Born in 1937, Singaporean artist Ho Kah Leong is known for his en plein air paintings and Chinese calligraphy. Trained at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) for one and a half years in the mid-1950s, Ho explored with various mediums such as outdoor sketching, woodblock printing, photography and painting. Graduating with a Bachelor of Science Nanyang University in 1963, Ho continues to hone his skills and participates actively in the local art scene even when he was a teacher and politician. Serving as a NAFA’s principal from 1997 to 2003, Ho is passionate in working outdoor and painting on-site to capture the essence and life of a scene, which he believes can evoke emotional experience.

In this work, Ho contrasts the city view of old shophouses in the foreground and modern tall buildings at the background. The old shophouses represents nostalgia atmosphere for the older generation, while the modern buildings epitomise modernisation and urbanisation of Singapore.

A departure of light and shadow tones seen in his earlier works, Ho employs a myriad of vibrant flat colours over the representational values of the subjects. This results in an invigorating interpretation city view by Ho that exemplifies his evolving painting style.