Ong Kim Seng was born in Singapore in 1945. He is a renowned watercolour artist, and holds the record for being the first and only Singaporean to have won six awards from the American Watercolour Society.
As a self-taught artist known for his realistic landscapes, the collectors of his work include Queen Elizabeth II of England, the Prime Minister of the People’s Republic Of China, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, President of the Republic of Korea, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand, the President of the Republic of the Philippines; the Prime Minister of Japan, the Prime Minister of India; the Governor of Hokkaido; Singapore Arts Museum; Singapore, Maritime Museum, the Agung Rai Museum and Neka Museum in Bali, Indonesia; and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters, Foreign Missions and Embassies of the Republic of Singapore.
Ong Kim Seng has won numerous awards and accolades. This includes the Cultural Medallion for visual arts by the Ministry of Information and the Arts, Singapore, in 1999; the Dolphin Fellowship in 2000; the Excellence for Singapore Award presented by the Singapore Totalisator Board in 2000; the Singapore Internationale by the Singapore International Foundation in 2001; and the 2001 Arts Supporter Award presented by the National Arts Council.
2014
Nostalgia in Transformation, Ode to Art, Singapore
2013
Solo Exhibition with Quanhua Watercolour Art Gallery, Shanghai, China
2010
Poems in Watercolour, Galerie Belvedere, The Arts House, Singapore
2008
Home and Nation in the Art of Ong Kim Seng, Singapore Art Museum
2005
Shanghai Land of Splendour, Shanghai Art Fair
Guangzhou Art Fair, Guangzhou Commodity Fair Exhibition, China
2004
Moments of Light, Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore
2003
Mastering Light and Shade, National University of Singapore
2002
Timeless Jiangnan – with Kwek Leng Joo, Singapore
2000
Recent works of Ong Kim Seng, Singapore History Museum
Visions of Sojourns: Paintings of Ong Kim Seng
Travels with my Teacher: The 6th Ong Kim Seng and Students Watercolour Exhibition
Passion for Landscapes: The Watercolour Art of Ong Kim Seng