Wong Keen (, born 23 November 1942) is a Singaporean painter who was primarily trained in New York. He is known for being one of the first Singaporean artists to be educated in the United States and for his syncretic body of work that melds together the sensibilities of Chinese literati painting and the New York School. His practice, unusual for his generation, has led to him being described as "Singapore's first abstract expressionist". From 1969 to 1996, Wong also founded and operated Keen Gallery in New York, a framing studio and exhibition space.
A protégé of the pioneer artist Chen Wen Hsi while also training under Liu Kang, Wong counts among the second generation of Singaporean artists. His early works bore distinctive features of the Nanyang School, with an emphasis on cubist and fauvist modernist ideas. After enrolling in the Art Students League of New York in 1961, his practice has broadened to include influences from abstract expressionism, colour field painting, and action painting, all the while maintaining an affinity with Chinese calligraphic aesthetics and the idiosyncratic compositional forms of Bada Shanren.
Wong's preferred media reflects his diverse aesthetic inheritance and includes oil paint, Chinese ink and colour, acrylic paint, and collage, executed on canvas, archival paper, and rice paper. Preferring to work with the same subject matter over long periods of time, Wong's oeuvre has often been categorised serially, with his paintings of nudes, lotuses, and flesh being particularly prominent.
Wong Keen's practice is currently based in Singapore.
Early life (1942–1961)
Family
Wong Keen was born in the first year of the Japanese Occupation, the second child of Wong Chennan () and Chu Hen-Ai (). Both were teachers, at the Chinese High School and the Nanyang Girls' High School respectively. The family resided at the Chinese High School Teachers' Quarters, part of a social circle that included pioneer artists such as Chen Wen Hsi, Liu Kang, Cheong Soo Pieng, and Chen Chong Swee, all of whom taught at the Chinese High School during Wong's formative years.
Both Wong sr. and Chu practiced Chinese calligraphy, and can be classified among the literati calligraphers of early Singapore. These calligraphers inherited the aesthetic sense of amateurism (as opposed to the professionalism of court painters) of dynastic Chinese scholar-officials, favouring spontaneity and an affinity for literature and belle lettres. Chu was especially serious in this pursuit, participating in many group exhibitions and even holding her own solo exhibition in 1997. This familial setting would have an enduring influence on Wong; his early New York days would be marked by explorations into calligraphic aesthetics, and he would produce collages that fragmented and reassembled his mother's calligraphy throughout his career.
The Chinese High School shared many of its art teachers with the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) at this time and was an important incubator of young artistic talents. Departing from the earlier pedagogical directions of Richard Walker, who served as Art Superintendent Singapore Schools before the War, the Chinese High School's art education was grounded in modernism (particularly the School of Paris). The resources and emphasis the Chinese High School placed on art education was exceptional among schools in Singapore. Among its students that later took on a career in the fine arts were Ho Ho Ying and Goh Beng Kwan, both of whom were childhood friends of Wong.
Wong enrolled in the Chinese High School from 1955-56.
Learning to paint
Impressed by her son's sketches of figures in magazines, Chu arranged for Wong to take drawing lessons from family friend Liu Kang. Wong was then aged around 10-11. Wong soon went on to take more technical lessons with Chen Wen Hsi, focusing on oils and Chinese ink. Wong's relationship with Chen would become especially close and shaped Wong's early career. In 1957, Chen moved out of the Chinese High School Teachers' Quarters into his home and studio at 5 Kingsmead Road, where he hosted close students and conducted more in-depth art lessons. Between 1957 and 1961, Wong was a regular visitor to 5 Kingsmead Road, together with a group of friends that included Goh Beng Kwan. Wong worked on the in-situ mural Chen designed for his residence.