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About the artwork
Platform - Duxton Road is a one-way street that was originally part of a nutmeg plantation in the late 1700s and early 1800s owned by Dr. William Montgomerie. Through the 19th and early 20th centuries, the reputation of the street was less-than-savoury as it was filled with opium and gambling dens as well as brothels. The establishments were patronised by rickshaw coolies who resided in slums along Duxton Road and Duxton Hill. Now a conservation area, the two and three-storey shophouses and terrace houses along Duxton Road are vestiges of the residences of wealthy Chinese families of the past who stayed in the area despite its notoriety.
About the artist
Born in 1945 in Singapore, Ong Kim Seng is an internationally renowned watercolorist and one of Singapore’s most prominent artistic icons. Self-taught and self-supported, the artist has participated in group and solo exhibitions in Singapore and in the United States, China, United Kingdom, Japan , Australia, Belgium, Germany, France, Middle East, Taiwan and Hong Kong. He has won a multitude of awards including six awards from the American Watercolor Society, and the coveted Cultural Medallion in 1999. Playing an active part in some of the most prestigious art fellowships and organizations, the artist was President of the Singapore Watercolor Society from 1991 to 2001, subsequently becoming Honorary President.