Nai Swee Leng, Untitled (Gecko in a Garden), 1999

Ink and colour on paper
26 x 33.5 cm (visible), 56 x 76 cm (framed)
Condition: Good, foxing visible throughout the artwork and on the matboard.

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Nai Swee Leng 赖端龙 (Singaporean, b. 1946) is a veteran Singaporean Chinese ink painter known for his expressive xieyi (freehand) brushwork. Trained at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, he draws from the traditions of the Shanghai and Lingnan schools while focusing on subjects rooted in the Nanyang region, including bamboo, birds, tropical flora and Southeast Asian landscapes. His work balances classical ink techniques with a spontaneous, contemporary sensibility developed over more than five decades of practice.

Beyond his studio practice, Nai Swee Leng has been an active contributor to the local and regional ink art community as an educator, organiser and mentor. A co-founder of the Molan Art Association, he has exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions in Singapore and overseas. In recognition of his long-standing contributions to Chinese ink painting and arts education, he was awarded Singapore’s Cultural Medallion in 2025.

(Photographed in January 2026)