Introduction
Artist Wong Kim Kong was born in Ipoh, Malaysia in 1940. He received his secondary school education in Malaysia, and further studied in Taiwan, and graduated from Art faculty of National Taiwan University. His art works are widely collected by local educational and charitable institutions which include Singapore Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
Wong Kim Kong has half a century rich experience in drawing. He is a unique, multi-dimension artist in local scene. In his journey of artistic creation, he is not limited by the means, and is always using new ways, materials. His art work materials include wings of butterfly, gemstones. Wong has half a century in his creative path of drawing, he is not limited in his thought, producing new elements in his art-pieces frequently. His artworks used wings of the butterfly & semi-precious stones as the materials, allowing life to be reflected through various forms of the butterflies. Semi-precious stones art pieces retain the natural colour of the stones and its nature, resulting colourful & crystal like images.
Wong Kim Kong masters the skill of “Reversed Oil Painting” technique of drawing. By using his fingers applying acrylic oils on transparent acrylic board resulting different visual effect from both front and back of the painting.
Reversed oil painting method is not an easy drawing technique, as drawing is being done at the back of the drawing board in opposite direction, and such drawing has to be completed by one stroke, balancing the left and right sides, while the artist may not have the same thought process at any moment, any misstep during the drawing process could make the drawing a total failure.
Wong Kim Kong’s reversed drawings give viewers a sense of far-reaching mood. He uses mainly nature as his themes, such as trees, animals, scenes of four seasons, mountain & water flow, waves & rocks, sun, cloud, sea. While his drawing demonstrates Western modern characteristics, it also expresses Chinese Taoism philosophy. It is a rare combination of the best of both the East & the West. His drawing illustrates mankind belief in living with the nature, pursuing the life of natural harmony, with an open and embracing heart.
Other than working relentlessly in the artist career, he also generously donated a huge quantity of antique works of art to his alma mater in Malaysia, and he appealed to those students who have benefited from study there to set up an arts gallery. In his long journey of doing his artistic works, he has achieved the true meaning and spirit of giving back and connecting past to the present.
Artworks
