ONG Kim Seng
Celebrated and notable water colourist Ong Kim Seng is well-known globally and in Singapore. Highly regarded and hugely respected, he has won numerous awards and accolades
including 6 awards by the American Watercolour Society and the 1999 Cultural Medallion for visual arts by the Ministry Of Information. He was President of the Singapore
Watercolour Society from 1991 to 2001, when he became Honorary President. In this capacity, he interacts with other watercolor organizations in other parts of the world.
An avid trekker and international traveller, Ong has explored landscapes in remote places such as the Himalayas and rural China. Needless to say his landscapes have beautiful
composition and are aesthetically harmonious, which magnificently capture a sense of time and place.
To name just a few, his collectors include Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister of the People's Republic Of China, the Secretary-General of
the United Nations, President of the Republic of Korea, Singapore Arts Museum and the Singapore, Maritime Museum.
K. REES David
Born in the UK and now resident in Australia for over 30 years, David K. Rees' first exhibition in Singapore has brought with him his genre of quirky and humorous oil paintings
that leave the viewer curious for more.
Initially Rees developed his style with photo-realism, but later on he was able to release his inquisitive nature, as evidenced in his later work. Enormously fascinated by the
effects of light and reflection, Rees captures the moment with his expertly trained eye to represent his subject-matter with precisely what he sees. His current pieces extend
beyond that, however, to include more depth and insight. Feeling that "life is too serious" he now adds a whimsical element on each canvas by including something of the unexpected.
Rees' unique style is a harmonious consolidation of his commercial advertising background and experience, together with his innate need to paint romantically and communicatively.
MAULAN Latif
One of Malaysia's most promising contemporary artists, Latif Maulan has been widely praised for his creative brilliance and technical skill. Since 2007 he has been exhibiting his
work regularly at the National Art Gallery in Kuala Lumpur and is hailed by critics and collectors alike. He was a 2009 finalist of the Malaysian Emerging Artist Award (MEAA),
which is a major platform for young talent to shine experientially in the local and international art scene.
Maulan's inspirational travels abroad to Australia, Europe and the USA were clearly influential in shaping his later work, which are more complex and surreal in nature. Dissatisfied
with purely producing beauty in its simplicity, Maulan's latest body of work shows he has moved away from painting his native environment and developed more intricate and thoughtful
images. Moreover the scale of the canvas adds to the drama and tension of the message he intends to convey.
KOH Tien Gui
Local artist Koh Tien Gui has been exhibiting his work since 2001, with solo exhibitions held in Singapore and Geneva. Mainly self-taught, Koh's contribution of colourful crayon pieces
includes his genre of animals and children, as well as a vibrant set of pictures of wayangs. Very much in-keeping with his style of producing images in a subtle child-like quality,
he portrays them in a vivid and energetic manner.
The dreary banality of wayangs (Chinese opera stages), often erected using a wood structure and a plain cloth backdrop, has been colourfully depicted by Koh. It attempts to detract
from the solitude of the pictures -a stage with barely an audience. Instead this magnifies the passing of time: from an era when this traditional and popular musical opera once attracted
a huge crowd, to present day where this dramatic art is little regarded. Often harking back to Singapore's more nostalgic days with his subjects, Koh draws inspiration from life's everyday
offerings, producing honest images that come naturally and instinctively to him.
CHUA Ruth
Home-grown Singaporean artist Ruth Chua decided to start painting as a hobby four years ago. Initially she started off creating representational work using oils and Chinese brush, but
as Chua's taste and personality matured, so has her style and technique.
Chua has discovered that she has arrived at a new juncture with her work where she is inspired by the uniqueness of colour itself. With the greatest respect for individual hues she
recognises the strength in producing it in its purest form and manipulating it in a carefree manner: "Understanding the flow of colours and how they come together, being experimental
and intuitive" is how Chua describes her series of abstract acrylic paintings. Influenced by the late Chinese painter Wu Guan Zhong, the colours in her latest work instantly evoke an
emotive response, thereby containing a visceral element between the painting and the viewer.
ROSLI Mior Rizuan
Charcoal artist Mior Rizuan Rosli presents his Chinese opera series of portraits and figures. Living directly beside the Chinese community in Kuala Lumpur, Rosli was sufficiently
intrigued by them and began to observe the actors' preparing for performances. His focus was to capture their expressions and emotions, seized at exactly the right moment, which
he claims is unique each time. Keen to also portray the body's lines and movements, his technique is precise and detailed.
Rosli was first introduced to charcoal by a Thai artist, with whom he studied under for half a year before refining the art himself. Charcoal being a medium that was readily available
to him, he initially took it up creating portraits only in black and white but now he has introduced an occasional splash of colour. He has been working as a professional artist
for over ten years.
CALUFETTI-LIM Chiara
Born and raised in Italy, she received informal art training from established local artists but decided to learn and practice architecture in Venice instead
of pursuing her art calling.
In the last 20 years she worked and lived in three different continents, enjoying cities like Venice, Lisbon, San Francisco and more recently Singapore, where in
2008 she decided to move after 15 years of visiting Asia. She sold her first piece in her teens but since then while working as an architect she painted only for
family and friends. Her international and multicultural experience is reflected in her abstract art which finds inspiration from universal elements and shared
feelings which can be experienced by each of us. At times she also captures innocent moments which as unexpected surprises can awaken the child within us.
Calufetti-Lim expresses her enjoyment of layering vibrant colours by using a technique of fast brush strokes and bright contrasts.
LOK Kerk Hwang
Lok Kerk Hwang has been a professional painter since 1993 whilst still a student at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore. Lok claims that he is intrigued by unwanted and
neglected objects, and aims to draw out the charm and appeal hidden in such aspects of everyday life. His paintings of sections of construction sites or wet markets
successfully reveal this unique ability to decipher the beauty from the mundane, and he transforms them into creations of immense fascination.
Alongside his career in graphic design, Lok persists with his passion for water colours and regularly participates in exhibitions around the world, including countries
such as Japan, USA, Korea and China. He is a signature member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour (CSPWC) and Federation of Canadian Artists (AFCA),
a member of the Singapore Watercolour Society and a life member of the Penang Watercolour Society. Lok has won numerous national and international awards including
Most Promising Artist Award in the Phillippe Charriol Foundation Contemporary Art Competition, First Grand Prize in the Canadian Watercolor Society Annual International
Exhibition, SINGAPORE TOP 5 Winner of Winsor & Newton World-Wide Millennium Painting Competition and Distinction Awards in UOB painting of the year competition.
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