Abilities Arts Festival A Celebration of Disability Arts and Culture  
Lower Gallery

Artist's Statement:
In "Halos of Known and Unknown Gods", my exposure to Chinese folk religion draws my attention to this, an unusual display of a porcelain Mao statue among all "retired" wooden Chinese folk gods or goddesses. Does God or Goddess create human, or does human create God or Goddess?

In "In Light of Physical and Illusionary Space", my exposure to the illusionary reflection within a city causes me to think about the existence of individual physical and illusionary space. Are they real or just another illusion?

Web Site: www.kongho.com

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Kong Ho

Bradford, United States

About the Artist:
Kong Ho, who walks with a leg braces as a result of polio, is currently Associate Professor of Art at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, Pennsylvania since 2001. Ho holds a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Painting and Drawing from Texas Tech University in 1994 and a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts from The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1985. During his first year at Pitt-Bradford, Ho created the Mural Design course which is the first community-based public art course, resulting in an evolutionary mural that can be seen in Fisher Hall of Pitt-Bradford campus.

Prior to teaching at Pitt-Bradford, Ho taught art and design at several universities, including Western Texas College, Baptist University of Hong Kong, and University of Hong Kong. During his teaching years, Ho was also an active artist and muralist. In 1997, he founded the Hong Kong Mural Society, a nonprofit art organization which promotes mural art in Hong Kong. Ho has developed a reputation in the mural art after organizing more than 30 granted large scale public mural projects, with 12 commission murals in Hong Kong. In 2004, Ho completed a commission mural for International VSA Arts Festival in Washington DC and a four-story high with 3,300 sq. ft. Mt. Jewett Heritage Mural in Pennsylvania.

Ho has participated in over 70 international and regional exhibitions including 12 solo exhibitions. His work has been exhibited in venues such as the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Union Station and World Bank Headquarters in Washington DC, the Clymer Museum and Gallery in Washington, the Amarillo Museum of Art in Texas, the Fine Arts Museums in New Mexico, the Osaka Prefecture University in Japan, Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Hong Kong Museum of Art, and the Peking Museum of Art in China.

Ho derives much of his imagery from his bi-cultural heritage, and his interest in science and nature. His multi-layering of complex symbols creates a dynamic space which contrasts forms, textures and colors. The resulting image instills a sense of tension and drama, integrating the visual concepts of order and disorder. His work showcases the combination of structtured abstraction and realistic representation. His art is about transitions, both metaphysical and real, and is not for short attention but for a more meditative approach.