What does it mean to collect art with conviction, and how does the passion behind that conviction become a legacy? In Artist’s Proof: Singapore at 60, a landmark intergenerational exhibition spotlighting 52 contemporary Singaporean artists, veteran collector Huai Seng Chong and his daughter, producer Ning Chong, offer more than just a showcase of works; they present a deeply personal lens on the development of taste, trust, and cultural engagement in Singapore’s art ecosystem.

Spanning personal anecdotes, professional pivots, and insights drawn from decades of close observation, the story of Huai Seng and Ning Chong is one of quiet persistence, one that is anchored in belief, not branding. From Huai Seng’s early days discovering Western art in London galleries to Ning’s self-directed journey through art history books that led her to cultural work, the pair reflect on what it takes to meaningfully support artists, shape narratives, and grow an art scene in a country where art is often admired but not always acquired. This deeply personal commitment comes to life in Artist’s Proof: Singapore at 60, a timely exhibition coinciding with SG60 which pays tribute to Singapore’s founding leaders told not through speeches or textbooks, but through art.

Over the past decade, Huai Seng has gathered works capturing Singapore’s transformation, from nostalgic street scenes to bold contemporary explorations of identity and leadership. Featuring over 90 works by more than 50 artists, including 11 new commissions and a brand-new music piece, the exhibition offers a fresh perspective on the Singapore story through the eyes of local artists spanning generations. It is Chong’s love letter to Singapore, tracing its journey from a struggling young nation to a global city, while also inviting reflection on the complex relationship between artists, the state, and society, encouraging audiences of all ages to engage deeply with the evolving narrative of Singapore through the creative expressions of its artists.

Huai Seng’s art journey began unexpectedly during business trips in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Working in financial services, he often traveled to London and Europe, where casual visits to galleries and museums evolved into a genuine passion. “After each trip, when I had two or three days off, I’d visit galleries and museums and do my retail therapy, so to speak,” he recalls. “I decided, hey, art is actually really interesting.”

Initially focused on Western art, his collecting evolved through travels to China in the early 2000s. There, he encountered contemporary Chinese ink artists who reinterpreted traditional forms with fresh perspectives. Sponsoring a major exhibition in 2004 at the China National Museum of Art, widely regarded as the Louvre of China, he helped elevate many artists who have since achieved significant acclaim. For Huai Seng, the enduring value of collecting lies not in market appreciation but in the friendships and support built over time. “I still have quite a number of their works,” he says, “and I’m happy to continue supporting them.”

Huai Seng’s extensive collection is a carefully curated story told through four major themes that reflect both Singapore’s history and its evolving cultural landscape. “Basically, I’m guided by maybe four major kinds of narratives,” he explains.

First, his collection traces Singapore’s extraordinary transformation—from a humble Third World nation to a thriving global city within one generation. As part of the Merdeka generation, Huai Seng has witnessed this growth firsthand. “I wanted to collect works that remind us of where we came from, and how far we’ve come in the last 60 years.” Second, he focuses on the development of Singaporean art itself. From the pioneering works of the Nanyang School to the rich variety of contemporary art today, his collection charts the artistic evolution and expanding voices of the local scene.

Third is the theme of diaspora—how Singaporean artists have ventured abroad to grow their practice and gain international recognition, while, conversely, international artists have made Singapore their home. This reverse diaspora reflects the country’s multicultural heritage and its complex identity as a global city. Finally, Huai Seng addresses the often delicate relationship between the state, the artist, and society. From performance art to politically charged works, his collection embraces pieces that reflect Singapore’s social realities and provoke meaningful dialogue.

Together, these four pillars give the exhibition Artist’s Proof: Singapore at 60 a nuanced framework, one that captures the multifaceted story of Singapore through the eyes of its artists and collectors alike. “I’m not afraid of collecting such artworks, because you can’t deny what happened,” he says. He hopes the exhibition sparks conversations that might even inspire the next generation of leaders to re-examine the relationship between the state and the arts.

