Ng Eng Teng

His legacy include the Mother And Child bronze sculpture outside Far East Shopping Centre along Orchard Road, and The Explorer located at the entrance of the Singapore Art Museum.

[2] Born in Singapore, Ng first showed sculpting talent as a child, playing with plasticine and creating figures for fun during classes in primary school.

In 1959 the young Ng met British sculptor Jean Bullock in Singapore, who exposed him to sculpture art and introduced him to ciment fondu, a relatively new sculpting medium.

She urged him not only to study plastic arts at The Potteries in Stoke-on-Trent in England, she also thought Ng should go to St. Ives and seek out ceramic artist Bernard Leach at his studio.

Ng started his workshop with the help of his father, and first designed a series of works created using slip casting and press moulding, and hoped they can make some money but it was not successful.

Ng went on to have an illustrious career, becoming a renowned sculptor known in many parts of Asia and Australia and in 1981, his outstanding achievements and contributions to the Singapore art scene have garnered him the Cultural Medallion Award.

This piece not only could be easily replicated within the given time frame, it carried a humanistic message that was apt for the people in Korea during the tumultuous period prior to the Olympics.

Ng Eng Teng battled pneumonia due to complications linked to kidney failure in the last 10 days of his life, and died in his sleep at about 11am on Sunday at his Studio 106, a kampung house at 106 Joo Chiat Place facing directly opposite to his residence at unit 127.

Portrait (1988)
Size: unknown
Medium: Ciment fondu
Collection: Olympic Park, Seoul , Korea