Boon Wang is one of Singapore’s foremost oil painters. He graduated in 1953 from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and because of his excellent performance and talent, he was invited by the principal, the late Mr. Lim Hak Tai, to impart his skills and techniques to other students. Thus he lectured at the Academy for two years. Thereafter, he entered the commercial art business and rapidly rose to become the Art Director of a multi-national advertising company. However, his love for fine art together with a burning desire to perfect his technique proved to be a stronger calling and motivated him to become a full-time painter in 1973. To date, his level of achievement in using oil, to say the least, is amazing. He is not only adept in painting landscapes and scenes of everyday life, but equally brilliant in portraiture. Boon Wang also works with water-colour and sketch-drawing but whichever medium he chooses, he holds fast to the realistic doctrine in art.

Boon Wang’s public distinctions include winning the Singapore Creative Art Award (1980) and the Singapore Distinction Art Award (1982). He was one of the artists whose work was chosen to represent Singapore in Moscow in 1978. In 1989 he traveled to the United States, where he exhibited his works at the New York Art Expo and also participated in the 1st SIN-BRU Art Exhibition in Brunei, where he became the first Singapore Artist commissioned to paint portraits for the Royal Family. He was also commissioned by the Singapore Turf Club in 1989 to do a series of 12 oil paintings on horses. Between 1989 and 1990 he was commissioned by C. K. Tang to paint a series of oil paintings on the history of C. K. Tang and Asean Scenery for their private art collection.