Much comparison has been made between Cheng Shui and the great Indonesian-Singaporean artist (1913-1988) especially when the style, substance and subjects are not altogether dissimilar. Indeed, Cheng Shui, a self-taught artist, was so smitten and inspired when he came to know about Man Fong’s works from a book he found. Musicians, satay-seller, clothes traders, village women at work, the animals – doves, horses, gold-fishes, rabbits, even the light-touch veneer washes for the works and the soft combination of yellow ochre and pale orange. Cheng Shui’s surname is Ong, but he has dropped all references to it in his art, as a form of branding. The boy playing the flute sitting on a buffalo is not only one of Man Fong’s favourite themes, but that of artists in the Chinese brush genre.