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. The lotus is an enduring symbol of purity and spirituality in Asian culture, and in Wong’s combined Chinese aesthetic and Western technical style the lotus has a recurring presence. It is interesting to note the stylistic differences between ‘Dream of a Lotus Pond’, and those of the abstract Cubist-like ‘Lotus Metamorphosis’ of 1987 and the lyrical representational four-panel ‘Untitled (Lotus)’ of 2003. Having returned to Singapore in the late 1990s, the influences from residing once again in Asia are bound to have developmentally impacted on Wong’s style.
