Description
Painting & Calligraphics of Ho Sou Ping is my second pictorial book. My very first pictorial book, Dialogue with Tradition, which was launched in 2008, was mostly about traditional themes and techniques. It can be considered an epitome of more than 20 years of my toiling in traditional art.
Every painter has one ultimate mission: to find the flair that befits the times and a language of art that one can call one’s own. However, art is no overnight phenomenon but something built on the bedrock laid by veterans. This is why a strong foundation in traditional art is paramount to the making of any great painter. Some painters disdain traditional art while others plunge deep into its sweet abyss. When to detach oneself from the sustenance of traditional art to explore the unknown of the expanse is a difficult question. Any attempt is painful, dangerous, and demands immense energy. One may end up with nothing or have one’s future destroyed. On top of that, the art market’s fericious appetite for individual style has compelled numerous young painters to step up to the plate and churn out superficial styles before they are even ready or sufficiently proficient. These are all complex problems.
My second pictorial book focuses on works that, in my view, explore new dimensions in themes and techniques which I have experimented with meticulously. All my accomplished experimental works are founded on failings. So even if some of my works are not exactly mature or satisfactory to some, they nonetheless mark a beginning. Besides, as a ‘young’ painter, I believe I should attempt all kinds of languages and methods of painting, which have culminated in the diversity of themes, styles and media in my creations today.
