KO NAM

Ko Nam is known for his detailed stylised landscapes in earthy tones. His depictions of mountains, forests and country villages surrounded by lush rice fields and cascading waterfalls full of vitality and energy. Employing a wide repertoire of different strokes and also a pointillist technique, Ko Nam fills every inch of the canvas with minute and meticulous brushwork in a manner reminiscent of the Austrian painter, Gustav Klimt. Each blade of grass or bamboo stalk seems crucial to the whole.

This vivid and optimistic vision provides a powerful channel of communication for an artist who has lived in a silent world since a childhood illness left him deaf at the age of three. Born in Sichuan Province in 1963, Ko studied Chinese painting under Sun Xuegong and watercolour artists, Luo Chibing and Mu Kanglian.. In 1992 and 1993 he took part in the exhibitions, "Master Sun Xuegong and his Apprentice". In 1994 he moved to Hong Kong and in 1997 he participated in the Exhibition for the Celebration of the Reunification of Hong Kong with China.

Ko Nam's paintings have a warmth and intimacy which is due to a constant human presence in his work, even though, as in traditional Chinese painting, people are dwarfed by the landscape. One feels his empathy with the peasants as they go about their daily chores at different seasons of the year.