reviews

• Kong Ho

"Drawing upon native Chinese traditions and an adoptive Western lifestyle, painter and muralist Kong Ho transmutes life's contradictions into evidence of the wholeness of humanity, nature and the cosmos."

Book Art Press. (2010). Kong Ho. In New Art International XIV (pp. 22-23). Woodstock, NY: Book Art Press.

• The science of art

"I destroy parts of my design and then discover something new, a new element. My work is layers and layers of colors. In order to add that richness on the surface, I build up my canvas space. The tension exists because my rendering is tight, but then the random marks create a kind of contrast. I like that kind of tension and contrast in my work."

by Jean Ann Bowman Cantore, editor of Texas Techsan.

Cantore, J. A. B. (2004). The science of art. Texas Techsan, 57(2), 24 - 29.

• JCC to present 'Eastern and Western Fusion' in February - Kong Ho

"The expressive symbols, forms, surface textures, and colors energize Ho's intriguing multi-layered images. He creates dynamic tension and drama by illustrating the visual concepts of order and disorder, and mysteriously combining abstraction with realism. His visionary works chaallenge the mind and the spirit."

by James D. Colby, curator of Weeks Gallery.

Colby, J. D. (18 January 2004). JCC to present 'Eastern and Western Fusion. The Post-Jornal , p. C-1.

• The mural of hope

"There's a bright spot on the horizon for one local community that has lost much over the past few years. Even though it is not yet complete, residents of Mount Jewett are already inspired by the progress of the Mount Jewett Heritage Mural being designed on the Odd Fellows building on Main Street and hope it will bring tourists to town."

by Roger Newton, correspondent of The Bradford Era.

Newton, R. (23 Sept. 2004). The mural of hope. The Bradford Era , front page.

• The painting is on the wall

"Ho's mural does not only recall the Tin Shui Wai of a forgotten era, but the present as well. An LRT coach, a shopping mall and a housing block are featured at a corner of the mural The approval of the project proposed by the artists to the authorites in late 1997, means a lot to the mural painters -- it represents their first success in promoting their art in the city."

by Sherry Lee, reporter of Hong Kong Standard.

Lee, S. (18 March 1999). The painting is on the wall. Hong Kong Standard , front page.

• Texas - Kong Ho

"The multi-media paintings by Kong Ho present a serene ambivalence, an indeterminability of such complex fluctuation that it--like the soothing hush of white noise or the coalescence of the spectrum in white light--is experienced as a kind of unity. In Ho's work tightly rendered illusionistic elements dissipate into diagrammatic arrangements of lines and dots that, in turn, give way to lacy veils of splashed and dripped color. Yet the styles are so carefully orchestrated that from them emerges a kind of consciousness between perception, conception, and imagination. In both cases, suspended in flux is a precarious sense of wholeness."

by Glen R. Brown, an art critic of New Art Examiner.

Brown, G. R. (1994). Texas - Kong Ho. New Art Examiner, 44.

• Toward complexity

"The art of Kong Ho reflects the changeable nature of all cultural constructions. He seeks to express the complexity of orientation in the contemporary international community. In this regard, the fact that two of Ho's new paintings were recently selected for exhibition at the headquarters of the United Nations may be taken as an excellent indication of their success."

by Glen R. Brown, art critic of Asian Art News and World Scuplture News, and professor of art history at Kansas State University.

Brown, G. R. (2004). Toward complexity. Asian Art News, 14(4), 54- 57.

• Mural painting as inclusive art learning experience

"The struggles for inclusion in education in the late 1980s in the United Kingdom were not just about inclusion of students with special needs in mainstream schools and colleges but also about fostering a situation of equal access and participation, within the education system, for all ages, genders, races, and educational levels."

Ho, K. (2010). Mural painting as inclusive art learning experience. Teaching Artist Journal, 8(2), 67-76.

• Out of America: Exploring collaborative mural teaching in Bulgaria

"On a cold February day in 2010, I arrived in the city of Sofia, Bulgaria, to teach mural painting at the National Academy of Art for my five-month Fulbright U.S. Scholarship Program lecturing award."

Ho, K. (2012). Out of America: Exploring collaborative mural teaching in Bulgaria. Teaching Artist Journal, 10(2), 77-87.

• Reverberating Chinese traditonal folk art in a contemporary context

"Western artists who were looking for Chinese motifs to use in their own artistic work would find the Foshan traditional folk art and handcraft to carry an inspiring selection of these motifs. Kong Ho has been a bicultural teaching artist, who grew up in Hong Kong under Chinese cultural background and updated with Western educational values."

Ho, K. (2013). Reverberating Chinese traditional folk art in a contemporary context. History Research, 3(1), 34-43.

• Public art education in Brunei Darussalam: The cultural language of community murals

"This article is about how I used my initiative and experience as a muralist to plan and then implement two community art research projects in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei Darussalam. A premise of these projects was that collaborative art learning and ractice-based experience in community murals can bring greater understanding of the visual arts as a cultural tool for understanding socially based ideas and concepts."

