Chong Fah Cheong

Chong Fah Cheong is a Singaporean sculptor known for many public sculptures in Singapore. He is considered one of Singapore’s pioneer sculptors and was awarded the Cultural Medallion, Singapore's pinnacle arts award in 2014. Though he worked in a variety of styles from abstract to figurative, his name is identified with a series of figurative sculptures depicting the life of people living and working along the Singapore River.

Early life and education Chong was born to a large family, the 12th child of 13 children, of a general practitioner and housewife. Since the age of four, he loved to draw and sketch, and displayed talent in art. In school this talent continued to shine, but he was never good with his academic subjects. At the age of 14, the young Chong decided to quit school after completing Form 3 (Year 10) education at the St. Joseph's Institution, to join the Lasalle Brothers novitiate in Penang. Chong spent the next 7 years with the teaching order, leading a cloistered life and training to be a teacher.

In 1967, he returned to secular life and began his career as a school teacher in Teluk Anson, Malaysia. A year later, he left his job to read Social Science at the University of Singapore and a diploma in curriculum studies in art and design from the City of Birmingham Polytechnic in the United Kingdom.

In September 1981, Chong won the First Prize for Sculpture, Singapore Innovations in Art Exhibition for his art piece, Triad.

In 2000, Chong created a sculpture, First Generation, as part of a series of sculptures by various sculptors, in the Open Air Interpretative Centre project by the Singapore Tourism Board. The sculpture was the first to be unveiled on December 31, 2000.

In 2002, Chong was commissioned by the city of Penticton to create a piece of public art, The Romp, a bronze statue of children playing. The $200,000 piece was unveiled in 2011 at the Swan Lake in the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

Eighteen sculture pieces from Chong are part of Singapore's National Collection of art and displayed in the National Art Gallery when it opened in 2015.

Major exhibitions