When I left the art scene totally 40 years ago, I never planned on a comeback. Now that I did, I think it was my past foundation in art that had made this possible!

I could only come back to where I left off. Therefore, I had to "leap-frog" myself. To achieve this, I spent some time in Zhongyang-Meiyuan ( note: 1 ) and at the Slade ( note: 2 ) under-studying some of the great masters and looking for new ideas at the same time.

I paint all types of subject. To me, they're just the starting point of my painting process, and important only to the degree that they motive my feelings. What is important is they way I express myself.

As much as possible, I would paint from live. By this I mean painting from life models or painting on location from nature. I paint the effects of lights acted upon the colors, curves and shapes of the human body; I paint the effects on nature, of the sun in the tropics, or of the four-seasons in temperate countries. On location-painting, I find that time constraint, atmosphere and adverse weather conditions can produce works with much power and immediacy.

To-day, I consider myself a realist, not a naturalist. However, to a certain degree, I've recently attempted to drift away from the real world, and make more changes to it, thus making my works more nonobjective. I think I've seen some encouraging results. In fact, some critics have said that some of my recent paintings can be considered "semi-abstract", though I've yet to agree to that.

Finally, may I boldly admit this: I paint for myself; I paint for enjoyment. On the latter, I share it with as many viewers as I could possibly have -- through public exhibitions, private and public collections, making prints, this online Gallery and whatever. As such, I'm looking forward to interacting with you and receiving your comments. 

Created by: teokl@teokl.net