Ho, K. (2014). Public art education in Brunei Darussalam: The cultural language of community murals. Teaching Artist Journal, 12(1), 24-36.

• University art students undertake entrepreneurship action in Brunei Darussalam

"An in-depth analysis of how something seemingly simple--the establishing of a student-run arts supply store in Brunei--can deeply affect a city and nation's art education, and cultural scenes."

Geiger-Ho, M., & Ho, K. (2014). University art students undertake entrepreneurship action in Brunei Darussalam. Teaching Artist Journal, 12(3), 155-167.

• Public art education in Brunei Darussalam: The cultural language of community murals

Ho, K. (2014). Teaching Artist Journal , Volume 12, Number 1, January-March 2014, p. 24-36

• 29 days in Formosa: Colonial era architecture in Taiwan

"Envisioned as a practice-based research project in digital art by Kong Ho, "29 Days in Formosa" will explore the Western influence on Taiwanese colonial and historical architecture through reinterpreted and reimaged contemporary digital photography."

Ho, K. (2014). 29 days in Formosa: Colonial era architecture in Taiwan. In The Asian Conference on Arts & Humanities 2014 Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 1-13). Osaka: International Academic Forum.

• Transfiguration of space: Practice-Based research in painting and digital art by Kong Ho

"Envisioned as a practice-based research project in painting and digital art by Kong Ho, "Transfiguration of Space" will explore the theme of spirituality as it is conveyed through meditative symbolic icons, logarithmic spirals, nautilus shells, floral patterns, natural forms and memoristic images found in my daily living environment."

Ho, K. (2013). Transfiguration of space: Practice-Based research in painting and digital art by Kong Ho. In The Asian Conference on Arts & Humanities 2013 Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 25-36). Osaka: International Academic Forum.

• Empowering learning: Using student exemplars in teaching

"Using student exemplars in setting up the learning outcomes of any art assignment or project not only helps to design reachable learning goals for students but also stimulates students in their studies through collaborative teaching and learning."

Ho, K. (2015). Empowering learning: Using student exemplars in teaching. Teaching Artist Journal, 13(4), 193-203.

• Teaching and making art, and cultural context: Kuwait and Brunei. [Review of the book Suitcase filled with nails: Lessons learned from teaching art in Kuwait, by Yvonne Wakefield]

Geiger-Ho, M., & Ho, K. (2015). Teaching and making art, and cultural context: Kuwait and Brunei. [Review of the book Suitcase filled with nails: Lessons learned from teaching art in Kuwait, by Yvonne Wakefield]. Teaching Artist Journal, 13(3), 184-187.

• A slice of light: A stroke in time

"Visualized as a practice-based research project in digital art by Kong Ho, "A Slice of Light: A Stroke in Time" is a photographic foray into the natural wonders found in the tropical rainforest of Ulu Temburong National Park in Brunei Darussalam in order to capture images that will later be manipulated and re-imaged."

Ho, K. (2015). A slice of light: A strok in time. In The Asian Conference on Arts & Humanities 2015 Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 55-65). Osaka: International Academic Forum.

• Larger Than Life: Mural Dreamscapes - A Teaching Artist's Retrospective

As a teaching artist for more than 25 years and a muralist for 18 of them, I consider myself to be a good source of "archived" experiences that I can share with others, who might find them beneficial. Like all of life's experiences, some of my anecdotal encounters might come off as amusing or, conversely, fraught with emontional turmoil.

Ho, K. (2016). Larger than life: Mural dreamscapes. Parker, CO: Outskirts Press.

• A Stroke in Time: An Artist's Memoir of Kong Ho

As a teaching artist for almost three decades, Prof. Kong Ho recalls his art experience in the form of a memoir. This book explores his retrospective study into his transcendental paintings and why he chose to write a personal memoir.

Ho, K. (2016). A stroke in Time: An artist's memoir of Kong Ho. Saarbrucken: Lambert Academic Publishing.

• Future development in community murals and future investment in teaching artists

This paper explores Ho's inclusive and expansive study into community murals and the role of teaching artists. His insights into the role of teaching artists and community murals are unique because he presents them as academic artistic research.

Ho, K. (2016). Future development in community murals and future investment in teaching artists. In The Asian Conference on Arts & Humanities 2016 Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 67-85). Osaka: International Academic Forum.

• A stroke in time: An artist's memoir

This paper explores Ho's retrospective study into his transcendental paintings and why he chose to write a personal memoir. The aim of this artistic research is meant to highlight the value and impact of a personal memoir on an individual is artistic endeavors.

Ho, K. (2017). A stroke in time: An artist's memoir. In The Asian Conference on Arts & Humanities 2017 Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 67-85). Osaka: International Academic Forum.

• Special Edition 2021 of ART Habens: Contemporary Art Review

This special edition features an interview with Kong Ho and 16 paintings under his Luminosity Series.

Ryder, J., & Williams, K. (2022, January). An interview with Kong Ho. Art Habens: Contemporary Art Review, special edition, 70-91. https://issuu.com/arthabens/docs/biennial.ed.xxvi/70