Born in 1942 in Singapore, New York/Singapore-based artist Wong Keen’s art training began under Liu Kang and advanced under Chen Wen Hsi’s mentoring. In 1961 Wong left to study at The Art Students League, New York, and in 1963 received the League’s prestigious Edward G. McDowell Travelling Scholarship to travel and study in Europe. Wong introduced the female form into his work in the mid-1960s and since then they have made frequent appearances. Echoing his teacher Vaclav Vytlacil’s insistence that form is an important component, Wong developed his concern with the female form as an idea of form rather than realism, exploring the versatility of the female form as a subject matter, into a strong stylistic aspect of his practice. His figures are regularly portrayed as quick sketches in sinuous strokes, as studies of colour and planes, or reduced to a component of an abstract tableau.
