Born in China, Chua Ek Kay (1947-2008) moved to Singapore in 1953 and was one of Singapore’s foremost contemporary Chinese ink painters. Chua studied Chinese ink painting under well-known Singapore pioneer artist Fan Chang Tien. He was also influenced by Australian Aboriginal art and Western artists Jackson Pollock, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. The main themes of Chua’s art are Singapore street scenes, lotuses and abstract works. In 1991 and 1998, Chua won the Grand Prize in the 10th UOB Painting of the Year Competition and the Philip Morris ASEAN Arts Award (Juror's Choice) in Singapore respectively. In 1999, he was honoured with the Cultural Medallion Award by the Singapore government. Chua depicts the famed monument in his energized ink brushwork, expressing the notion of permanence while the fragile cempaka tree is the antithesis of Borobudur, a reminder of temporality and impermanence of life.
