Born in Singapore in 1964, Jimmy Ong won the 1980 UOB Painting of the Year Competition (Youth 2nd Prize), and during the mid-1980s to early-1990s received scholarships to study in the USA and in Italy. Accomplished in sculpture and painting, Ong’s trademark are his expressive charcoal drawings.At the time he created this work, comprising ten panels of near identical size, Ong was only 23. Although a determined and talented young artist, he was emotionally and technically still in the process of learning and developing what would eventually become his signature style. ‘The Rape of the Hibiscus’ has a limited colour palette – restricted to varying warm tones of ochres and reds paired with the complementary green tones, indeed the colours of the hibiscus flower. The work is an academic example of abstract exploration and experimentation.
