The timed auction ends Thursday September 3rd at 8:00pm. Whoever holds the highest bid at the auction closing time wins.
Ah Min Leong
Sampan, 2026
Oil on Canvas
Height 91.5 cm x Width 56 cm
Artwork is stretched and ready to hang & comes with a certificate of authenticity
Starting Bid: $1,700
I found this old sampan tied up under a heavy green canopy on a still afternoon when the sky had gone an impossible cotton-candy pink and the sun sat low and small and pale. The boat itself is unapologetic — red hull, mustard-yellow trim, a battered canvas roof, the kind of working vessel that has been patched and repainted by many hands over many years. A single figure sits inside, quiet, watching the water. Working with oils, I let the pink sky pour itself into the river so the whole world below the trees became a soft reflection, then held the sampan together with strong, almost graphic shapes of red and yellow so it would feel as solid and present as it did in life. There's something about a moored boat that pulls at me — the way it carries the memory of every journey it has taken while sitting completely still. This one felt like a small, dignified anchor in the middle of a very gentle afternoon.
Artist Bio: Min Leong is a painter born in Kuching, Malaysia and based in Sydney. His work centres on landscape from Malaysian forests to Australian coastlines. His paintings demonstrate a confident, expressive approach to colour — often pushing beyond naturalistic palettes into saturated purples, pinks, and oranges that capture the intense light of the Australian environment.
Leong gravitates toward subjects that emphasise the vertical and the immersive: towering eucalypts seen from below, dense rainforest canopies, and expansive vistas from elevated viewpoints. His work conveys a direct engagement with place and an interest in how light transforms the familiar into something vivid and heightened.
Dimensions:
91.5 cm x 56 cm