Kassia Ko: Before and After

EVENT DESCRIPTION

3812 Gallery is pleased to present Before and After, a solo exhibition by Hong Kong ink painter Kassia Ko. Passionate about the beauty of natural landscapes as well as profundity of Chinese art, Ko breaks boundaries in ink painting with her portrayal of the interlacing of light and shadow which is influenced not only by nature, but also her inner self. Her creations and style of naturalism echoes with the ideology of nature and humanity: ‘Empty your mind of all thoughts, let your heart be at peace. Watch the turmoil of beings, but contemplate their return.’ This famous quote from chapter sixteen of the Tao Te Ching is the perfect encapsulation of her solo show.

Before and After breaks through the traditional concept of time and space. What’s more, it visualises and sustains the memory and sensational response of the artist. As time goes by, the strong emotion of a certain moment is sublimated into nutrients fostering her growth. Artistic creation is a process of continuous improvement and exploration. Before and After is not only an exhibition, but also an extraordinary and valuable journey where we can experience the artist’s inner world to sense the feelings and emotions that she seeks to convey through her artworks: her gratitude towards nature is expressed in her interlacing of light and shadow at the scene of dawn and dusk in Momentary Series, and her strong emotions evoked by the sudden changes in life are symbolised in Red Series, while her relief from struggle and chaos is portrayed in Parallel Series.

In conjunction with this, 3812 Gallery is also proud to unveil ‘The Light Room’, a transformation of our Bespoke space on the 16th floor into a room that highlights Ko’s special relationship with light as well as its importance to her work. A collection of important ink sketching will be displayed alongside rare and valuable lighting pieces from the mid-century, juxtaposing the beauty of eastern and western art as well as playing with the concept of time, another important factor of her artistic oeuvre. The Light Room provides viewers an opportunity to immerse themselves into another dimension of Ko’s world, to understand in greater depths how she masterfully portrays light and shadow in her ink paintings.

ABOUT THE ARTIST / ORGANISER

Ko graduated from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University with a degree in industrial design and first started her career with a Japanese design firm in Hong Kong. When SARS hit Hong Kong in 2003, Ko found herself at the crossroads of further studying Eastern or Western art. She re-encountered the line drawing of female portraits by chance, which led to her self-study of portrait drawing. Subsequently, she enrolled in a course in Chinese Ink Painting at the University of Hong Kong School of Professional and Continuing Education and completed the Master of Fine Arts program at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Ko learned under the tutelage of ink painting master Hung Hoi, imitating Song Dynasty paintings, sketching and finding inspiration from nature. Under his guidance, Ko established the foundation for Chinese painting and began her creations through sketching. She was also influenced by her Indian professor Mr Rhett D’Costa, who advocated understanding and practice in research. Hence, Ko spent six months sketching on her terrace daily and writing her essay Far and Near in Ma Wan village, and finished two research projects for her master’s degree through on-site exploration that laid out her future creative process and direction.
‘Remembering the experiences in the past, following the rhythm of nature and walking towards the goal,’ is Kassia’s motto and also the soul of this solo exhibition. Let us walk into Kassia’s picturesque world of landscape, appreciate her inspirations and realisations from life and nature, and nourish our mind with spirituality and landscapes.