Ning’s own journey into the arts began quite differently. Through self-directed study of art history books at home and an early passion that led her into curating. Her father’s influence is clear, leading her to observe closely how her father’s collection was more than an investment: “He’s not looking at dollars and cents or your potential to appreciate. Not really. If it does, great, but, you know, at heart, he just enjoys discovering new talent and having conversations and getting to know them.”

Their approach to art collecting represents a deliberate break from the transactional ideas that cast a shadow over the market. For Huai Seng and Ning, collecting is deeply rooted in dialogue and genuine presence. The value lies less in acquisition and more in relationship. “For both of us, genuine conversation and being present is at the heart of collecting,” says Huai Seng. “Not necessarily the polished kind that fills panels or press interviews, but real, unscripted exchange, the kind that moves you into the ‘meat’ of a relationship.” He emphasises how conversation allows for feedback, idea exchange, and appreciation of differing viewpoints. “If you only have one view about life, and you don’t explore other angles through conversation, I think you’ll be the poorer for it.”

This genuine presence and dialogue define the ethos behind Artist’s Proof and the broader work of both Chongs. A telling example of their patient, respectful collecting is the story of the historic Lee Kuan Yew bust. Acquired privately by Huai Seng in 2014, it was deliberately kept from public view for nearly a decade. “Mr. Lee preferred not to have anything about him shown publicly during his lifetime,” Huai Seng explains. Respecting this, he waited for a moment that felt truly meaningful. The coinciding of the 10th anniversary of Lee’s passing and Singapore’s 60th independence in 2025 offered the perfect occasion. The bust’s unveiling was accompanied by other works that collectively narrate Singapore’s story, weaving together history, art, and identity.

The exhibition is presented by The Culture Story (TCS) and produced by Family Office For Art (FOFA), both founded by Ning Chong to address different but complementary needs. Together, TCS and FOFA play vital roles in cultivating a more engaged, thoughtful art patronage scene, such as building trust, expertise, and community among collectors, artists, and institutions. TCS began as a private gallery and storage space, inspired by international models that emphasise free exhibitions and nurturing a close-knit community of collectors. It focuses on intimate, invitation-only events designed to build relationships and encourage collecting at a grassroots level. What started as a solution for storage and events evolved into something far more public-minded. “We primarily do two things: exhibitions and education,” Ning says. “Ninety-nine percent of the time, our programmes are free. The goal has always been to grow the community of collectors. So it wasn’t really for the masses, but we built a little niche, and like-minded people started to follow us. It’s been very organic.”

While TCS operates almost like a non-profit, hosting friends, small groups, and private events, FOFA (which Ning launched post-COVID) takes a more commercially-driven, infrastructure-focused approach. FOFA was launched to provide professional, behind-the-scenes support to collectors and institutions alike, cataloguing, valuation, collection building, and legacy planning. “COVID did traumatise us,” Ning admits. “We were so events-driven, and when everything stopped, I started to think upstream—about the entire value chain in the art world. Everyone’s busy buying and selling, but what happens after you’ve been acquiring for 20 years? So we realised people need help cataloguing, auditing, maintaining. That became very clear to me. So while TCS and FOFA are complementary, they serve very different purposes.”

Despite Singapore’s growing art market infrastructure and visibility, Huai Seng and Ning agree that sophistication among collectors still has room to develop. “I think while the market has come a long way, many collectors still base decisions on headlines or auction results rather than deep engagement,” says Huai Seng. “They’re influenced by what they hear, not by what they see or feel.” He notes that many new collectors focus primarily on investment potential. “They ask, which artist is commanding higher prices? What’s going up? That’s what draws them.”

“We need to have more collectors who back unknown, young artists out of conviction. supporting the art for its potential and meaning, not hype or market trends. That kind of belief nurtures an ecosystem, and not just a market,” he says. “If you’re only buying artworks because so-and-so says it’s good, or because you read it in the papers, that’s very easy to defend. But if you have conviction enough to buy a 25-year-old LaSalle graduate’s work, well I would respect that a lot more.”

