Born in Kuala Lumpur, Patrick Ng Kah Onn (1932-1989) was a pioneering modern Malayan painter and founding member of the Wednesday Art Group, initiated by Peter Harris. His work expressed a decorative, linear style that evoked the essences of the region and its sensibilities–best remembered in his iconic 1958 painting, Spirit Of The Earth, Sky And Water for its mystical vision and synthesis of complex regional belief systems. A self-taught artist, he first attracted attention for his Batek Malaysia which was awarded first prize at the First Southeast Asian Art Conference and Competition in Manila, the same year Malaysia gained her independence. In 1963, he held his first solo show at the British Council in Kuala Lumpur, where fifty works in watercolors, pastels, wax, charcoal and Indian ink based on his visit to India were on show. Under a Sino-British fellowship, he then enrolled at the Hammersmith College of Art, London in 1964 before furthering his Fine Arts studies at the Wimbledon and Southlands College of Education, London in 1966. After his studies, he remained in London and taught at his alma mater before his untimely death in 1989.