Malaysian visual artist Ong Hieng Fuong undertook a 6-month residency at Rimbun Dahan from May to October 2021, creating a series of limited edition woodcut prints and paintings in watercolour and poster paint which recorded immensely detailed observations of his surroundings.
Some of the works on this page may still be available for sale. To purchase works, please contact the artist directly: Ong Hieng Fuong, h5ho.1995@hotmail.com, Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hieng_9389/
Please click on the images below to view more details and larger versions.
Words from the Artist
My artworks are the documentation of my memories and past experiences about people, daily matters and objects in Malaysia. They are Ukiyo-E pieces about the society we live in.
In my artworks, you can see people and places that I met, visited and experienced. Following the flow of time and the development of our country, these memorable people and places are gradually disappearing. I try to capture these past and present aspects and visualize them in my artworks. In my works, I embrace different aspects including but not limited to human character, architecture, food, politics, religions, business, behaviour and environmental problems. You can also notice a huge number of little details in my work, the inspiration come from my memories and experiences. They also project the same mistakes that people never cease to make and society problems in our country that have existed for a long time.
In this 3-month project, I plan to utilize the techniques I learnt in China (Woodcut Print), two mediums (Poster Colors and Acrylic) to produce a batch of small/medium artworks that would present my core ideas.
After experiencing the landscapes of China, I want to make full use of my time here in Malaysia doing the same but in the tropical setting of our country’s rainforests. I believe through experiencing life in a different setting will draw me a vivid comparison of both worlds and introduce new perspectives to my work.
I believe art is a medium to present personal experience, not just pure imagination. Getting a chance to put myself through this experience will be very beneficial to my work. I look forward to creating new works at Rimbun Dahan.
About the Artist
Ong Hieng Fuong (a.k.a Hieng) is an artist from Tanjung Sepat, Selangor, Malaysia. Growing up in a small fishing town where the pace of life is much slower, he got to experience the daily aspects of common life to its fullest, which is a major source of his inspiration. In his artworks, you can see people that he met and places he visited and experienced. He feels that following the flow of time and the development of our country, memorable people and places in our memories fade away and disappear along with small aspects of our lives.
Capturing these aspects, he presents them in his works which are of astonishing detail. The aspects materialize as characters, architecture and objects in his works while describing the politics, religions and social behavior of people in our country. Through his work, he also implicitly portrays problems that have long existed in our society and country, which he hopes to invoke thoughts of reflection in ourselves.
In 2017, he received Nando’s Art Initiative Grand Prize and UOB’s Painting of the Year award (Emerging Artist Category). He was also named most promising artist of the year by UOB in the same year. In 2019, he received UOB’s Gold Prize for the established artist category. In 2020, the printmaking department of China’s Central Academy of Fine Arts officially collected his sketch works produced during his studies. He is currently pursuing his tertiary education at the China’s Central Academy of Fine Arts.
Website: hieng8122.weebly.com
Instagram: hieng_9389
