UOB marks SG50 with painting

UOB GROUP deputy chairman and chief executive Wee Ee Cheong and two-time winner of the UOB Painting of the Year competition, artist Gong Yao Ming, have put ink to paper to commemorate SG50, with the resulting painting to be revealed at an auction at the bank's Chinese New Year dinner on Feb 24.

Contemporary Chinese brush ink and a traditional rice paper canvas were used for the 1.5 metre-by-one metre painting, which depicts the embankment between the Singapore River and Boat Quay, the area where Singapore's economic growth took root. Proceeds from the auction will be donated to the BT Budding Artists Fund and Sage Counselling Centre. The BT Budding Artists Fund supports underprivileged children with artistic talent while the Sage Counselling Centre combines expressive art therapy with its intervention work with the elderly.

UOB will begin the evening's auction with a S$250,000 donation to the two beneficiaries. It hopes to raise another S$250,000 from the auction, for a S$500,000 total at least.