Ong Kim Seng

Ong Kim Seng (1945, born and based in Singapore) is a watercolourist who conveys evocative expressions of shifting landscapes through paintings of natural and urban environments.His signature style is marked by a sensitive handling of light, shadow and colour, which has been pivotal in advancing the practice of watercolour in Singapore.

A self-taught artist, Ong’s stylistic inclinations in the 1960s were influenced by British watercolour traditions and socialist sentiments. Constant experimentation with the medium led him to incorporate influences from other regions like the American West Coast, resulting in a brighter, more energetic primary palette as demonstrated in his California Style series. His depictions of local streetscapes trace decades of urban transformation in the city, and are often underpinned by notions of transience and nostalgia. An avid traveller to regions such as Nepal and Bali, Ong frequently paints his scenes plein-air to capture moments where native foliage, built structures and figures interact, translating these scenes into fluid, lyrical strokes.

Ong’s work is in numerous collections including the Singapore Art Museum, Singapore; Singapore Maritime Museum, Singapore; the Agung Rai Museum of Art, Ubud; and Neka Art Museum, Ubud. He is the first and only Singaporean to have received nine awards from the American Watercolor Society. For his contributions to the local art landscape, Ong was conferred the prestigious Cultural Medallion for Visual Arts in 1990.

Notable exhibitions include Tracking Memories (2011), National Museum of Singapore; HEARTLANDS (2008), Singapore Art Museum; and Timeless Jiangnan (2005), Singapore Conference Hall.

Ong has had two residencies at the STPI Workshop in 2003 and 2024; the former culminated in the exhibition Moments of Light (2004) and the latter culminating in the exhibition Material Moves: Revisiting Print and Paper through Han Sai Por, Goh Beng Kwan, Ong Kim Seng and Chua Ek Kay (2025).