Acclaimed Singaporean watercolourist Ong Kim Seng exhibits personal collection

Ong Kim Seng: Forging Worlds In Tropical Light

Of the more than 15,000 paintings that Cultural Medallion recipient Ong Kim Seng estimates he has made since starting out as a self-taught artist in 1959, the 80-year-old has kept about 800 paintings in his personal collection.

Forty-two paintings, a majority of which are from Ong’s private collection, will go on show at artcommune gallery in an exhibition celebrating over six decades of Singapore’s most acclaimed watercolourist.

The main draw will be eight of Ong’s paintings which won awards from the American Watercolour Society (AWS), displayed together for the first time – although they are not for sale.

Ong became the first Asian outside the United States to be awarded AWS membership in 1990 and has clinched nine awards – the final award-winning painting is absent, as it was sold in 2019 to a collector for $18,000.

The exhibition is organised in conjunction with the publication Ong Kim Seng: A Retrospective In Watercolour, which looks back at the artist’s career and retails for $120 at the gallery. The 30 artworks on sale go for between $8,000 and $45,000.

His personal collection consists of paintings that are of personal significance and those that his late wife, who died in 2025, forbade him to sell. A favourite of his is Children Of The Third World (1993), a solemn green-washed painting inspired by a scene he witnessed in the Annapurna region of the Himalayas that reminded him of his childhood shaped by survival.

“That one is exceptional because there is a story behind this little girl whom I saw being bullied. She had a small tea house – I went there to drink two cups of tea – and some of the soldiers went to drink and didn’t pay her. I wanted to tell the world that there are people whose suffering starts early in the morning,” says Ong, who is now ready to let the work go.

Ong, who has made nine treks in the Himalayas and continues to travel widely, is also showing a recent work that he made after a 2025 trip to Nepal with his students.

Asked what else he hopes to achieve in his artmaking, Ong turns away from himself to the about 15 students who have been following him consistently and other enthusiasts: “It would be to impart what I know to people who are interested in my paintings.”

The artist continues to be inspired by his travels and paints en plain air. After the exhibition opening, Ong will go on a five-day trek on the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage trail in Japan with two friends and a watercolour sketchbook in hand.

Where: 01-01 Carlton Hotel Singapore, 76 Bras Basah Road
MRT: City Hall
When: March 30 to April 12, noon to 7pm
Admission: Free
Info: str.sg/rnxu

Constellations by The Winter Players

British playwright Nick Payne’s Olivier Award-winning high concept romance play Constellations is being staged by young theatremakers from The Winter Players, a theatre collective in residence under the Singapore Repertory Theatre.

The unlikely love story between quantum physicist Marianne (played by Juliana Kassim Chan) and beekeeper Roland (played by Marwyn Ho) takes the audience through multiverses of love, loss and infinite possibilities. It is co-directed by Ho, who previously directed Much Ado About Nothing, and Michaela Leong.

Ho was inspired to put on Payne’s “equal parts moving and unhinged” play, saying: “With this production, our team of young designers will reinvent the multiverse through multimedia and an original score, putting a universe on stage that is immediate, delightful, taunting and visceral for our audiences.”

Where: KC Arts Centre – Home of SRT, 20 Merbau Road
MRT: Fort Canning
When: April 2 to 4, 7.30pm; April 5, 2.30 and 7.30pm
Admission: $27 and $32; eligible for SG Culture Pass
Info: str.sg/eSsB

liminal by T.H.E. Dance Company

Catch a triple bill of dance performances as part of T.H.E. Dance Company’s new platform called “liminal”, which is aimed at nurturing mid-career dance choreographers from Singapore.

Two of the works deal with motherhood. Anthea Seah’s Ma reflects on matrescence – the word refers to the profound existential and emotional upheavals that come with motherhood – in her first fully authored work for the main company as resident choreographer.

Fiona Thng’s The Rooms also looks at the emotional terrain of being a mother and how exhaustion and vulnerability are carried in the body. Meanwhile, Klievert Jon Mendoza’s Laya explores the tension between desire, choice and consequence.

All three works feature costume design by Angeline Oei, founder of bespoke fashion atelier A.Oei Studio.

Where: Esplanade Theatre Studio, 1 Esplanade Drive
MRT: Esplanade/City Hall
When: April 3, 7.30pm; April 4, 3 and 7.30pm, April 5, 3pm
Admission: $40 (standard) and $28 (concession); eligible for SG Culture Pass
Info: str.sg/tDD9