Ming Ma: The Artist Upstairs

“I appreciate different faces. People’s faces are emblems of our ever-changing society, and I like to add my own imagination and creativity to their appearance, recreating or rearranging, both the familiar and unfamiliar, in which you may find a part of yourself in each person.” - Ming Ma

Romantica
2015, Pen on paper,
 21 x 15 cm 
(The cover work of Yon Fan’s
recent publication Romantica)    

Heart to Heart
2012, Oil on paper, 47 x 35 cm

Sotheby’s Hong Kong Gallery will present the selling exhibition Ming Ma: The Artist Upstairs from 25 August to 2 September 2016. While Ming works with a variety of mediums, this exhibition will highlight more than 50 portraits and illustrations. The artist thrives on the expression, in an abstract and minimal style, of the fine details of beauty and despair in our society, and is renowned for the exaggerated and unusual character profiles in his portraits.

A long-time illustrator for filmmaker Yon Fan’s publications and his magazine column, The Artist Upstairs, Ming Ma’s collaborations with the filmmaker emphasise a particular scene and moment in time with Yon’s poetic inscriptions completing each work as a unique backdrop. Ming’s distinctive use of colour and line in his portraits add another dynamic to the compelling compositions of each figure portrayed.

Jasmine Yan, Gallery Director, Sotheby’s Hong Kong Gallery, says, “Ming Ma is a home-grown Hong Kong artist who skilfully applies the unusual combination of oil on paper as core material. His compositions are often composed of deep shades of primary colour bringing a sense of solitude to the viewer. Both his earlier oil on paper pieces and more recent pen on paper works follow this rare and unconventional style. This summer, Sotheby's Hong Kong Gallery is delighted to present a selection of Ming Ma's recent works. Our audiences are invited to experience the artist’s emotions and imagination towards his subjects, scenes or moments in time. The exhibition will also feature a series of his illustration works with Yon Fan’s inscriptions, which further enhance the creative backdrop of the works and present a dialogue between the two artists.”

ABOUT MING MA
Born in Hong Kong in 1959, Ming Ma graduated from design school before embarking upon his professional career in the creative industry. The artist branched into photography, interior design and art direction for film prior to opening his famed ceramics studio ‘M’s Ma’ in Hong Kong, after which he dedicated himself wholeheartedly into painting. A major illustration artist for renowned filmmaker Yon Fan, the artist has illustrated nearly all his publications, including the recently released Romantica, as well as his early work series The Artist Upstairs. Ming Ma has participated in numerous museum-scale group exhibitions, as well as a solo exhibition, Ming Ma Ceramics, Hong Kong Ceramics in Taipei, at Taipei 101 in 2004.

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Photos from Sotheby's Hong Kong.