Yao Kui
Born in Shanxi Province, P. R. China,
Mr. Kui Yao graduated from the Central Academy of Arts and Design in
Beijing in 1962, majoring in murals- Two years later, he was
commissioned to design and create for the Exhibition Hall in Guilin City
a large-scale mural of mosaic porcelain entitled Song of Guilin
Mountains and Rivers. In 1979, Mr. Yao was invited to join the
prestigious Association of the Chinese Artists. During the next 10
years, he held the positions of Director of Creative Department and of
Associate Editor-in-chief in People's Publishing House of Fine Arts of
China. In the same period. he also published his own album of Kui Yao's
Paintings and was the managing editor of the art series: A Classified
Collection of the Chinese Paintings.
Mr. Yao immigrated to Canada in 1990,
first living in Montreal. He won prizes for his paintings in Collection
of Overseas Chinese Artists published in Beijing in 1998. He also
received Global Chinese
Cultural Heritage Prize in Taipei in
the same year. His works have been on display and collected in art
galleries and art shows in many parts of the world, including Japan, the
United States, England, Denmark. Canada, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan.
In 2000, his new album. Yao Kui's New Paintings Abroad^ was published.
He moved to Vancouver in 2002 and was elected to be a member of the
board of directors of the Chinese Canadian Artists Federation in
Vancouver. He is currently working on new paintings depicting and
expressing his impressions of the beautiful Vancouver and lower
mainland.
Mr. Yao does not stick exclusively to
the traditional techniques- He has developed his own style, a special
artistic conception based on both traditional and modern forms of
expressions. He represents the world around him with an uncultivated
simplicity. He excels in displaying the beauty of mountains and waters
with lyrical freshness and peaceful joy of life.
