Singapore Art Museum (SAM) and the National Arts Council (NAC) are proud to present HEARTLANDS: Home and Nation in the Art of Ong Kim Seng, a major exhibition of Singapore’s foremost watercolourist Ong Kim Seng. The show features 35 paintings, together with a companion book and video presentations, of significant places present and past in Singapore’s urban heartlands. The exhibition is supported by the Housing and Development Board and the Standard Chartered Bank. On exhibition 16 October through 30 November, 2008.

The exhibition, HEARTLANDS: Home and Nation in the Art of Ong Kim Seng, focuses on the public housing estates built by the Housing & Development Board since 1960, the “heartlands” where the soul and spirit of Singapore are grounded. The exhibition comprises an exclusive selection of 23 early paintings and 12 new paintings specially executed for this project. The exhibition, book and video are accompanied with photos, interviews, poems and archival materials to capture the heritage of the Singapore’s public housing landscape as well as of the creative process of this innovative and landmark project.

Says Ong Kim Seng, “I live and breathe, sense and feel, in an estate like so many other Singaporeans. I have had the chance to observe and live through the birth and development of housing estates in Singapore to date. I personally experienced landmark events including the Great Bukit Ho Swee Fire and the springing up of the first estate in Queenstown. There are a myriad of facets about life in HDB estates that can be discovered, and that deserve to be preserved for posterity.”

Says Director, Singapore Art Museum, Mr Kwok Kian Chow, “SAM is pleased to work together with NAC to present Ong Kim Seng's first solo show at the museum. This show is groundbreaking at two levels. Firstly, it provides us an opportunity to see Ong's works from the 1960s and 1970s, which have never been exhibited publicly before. Secondly, this exhibition also features the artist's bold, new approach in painting where he combines contemporary scene with archival historical images.”

Ong Kim Seng, BBM AWS DF NWS, is Singapore’s foremost watercolour artist. He was President of the Singapore Watercolor Society from 1991 to 2001, and is currently Honorary President. He has won six awards from the American Watercolor Society (AWS): the Paul B. Remmy Memorial Award in 1983, the Lucy B. Moore Award in 1988, the Clara Stroud Memorial Award in 1989, the Barse Miller Memorial Award in 1992, the Winsor & Newton Award in 2000 and the Ida Wells Memorial Award in 2001. He was the first Asian outside the USA to be awarded membership, and was bestowed the Dolphin Fellowship of the AWS in 2000.

In 1993 his work “Bhaktapur” was the first Singapore watercolour painting to be auctioned by Sotheby's in Hong Kong. In March 1994, his work “Bali" was auctioned by Christie's in Singapore. His works are now auctioned annually in Singapore and the region. An ardent trekker, he has visited the Tianshan region of Xinjiang in China, the Himalayas in Nepal and the Tibetan Plateau many times to trek and paint.

His collectors include Queen Elizabeth II of England, the Prime Minister of China, the United Nations Secretary-General, the President of the Republic of Korea, the Prime Minister of Thailand, the President of the Philippines, the Prime Minister of Japan, the President and Prime Minister of India, the Governor of Hokkaido, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore Maritime Museum, the Agung Rai Museum and Neka Museum in Bali, Indonesia.

Ong Kim Seng's works have been published in eight books in USA and China. He was Founding Editor, Southeast Asia, for International Artists magazine.