Ning sees systemic gaps in art appreciation education. “We don’t have strong art appreciation in school,” she says. “I think what we’re trying to encourage people, especially young collectors, is to not just blindly follow or chase names, but to truly engage with the art. Many of our collector friends and aspiring collectors do this already, but sometimes we lack the foundation. We don’t have a strong art appreciation syllabus in school, so we miss that approach of looking and understanding works in context. We can appreciate beauty, but contemporary art today goes beyond that.”

“It’s about ideas, concepts, politics, history, society, well, everything really. So we want to encourage people to dig deeper, to form their own opinions about why they like a work. Can they defend it beyond just its popularity? By doing this, younger artists, who aren’t yet well known, have a chance to survive and thrive.”

Central to Artist’s Proof is the message that art collecting is accessible, not reserved for billionaires. “There are around 1.4 million households in Singapore,” Huai Seng notes. “If just 1%, or about 14,000 households collected one piece of local art over 10 years, that would boost the scene tremendously.” His own journey is proof: “If someone like me, a passionate collector, not a tycoon, can amass this collection over 20 years, so can you.”

As much as Artist’s Proof is about looking at Singapore’s past and present, it’s also a meditation on the future, on what happens to private collections over time, and how they might continue to serve the public good. Ning sees this exhibition not just as a singular event, but part of a larger, ongoing dialogue between collectors and institutions. “This is one way for a collector to do more with their collection in their lifetime,” she says. “Typically, private collections either go on the block or, increasingly in Asia, we’re seeing more appreciation for the idea of bequeathing or donating works to institutions.”

She points to notable examples within Singapore’s collecting community. “I know at least two senior collectors who’ve already pledged a significant number of works to the state collection, because the works are compelling, of high quality, and fill important gaps.”

Yet she also acknowledges a practical reality: state budgets are finite, and institutional acquisition processes can’t always move quickly. “That’s where private collectors come in. A collector can decide and release funds within 24 to 48 hours. There’s a kind of agility that’s hard for institutions to match,” she explains. This creates a symbiotic relationship between private collectors and public institutions, one that is built on trust and long-term conversation. “You just hope that whoever’s at the helm of the institution will carry these relationships forward,” she adds. “Because you want that donation, that key work, to eventually find a home where it adds real value.”

Through her work at FOFA, Ning has also witnessed the generational ebb and flow of collecting. “The older generation has amassed very culturally and monetarily significant works,” she notes. “But by the time it gets to the third or fourth generation, the younger family members may no longer feel the same connection. Often, it’s not about needing the money, it just doesn’t resonate with their lifestyle or aesthetics anymore.”

This generational shift, while natural, presents both challenges and opportunities: for institutions looking to strengthen their holdings, and for new collectors hoping to enter the scene. “Because once something enters the state collection,” Ning says, “it’s unlikely to return to market. So there’s an important window of opportunity, for acquisition, for preservation, and for public access.”

Artist’s Proof then is an invitation not only to view but to participate, to support artists, engage with culture, and shape the future of Singapore’s arts through collecting and patronage. And as Singapore’s art world continues to evolve, both Chongs remain cautiously optimistic. “The outlook looks encouraging,” Ning says. “Art is showing up more in headlines, though often for monetary reasons.”

However, she points out a cultural challenge: “We’re a savvy consumerist society. We consume everything, but we like to consume the arts for free. And if we don’t have a very strong critical mass of private buyers, then the goal of having a dynamic, thriving art market which translates to more economies of scale in the art sector, is still going to be a challenge.”

“If we can build a base of people willing to support the arts with their wallets, not just admiration, the industry can grow sustainably,” Ning insists. “For now, that’s a much further horizon. But the point is, if we can support that base of creatives, then the industry can mature and grow sustainably.”

For the Chongs, it’s not just about money, it’s about the belief in the artists they meet and follow. In Artist’s Proof, that belief is tangible: the conviction to buy early, support consistently, and champion the artists who speak to us.

Artist’s Proof: Singapore Proof runs from 13th July to 17th August 2025 at ArtSpace@Helutrans, 39 Keppel Rd, #01-05 Distripark, Singapore 089065. More information available at https://theculturestory.co/