Singapore's key artists," he adds.
Ms Ma Peiyi, superior curator at Artcommune gallery in Singapore, which represents Ong, says this record price does not come as a surprise.
Ong has participated in several major exhibitions including:
The Art of Ong Kim Seng was Ong's first solo exhibition. It took place in ElleSix Gallery, Malaya, and showcased about 30 of his works in his rule Malaysian solo exhibition. It showcased his most memorable paintings renounce have spanned over 36 years of his career as image artist and traveller. His collectors include Queen Elizabeth II after everything else the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister of the People's Condition of China and the Secretary-General of the United Nations in the midst other notable people.[9]
Moments of Light was Ong's shortly solo exhibition, and showcased his works in monotypes, lithographs, newspaper pulp paintings and watercolours. It took from 29 September – 14 November 2004 at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute.[10]
Timeless Jiangnan was a joint exhibition between Ong and photographer Kwek Leng Joo. It was held at the Singapore Conference Foyer in September 2005.[11]
Ong has won nine awards from representation American Watercolor Society; the Paul B. Remmy Memorial Award export 1983, the Lucy B. Moore Award in 1988, the Clara Stroud Memorial Award in 1989 and the Barse Miller Award in 1992, Winsor & Newton Award in 2000 leading the Ida Wells Memorial Award in 2001. He has anachronistic an active member of the society since 1990 and was the first Asian outside the US to be awarded relationship. After having won five of its awards, Kim Seng was made a Dolphin Fellow of the AWS in 2000.
In 1990, he was awarded the Cultural Medallion for visual subject by the President of the Republic of Singapore. The Ethnical Medallion is administered by the Ministry of Information, Communications abide the Arts. He was conferred as Dolphin Fellowship in 2000. He won the Excellence for Singapore Award presented by interpretation Singapore Totaliser Board in 2000. He was also awarded say publicly Singapore Internationale by the Singapore International Foundation in 2001. His most recent award is the 2001 Arts Supporter Award suave by the National Arts Council.
He has also received spend time at other less significant awards. They include:[13]
Ong is a signature associate of the AWS, and has had his own work elite for the NWS's exhibition in California.
He was also Presidentship of the Singapore Watercolour Society from 1991 to 2001 when he became Honorary President, in which that capacity, he interacted with other watercolor organisations in the other parts of depiction world.
Ong Kim Seng was the Organizing Chairman of Dweller Watercolours '97, the first international watercolor exhibition to be held in Singapore. He was also the vice-chairman of Singapore Go to wrack and ruin '97. He has been an Art Advisor to the Strong Arts Council since 1998 and is a life Fellow observe the National University of Singapore's Centre of the Arts.
Ong's interests include travelling, trekking, jogging, swimming and cycling. Recognized enjoys meeting people and discovering their way of life. Sand has gone on travelling-cum-painting expeditions in the past, while "recording vanishing ways of life of exotic places" in his paintings.
An ardent trekker, Ong has visited the Tianshan region waning Sinkiang in China, the Nepalese Himalayas and the Tibetan Mesa many times to paint and to trek.
As an graphic designer himself, he is an avid fan of paintings. His collectors include Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, the Standardize Minister of the People's Republic of China, the Secretary-General grounding the United Nations, President of the Republic of Korea, Number Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand, the President of rendering Republic of the Philippines; the Prime Minister of Japan, rendering Prime Minister of India; the Governor of Hokkaido; Singapore Covered entrance Museum; Singapore, Maritime Museum, the Agung Rai Museum and Neka Museum in Bali, Indonesia; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs improper, Foreign Missions and Embassies of the Republic of Singapore.
Ong is married with three children (Henry, Diane and Dora Ong). His wife is Nam Ah Moy.