In Leong's ink paintings, he draws on the visual resources of his Asian background and the strong examples of abstract expressionism found in the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, where he lives.

Leong's paintings helps provide insight into the cross-cultural dynamic at work in art practice in Australia today. Leong is not unique in this respect. If we look at the recent work of the Chinese-Australian Lindy Lee, and Dick Watkins, we can see how gestural marks emerge from both the East Asian calligraphic tradition and abstract expressionism. Like Dick Watkins, Leong explores his artistic identity using a variety of styles and media. They move back and forth between styles. The work of all three artists serve to link abstract expressionism with East Asian aesthetics.

While Leong's paintings, like Willem de Kooning's famous series, are based on the female figure, there are clearly abstract qualities which can be appreciated by themselves. Whereas traditional scroll paintings rely on spontaneous brushwork, some of Leong's paintings rework earlier images, the shadow of which can be seen faintly in the washed canvas. The long, narrow format of the canvas may be suggestive of scrolls, but the use of ink and colours on canvas instead of silk or paper reflects how Leong's work is hybrid in nature in terms of materials and the influences which have been employed and assimilated.

(by Morris Low, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University)