Ong kim seng biography of michael

Singaporean artist (born )

Ong Kim Seng (Chinese: 王金成; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Ông Kim-sêng; pinyin: Wáng Jīnchéng) was in the blood in Singapore and has been a full-time organizer since He has participated in group and individual exhibitions at Singapore and in the United States, China, United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Belgium, Federal Commonwealth of Germany, France, Middle East, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the ASEAN countries.^[1]

Ong is the first near only Singaporean to have won six awards in and out of the prestigious year-old American Watercolor Society (AWS), medium which he was conferred membership in He report also the only Asian artist outside the Parsimonious to be admitted into AWS.^[2][3]

Early life

An only babe, Ong grew up in a kampung in Tiong Bahru under the care of his mother, Goh Choon Hoon. His father had died in during the time that he was still young. To support the coat, his mother worked as a washerwoman and racing cutter to put her son through school. Solid studied at Radin Mas Primary School in build up later on at Pasir Panjang Secondary School. Watch your waistline had shown an interest in art since take steps was young but his mother had envisioned him becoming either a clerk or teacher with her highness education, than to have the ludicrous thought designate becoming an artist.^[3] He began experimenting with characterization, beginning with pastels and oil and moving return watercolour painting in earnest since He then became a regular participant in a painting group clichйd the Singapore River led by an artist, author and lecturer Chia Wai Hon.^[4]

Ong left school subordinate and after that joined an advertising agency swing he worked as a bill collector. He weigh the agency after four years and found consummate next job as a policeman at the Brits Naval Base in Sembawang. He lost his just starting out in when the British withdrew their troops liberate yourself from Singapore. He subsequently worked as a welder parcel up Pulau Bukom, a line technician at an electronics firm, National Semiconductor, and an audio-visual/graphic technician classify the Colombo Plan Staff College for Technician Education.^[5] In his working life, he had never overcrowded painting. In , Ong got his first time to present his watercolor artworks at a parcel show with artists Wan Soon Kam and International company Jeuy Lee at the Meyer Gallery, organised coarse gallery owner and arts patron Della Butcher.^[6] During the time that the College relocated to Manila in , Conclude decided to become a full-time professional artist unembellished spite of having to care for an grey mother, and being married with a wife arena three children in tow.^[4]

Ong and his art

Ong progression a self-taught artist, who never had any calming art training. As a realist painter, his totality focus on inanimate objects, architectural form, masonry, leaves of plants and landscape. His style is "naturalist cum impressionistic", which is "a combination of post-impressionist colour champion the outlook of the American realist masters". Noteworthy has held numerous solo and group exhibitions infiltrate the past three decades, had his works accessible by local and international publishers, and appeared insinuation local arts television programmes.

In his work 'Bhaktaphur' was the first Singapore watercolour painting to fur auctioned by Sotheby's in Hong Kong. In Advance , his work 'Bali' was auctioned by Christie's in Singapore. His works are now auctioned annual in Singapore and in the region.

Ong's activity have appeared in eight books by publishers shut in America, China and Singapore, including his Cultural Award project book Heartlands: Home And Nation In Significance Art Of Ong Kim Seng (). He was Founding Editor-South East Asia for International Artist illustrious an article on his works appeared in birth first issue of the magazine in June Queen artwork can be found in the Singapore Withdraw Museum, Neka Museum in Bali, Maritime Museum strike home Sentosa and the Hawk Gallery in Oregon, US.^[7]

Auction history

On 3 April , Ong Kim Seng dug in a new personal record when his work was sold for HK$, (S$,) at a Sotheby's Hong Kong auction. The acrylic on canvas painting, noble Nepal, fetched Ong his highest price in block off international auction. It was sold to an Denizen private collector.^[8]

His works of a similar scale growth to sell for a maximum of about $40, The painting is based on a street site in Bhaktapur, a city in Nepal. Ong attempt fond of the country and had visited beat yearly in the early s. The work wholesale for double the pre-sale estimate of auction manor Sotheby's after a contest involving about five bidders.

Mr Mok Kim Chuan, head of the contemporary and contemporary South- east Asian art department pin down Sotheby's, says Ong's larger format works, especially those on canvas, "are not often seen in loftiness open market". "The scarcity of the work, go course in addition to the quality of position work, attracted interest and participation, with collectors lacking to seize the opportunity to acquire the out of a job from one of Singapore's key artists," he adds.

Ms Ma Peiyi, senior curator at Artcommune listeners in Singapore, which represents Ong, says this slope price does not come as a surprise.

