📌06/15 Sun.

15:00

Opening Event

HO KAN x New Gen

16:00

Opening

HO Kan．My Painting Is the Bridge Between Us

Text / Audrey TU

Within the unfolding landscape of contemporary art, Ho Kan’s work emerges as a bridge - linking East and West, tradition and innovation. His artistic practice draws upon the experimental vitality of the Western avant-garde of the 1950s and ‘60s, while gracefully weaving in the flowing rhythm of Chinese calligraphy and the structural clarity of architectural design. Working with the elemental language of points, lines, and planes, Ho has shaped a geometric abstraction that is unmistakably his own. His paintings are not only formal investigations but also deeply spiritual expressions - vibrant, ever-moving reflections of creative energy and the pulse of life.

From Italy: The Spark of the Avant-Garde

When Ho Kan arrived in Italy in 1960, Europe was in the midst of radical artistic transformation. Informalism blurred the boundaries between abstraction and figuration, with artists breaking free from the confines of traditional painting to explore new realms of visual expression. Immersed in this climate of innovation, Ho was deeply inspired by the avant-garde ideas shaping Italian art at the time. Lucio Fontana’s Spatialism (Spazialismo) - which slashed through the canvas to challenge the two-dimensional plane - left a profound impression, as did the Nuclear Movement led by Roberto Crippa and Sergio Dangelo, and the light-space investigations of Antonio Calderara. Western avant-garde artists were seeking to transcend realism through immaterial forms and dynamic interactions between positive and negative space.

While Ho absorbed these experimental energies, he never blindly followed trends. Instead, he merged the avant-garde’s radical impulses with the rich cultural foundations of his Chinese heritage. His geometric forms are imbued not with mechanical coldness, but with warmth and vitality - an observation aptly captured by renowned Italian art critic Vanni Scheiwiller: “Ho Kan’s geometry is never cold.” His work thus balances the rational structures of modernism with the introspective depth of Eastern philosophy.

Music, Calligraphy, and Inner Space

Far from being a mere formal exercise, Ho Kan’s geometric abstraction is rooted in the cultural ethos of Chinese tradition. Influenced profoundly by the rhythmic lines of calligraphy, he transforms brushwork into vibrant, musical gestures across the canvas. Points become central elements in his compositions, orchestrated with varying sizes and placements, harmonized by color blocks to create a structured rhythm. This evokes Wassily Kandinsky’s idea of abstract painting as “visual music”, yet Ho extends this notion by embedding a living, breathing cadence into his visual language - a rhythm of life itself.

From seemingly spontaneous marks, Ho Kan shapes a language of geometric symbols, as if seeking cosmic patterns within apparent randomness. This pursuit reflects his exploration of what he calls “spiritual space” - his compositions mirroring not only visual structure but also an inner cosmology that emerges from deep introspection.

A Living Geometry: Bridging Art and Everyday Experience

For Ho Kan, the interplay of point, line, and plane is not simply an abstract vocabulary but a reflection of life itself - a visual embodiment of lived experience. His compositions invite the viewer into an intimate resonance, establishing a silent dialogue between artist and audience. His geometric abstraction is not a detached formalism but an emotive invitation - a world shaped by colour and form, where the rhythms of life unfold.

As the title of this exhibition suggests, “My Painting Is a Bridge Between Us”, Ho Kan’s lifelong artistic journey forms a passageway - between East and West, tradition and modernity, artist and viewer. Ultimately, his work affirms art as a universal language, bridging cultural divides and celebrating the shared human experience.