Image size: 40.0 x 52.0 cm
Ong Kim Seng's foray into art started in 1954 when he won a few awards at Radin Mas Primary School and subsequently in 1969, he won several prizes in 1969 when he took part in interschool art competitions. He attended the art lessons organized by Equator Art Society from 1962-1965.In the late 1960s, he made a pivotal switch to the watercolour medium. He became a member of the group of watercolour painters, commonly known as the Sunday Group. In 1990, he became the first Asian artist out of USA to gain membership into American Watercolour Society and subsequently won 6 awards through the years. In 1991, he was awarded the Cultural Medallion for Visual Arts in 1991. and was President of Watercolor Society from 1991-2001.This work demonstrates his stylistic experimentation from the 1960s till the early 1970s. It captures the sense of place and identity that are rooted in the artist’s memories of the changing Singapore that he saw in the period, from farmlands and kampongs to HDB flats and the backlanes of Jalan Sultan.