0020 (2007) Painting by Master Simon Wong

Master Simon Wong was born in a small village outside Shenzhen in the Guangdong province in southern China. When Master Simon Wong was only a few years old Master Simon Wong escaped from the People's Republic of China, with his family to live in Hong Kong during the Great Leap Forward. This was a time of great suffering for the Chinese people under an economic and social plan which aimed to use China's vast population to rapidly transform mainland China from a primarily agrarian economy dominated by peasant farmers into a modern, industrialized communist society. This era of change inspires his back to nature scenes and how pre-industrial landscapes felt.

This depravation in the early part of Master Simon Wong’s life motivated him to practice and perfect his martial arts to strengthen his poor health and artistically realize his full potential. Master Simon Wong started painting at 6 years old, regularly having his work displayed in school and winning competitions out of the whole school. At Art College Master Simon Wong trained in traditional oil painting and classical Chinese painting under Master Pang Jade-Sip who in turn trained under Master Jewe Siu-Ong who was the founder of the Southern Chinese painting style, turning professional after leaving college. Master Simon Wong sold paintings in Hong Kong prior to coming to England.

Master Simon Wong has been learning and developing his passion for Chinese Philosophy over 30 years and is now integrating this into his artwork. Master Simon Wong’s vibrant style comes from a deep spiritual tradition that evokes strong feelings of love and beauty and a sense of joy from nature. It is hard not to be inspired by the feelings that his paintings captivate and he truly believes in the artist’s duty to inspire the viewer. Re-emerging as an artist after spending so much time understanding compassion and wisdom gives Master Simon Wong a unique understanding and sensitivity to his art. Master Simon Wong uses the colours popular in the Tang Dynasty when the cultural and the spiritual arts were at their peak and the primary subject matter of Chinese painting was the landscape, known as shanshui (mountain-water) painting. In these landscapes, usually monochromatic and sparse, the purpose was not to reproduce exactly the appearance of nature but rather to grasp an emotion or atmosphere so as to catch the "rhythm" of nature. Then as now Master Simon Wong used brushes and bright green and blue paint to show high rocky mountains and cliffs, with rivers, rocks, and trees. Master Simon Wong is not interested in showing what nature really looks like, like a photograph. Instead, he conveys the spirit of that place - what it felt like to be there. Master Simon Wong does not put in all the details, just enough to give you the appropriate feeling and believes it is better art if you can express the same feeling with fewer lines. Master Simon Wong's qualities move freely between splash ink techniques, abstract an...

• Nationality: UNITED KINGDOM
• Date of birth : unknown date
• Artistic domains:
• Groups: Contemporary British Artists