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2022 PAINTINGS






For the 2022 edition of S.E.A Focus, Ong created Primary Focus -

an exploration of the tensions between colour, light and space. The

interplay between the three informs the composition of the painting

and its installation in its entirety. For Ong, light and paint are mutual

and inextricably linked. Working on a canvassed triptych for the

first time as a departure point, he presents the painting in three

panels, paced with static and moving lights that provide an interlude

and rhythmic points that act as framing and contextual tools.

Using the deep orange wall as both a context to the image and an

exclamation to the broader context of the experience, creates

tensions that the artist seeks to amplify and study. He directs and

redirects the viewer’s gaze with his compressed gestural brush

strokes of soft forms and rhythmic spirals: intuitive, haphazard,

and violent. Juxtaposing the painted surface with surety are LED

lights that cut the formal aspects of the painting. It lends to the

sensory and visual experience to Primary Focus that is the core

driver employed by Ong to cohere contrast and duality.