Roof of the World – Journeys. New Works by Ong Kim Seng

Ong Kim Seng, Lhasa, Tibet, 2023, Watercolour on paper, 53 x 73 cm

Ong Kim Seng’s upcoming solo exhibition, Roof of the World – Journeys, features around 20 new works completed mostly in the period of 2020 – 2024, the exhibition is on view at artcommune gallery from 3 to 21 August 2024. The exhibition officially opens with the artist in attendance on Saturday, 3 August, 3 – 5pm. This exhibition is part of Bras Basah Complex Galleries Joint Art Week 2024 – a presentation of exhibitions by Bras Basah Complex Galleries held from 17 – 25 August 2024.

A celebrated maestro of light and shade, Ong Kim Seng (b. 1945, Singapore), BBM. A.W.S. DF. N.W.S achieved international prominence for his lyrical and delicate rendering of landscapes in watercolours in as early as the 1980s, and remains one of Singapore’s most important and successful artists. He was conferred the Cultural Medallion in Visual Arts by the Republic of Singapore in 1990.

In 1983, Ong Kim Seng won the prestigious Paul B. Remmy American Watercolour Society Memorial Award with a breathtaking landscape featuring the distinct architectural brickwork of Nepal, becoming the first Singapore watercolourist to rise to international prominence. He was also the first Asian outside of the United States to be awarded the American Watercolour Society (AWS) membership in 1990 and has clinched 9 awards from the AWS to date, with several featuring the landscapes of Nepal.

Roof of the World – Journeys illuminates Ong Kim Seng’s evolving engagement with the watercolour medium and brings to fore his painterly fascination with the Himalayan region and Tibetan plateau. To the Himalayan region alone, Ong Kim Seng had trekked almost ten times. He made his first expedition to Nepal in 1978, where he trekked to the Everest base camp with his easel and watercolour supplies and created over 20 paintings featuring the Everest mountains. He also visited Tibet for the first time in 1986. Due to its unusually high altitude – more than 4000m above the sea level – Tibet is often referred to as ‘the roof of the world’. Enthralled and undeterred, he had returned several more times to capture its phenomenal landscape of vast blue skies and snowcapped mountains as well as views of the majestic Potala palace in Lhasa.

The exhibition also features a handful of Singapore scenes, which the artist has continued to revisit by exploring new perspectives and techniques to present these familiar landmarks in his repertoire. The largest piece on display is a large-scale and intricate watercolour landscape titled, Vantage Point, Chinatown, and measures 168 x 110 cm.