Max Kong

Biography

MAX KONG
by Dr. Sian E. Jay, Art Critic

Max is one of Singapore’s fastest emerging artists, his work popping up in the most unexpected places – probably because his work ‘speaks’ to so many people on so many levels. Ironically Max is not altogether interested in the finished product, working instead from the premise that it is of greater relevance to focus on “How to paint” instead of “What to paint”. And the painting technique is indeed unusual.

Using a series of customized tools and painting media, Max embarks on the creation of abstract imagery that is quickly and almost subconsciously executed. It is his fascination with his process that has led to him embarking on his ongoing exploration of “how to paint” using process-oriented tools.

In many ways it could be argued that the methodology employed by the artist, is induced by the fast paced society in which he lives – it reflects the way he responds to the world around him. His works are purely spontaneous, unplanned. They are the outcome of dragging and overlapping painting media across a surface using one his customized tools. The resulting canvas invariably leaves the ‘scars’ of the process as evidence of ‘how’ it was painted. The results are remarkably open, leaving the viewer to deconstruct and decode the artist’s method.

Working as a full time artist, spending weeks on end in his studio, Max finds that the continuous process of painting influences and informs the way he works – series after series of imagery emerges, always different, always evolving. His process of working challenges the paradigms of conventional painting through his exploration of alternative methodologies and materials. The process inevitably introduces elements of chance as the surfaces that become the paintings emerge.

One of his favorite media is cement; he took his inspiration from the cement screeds used on the walls of architecture. What is so startling about the cement paintings is the way they convey a sense of movement and fluidity, and have continued to inspire the artist. When working with cement, Max confesses that the material dominates the process through the creation of rhythm and spontaneity as he applies cement to the surface of the canvas. It is the material and process that define the final aesthetics.

If the form and outline of the painting is the result of unconscious process, the finishing is very much one of conscious control. He applies hundreds of white dots to the surface as a rational, almost mathematical process. Placed in ordered, regular intervals across the surface of the image the final painting emerges, the artist creates regularity and order to an otherwise chaotic process.

ABOUT MAX KONG

Max Kong graduated from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology with a degree in Fine Arts and a Masters of Fine Arts from LaSalle-SIA College of the Arts. He has exhibited his works extensively and has won numerous awards including “Certificate of Distinction – in the UOB Painting of the Year Competition 2004”

He paints directly on the canvas and regards it as an interactive process rather than a straightforward, structured approach. He starts at will and let his subconscious take over and enjoys the aesthetic value of accidental effects, which cannot be achieved by careful planning. It is in this unsophisticated and honest expression that the viewer’s heart is enthralled - the art lives and speaks for itself.

Concept on Collective Lines Series Paintings (2004)

The process of my painting is based on dripping fluid paint onto the canvas, mainly inspired by raindrops flowing downward on a window panel. Fascinated with the flow of liquid, I explore the process of dripping fluid paint onto the canvas. The courses of running lines were taken over by the forces of nature immediately. A line created by gravity at an instant. I occasionally steering the canvas to maintain the course when necessary. The fortuitous courses of running lines are the only obvious traces left after the completion of a painting. My lines are created by a combination of chance and manipulation. The colours are based on my actual visual experience with a touch of subjective imaginings.