“I never felt that painting was a career, more like a way of life,” says veteran artist Quang Ho, who took up his craft at age 4, when he first learned how to draw. “As my skill level and understanding grew, my interest in art deepened…I think the saying that one requires two lifetimes to be an artist is becoming quite true for me: One lifetime to learn to paint, and the other to say something worthwhile with grace and fluidity.”
Dahlias, oil, 24 x 30"
Ho’s latest exhibition, on view from October 25 through November 12 at Denver’s Gallery 1261, gives viewers the chance to step inside his world, one marked by equal parts curiosity and contemplation.
“It was roughly two years of diving into ideas, concepts and inspirations as they arose,” says the artist. “Some of these themes I’ve explored for over 30 years and some are brand new ideas.
“I did not think in terms of a singular body of work but rather as a process of searching and exploring visual ideas as they arise,” Ho continues. “Each painting has a particular visual concept that intrigued me. Each one demanded a different kind of attention. Two paintings of the same subject may have entirely different visual approaches.”
Foray, oil on YUPO on board, 29 x 40"
Included in the exhibition are three striking examples of reimagination—Eve, Mountain Creek and Summer Dream—all female nudes, each with a differing persona.
Recalling the woman who started it all, Eve, Ho shares, “This series started well over 25 years ago as an idea of painting a figure in landscape in such a way that the two become totally integrated. It took a couple of years for the idea to actually work as a painting for me, and continued to challenge me to paint it differently every time.”
Another prime example of this approach can be seen in the oil Dahlias.
Forest Floor in Late October, oil on YUPO, 48 x 60"
“This painting in particular really exemplifies the spirit of breaking boundaries in painting for me,” Ho says. “It began as a naturalistic painting of dahlias in a garden and through some challenges, destruction and changes, it became more about the abstract arrangement of darks and lights. The dahlias were just a starting point.”
In the impressionistic forest scene, Foray, Ho strays from his abstract approach, proving his mastery of multiple styles.
“This is a very different painting than the rest of the show,” he says. “It’s one of my few naturalistic landscapes of this kind. What I was attempting to paint was my experience, what the woods felt like to me when I went deep into [them] and off the trail to hunt for mushrooms in the summer in Colorado. It is one of my favorite pastimes.”
Summer Dream, oil on linen, 48 x 30"
In Forest Floor in Late October, the artist once again drastically shifts gears.
“This painting is fully an abstract interpretation of what a walk in autumn feels like in the woods of Pennsylvania—the textures, the colors, the decay, the smell, the feel of the covered earth underfoot,” Ho relates. “Every shape and color is unique and specific. Not one is repeated twice.”
Ho’s solo exhibition opens with a reception on October 25 from 6 to 9 p.m. —
Gallery 1261 1261 Delaware Street, Suite 1 Denver, CO 80204 • (303) 571-1261 www.gallery1261.com
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