Gallery 1261 (Denver, Colorado) recently announced that it is hosting a solo exhibition of new work by a nationally renowned master painter, Quang Ho, titled “Process.”
More from the gallery:
Quang Ho’s work, which is primarily in oils, ranges from still lifes to landscapes, interiors, and figurative work.
Providing insight into his newest exhibition, Ho shares, “This exhibition is called ‘Process.’ But it is also about play. To quote Einstein, ‘The highest form of research is play.’ It is in the process of playing with colors, texture, value, edges, and paint that one breaks through personal boundaries and tendencies. I have found that rather than finding new subject matter to paint, I can do more by revisiting ideas that were meaningful to me in the past and find new ways of engaging with them. It is the delight and surprise in unexpected happenings that bring me continually to the canvas. The first part of the development of an artist is mastering the medium of expression; after that comes speaking as much truth as you are capable of without all the intellectual gymnastics. That is a higher art.”
With this particular body of work, it was most important to Quang to explore different ways of saying what he has already discovered during his impressive creative journey of 56 years. “I’m bringing past themes to life, digging deeper into the visual language, and exploring new boundaries.” For Ho, creating the most fundamentally sound composition is imperative at this point in his creative journey. Whether the compositions before them are complex or simple, he hopes that the viewers walk away with a sense of emotional reaction that inspired each painting.
Further considering the process of painting in his experience, Quang adds, “For me, painting is a marriage between the mastery of those basic visual elements: the discoveries and understanding of visual statements (the search for what is true on a personal level artistically), and the trust in one’s own wordless intuition and inspiration. Understanding gives rise to higher understanding. Working this way allows me to open the door to new ideas and inspirations. One day I may be interested in a color statement, and the next may be a relationship of simple shapes, and the next, an extremely complex arrangement of texture and edges. With every painting, there is a singular visual thought to be completed.”
As he contemplates his evolution starting with his first-ever solo, to now, Quang exclaims, “They are like night and day. My first solo was about execution. I was an accomplished major, but it was really about executing paintings well. The show I am presenting now is reaching much deeper. Now, I am composing a symphony, exploring a visual vocabulary, rather than trying to figure out what the visual world is doing.” Quang’s impressive artistic journey is a massive accomplishment. When asked what has been the primary driving force in his career, he chuckles. “With any discipline you enter into, you want to become a master and understand it. Now that I have no more questions about painting, I am enjoying discovering, exploring, and surprising myself.”
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Quang Ho was born on April 30, 1963, in Hue, Vietnam. He Immigrated to the United States in 1975. His artistic interest began at the early age of three and continued through grade school, high school, and art school and led him to an exciting and successful painting profession. In 1980, at the age of 16, Quang held his first solo show at Tomorrow’s Masters Gallery in Denver, Colorado. The exhibit was a big success for the high school sophomore. In 1982, Quang’s mother was killed in a tragic auto accident, leaving him the responsibility of raising four younger brothers and a six-year-old sister. That same year, Quang attended the Colorado Institute of Art on a National Scholastics Art Awards Scholarship. At CIA, Quang studied painting under Rene Bruhin, whom Quang credits with developing the foundation for his artistic understanding. Ho graduated from CIA in 1985 with Best Portfolio Award for the graduating class.
He is a much sought-after teacher and lecturer on art and has won numerous prestigious awards nationally from the Artists of America to the Oil Painters of America exhibits. He has held a retrospective exhibit at the Steamboat Springs Museum of Art and has held shows at the Woolaroc Museum as well as the Booth Museum of Western Art. Quang enjoys reading philosophy and science, playing guitar and golf, and he finds time to hunt for fossils and forage for mushrooms.
Learn more at www.gallery1261.com.
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