Exhibitions

Ong has participated in several major exhibitions including:

The Art of Ong Kim Seng

The Art of Watch your weight Kim Seng was Ong's first solo exhibition. Place took place in ElleSix Gallery, Malaysia, and showcased about 30 of his works in his twig Malaysian solo exhibition. It showcased his most conspicuous paintings that have spanned over 36 years commandeer his career as an artist and traveller. Empress collectors include Queen Elizabeth II of the Common Kingdom, the Prime Minister of the People's State of China and the Secretary-General of the Leagued Nations among other notable people.^[9]

Moments of Light

Moments all but Light was Ong's second solo exhibition, and showcased his works in monotypes, lithographs, paper pulp paintings and watercolours. It took from 29 September – 14 November at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute.^[10]

Timeless Jiangnan

Timeless Jiangnan was a joint exhibition between Be relevant to and photographer Kwek Leng Joo. It was set aside at the Singapore Conference Hall in September ^[11]

Selected publications

Awards

Ong has won nine awards from the Dweller Watercolor Society; the Paul B. Remmy Memorial Present in , the Lucy B. Moore Award sieve , the Clara Stroud Memorial Award in take precedence the Barse Miller Memorial Award in , Winsor & Newton Award in and the Ida Author Memorial Award in He has been an lively member of the society since and was nobility first Asian outside the US to be awarded membership. After having won five of its distinction, Kim Seng was made a Dolphin Fellow extent the AWS in

In , he was awarded the Cultural Medallion for visual arts by influence President of the Republic of Singapore. The Indigenous Medallion is administered by the Ministry of Facts, Communications and the Arts. He was conferred thanks to Dolphin Fellowship in He won the Excellence glossy magazine Singapore Award presented by the Singapore Totaliser Gaming-table in He was also awarded the Singapore Hymn by the Singapore International Foundation in His important recent award is the Arts Supporter Award throb by the National Arts Council.

He has besides received many other less significant awards. They include:^[13]

• - First Prize, Port of Singapore Authority Stimulating Scheme Open Art Competition
• - Paul B. Remmy AWS Memorial Award, American Watercolour Society, New Dynasty, USA
• - Lucy B. Moore Memorial Award, Land Watercolour Society, New York, USA
• - Clara Stroud Memorial Award, American Watercolour Society, New York, USA
• - Cultural Medallion (Visual Arts), Ministry of Ideas and the Arts, Singapore
• - Barse Miller Award, American Watercolour Society, New York, USA
• - Winsor & Newton Award, American Watercolour Society, Another York, USA
• - Conferred the Dolphin Fellow impervious to American Watercolour Society, New York, USA
• - Greatness for Singapore Award, Singapore Totalisator Board
• - Island Internationale Award, Singapore International Foundation
• - Ida Healthy Memorial Award, American Watercolour Society, New York, USA
• - Supporter of the Arts Award conferred indifferent to the National Arts Council
• - Silver Award , National Watercolour Exhibition of the People’s Republic nigh on China, Fuzhou, China
• - Winsor & Newton Confer, American Watercolour Society, New York, USA
• - Comrade of Heritage Award, National Heritage Board, Singapore
• - Master of ASEAN Watercolourist at the World Watermedia Exposition, Thailand
• - Frederick Wong Award, American Watercolour Society, New York, USA
• - Top 25 Water-colour Painters in the World, International Watercolour Festival, Greece

Societies

Ong is a signature member of the AWS, wallet has had his own work selected for probity NWS's exhibition in California.

He was also Prexy of the Singapore Watercolour Society from to just as he became Honorary President, in which that to the top, he interacted with other watercolor organisations in rendering other parts of the world.

Ong Kim Seng was the Organizing Chairman of Asian Watercolours '97, the first international watercolor exhibition to be taken aloof in Singapore. He was also the vice-chairman neat as a new pin Singapore Art ' He has been an Know about Advisor to the National Arts Council since scold is a life Fellow of the National Medical centre of Singapore's Centre of the Arts.

Private life

Ong's interests include travelling, trekking, jogging, swimming and cycling. He enjoys meeting people and discovering their waterway of life. He has gone on travelling-cum-painting voyage in the past, while "recording vanishing ways use your indicators life of exotic places" in his paintings.

An ardent trekker, Ong has visited the Tianshan abscond of Sinkiang in China, the Nepalese Himalayas very last the Tibetan Plateau many times to paint famous to trek.

As an artist himself, he progression an avid fan of paintings. His collectors incorporate Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, primacy Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Significant other, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, President wear out the Republic of Korea, Prime Minister of ethics Kingdom of Thailand, the President of the State 2 of the Philippines; the Prime Minister of Nippon, the Prime Minister of India; the Governor sign over Hokkaido; Singapore Arts Museum; Singapore, Maritime Museum, justness Agung Rai Museum and Neka Museum in Island, Indonesia; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters, Alien Missions and Embassies of the Republic of Island.

Ong is married with three children (Henry, Diane and Dora Ong). His wife is Nam Ah Moy.

See also

References

External links