Malaysian senior artist enjoys new creative bounce with his first Singapore solo exhibit

Apart from his historic canvases, Choong, 85, is exhibiting a few new works from his 'Co-Exist' series in Singapore. He hopes to create between 20 and 30 of these multimedia works next year. Photo: The Star/Samuel Ong

When he was a young man in 1965, visual artist and academician Dr Choong Kam Kow went to New York to study Fine Arts under a Fulbright Scholarship. Upon arriving, he recalled feeling a lot of culture shock. For one thing, the American buildings were nothing like the buildings he was accustomed to seeing back home.

“In Malaysia, or Asia, our houses were mostly kampung houses at the time, built with more naturalistic styles. They had very little geometric shapes in their designs. When I was in New York, they had all these 'boxy' buildings everywhere. I needed a few months to adjust to this!” says Choong, 85, with a laugh.