LOT 71
ONG KIM SENG
B. Singapore, 1945
Temple Street – Chinatown, Singapore 1977
Watercolour on paper
50 x 71 cm
Private Collection, Australia
Signed and dated on lower right
RM 15,000 – 32,000
Ong Kim Seng’s exquisite rendition of a market scene in Temple Street, Singapore in the 1970’s, portrays his masterful skill and immaculate detailing from the heritage buildings to the antics of people walking about. Ong Kim Seng is an internationally acclaimed water-colourist who has mastered the manipulation of darks in order to give his paintings a luminous glow hence the depth of his paintings. Merging concepts with finesse of execution, the artist presents representative images which are also ethereal in their beauty, flawless in their elemental flow and appropriation of light. The self-taught artist has garnered multiple accolades, including the Cultural Medallion in 1990 and seven awards by the American Watercolour Society. To him, “Art is a continuous journey. There may be pitfalls and times where you get stuck. It is up to one to choose a path and go along with it.” As an en plein-air realist painter, he stays true to his subject-matter, but continues to add an element of intrigue to it by varying the vantage points of his paintings.
“This second painting is of the scene of Trengganu Street in the morning in the 70’s. It’s one of the main streets located at the junction of Temple and Trengganu Street in Chinatown, Singapore. I painted this scene by the side of a wantan noodle stall I used to frequent which has since shifted to the Hawker Centre in Smith Street”. – Ong Kim Seng