Kow Leong Kiang (b. 1970, Selangor) is a leading contemporary figure painter, known for his portraits of beautiful local women set against backdrops of rural landscapes. In particular, he likes to paint women from the villages in the east coast of Malaysia, finding a charm and beauty in their prevailing traditional way of life. Kow received his diploma in Fine Art from the Kuala Lumpur College of Art in 1991. He was the first Malaysian artist to receive the Phillip Morris ASEAN Art Award in 1998. Since then, he has exhibited extensively in his native region of Southeast Asia, and also in East Asia, Europe, and America.