Wesley Tongson

Tongson, with his family's roots in Zhongshan, Guangdong Province, was born in Hong Kong in 1957.

He was 15 when he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, a condition that, together with a fervent commitment to Zen philosophy, shaped his bold artistic vision and his life.

At 17, while still a student at Hong Kong International School (HKIS), Tongson commenced to paint formally, at first in a manner inspired by the Chinese literati style, wenren hua.

Following graduation from HKIS in 1977, Tongson moved to Toronto, Canada, where he studied Western painting at Ontario College of Art and Chinese brush painting with the renowned Madame Gu Qingyao (1896-1978).

It was at this time that Tongson also began to explore and to teach himself splash ink painting, a technique which originated in 8^th century China and was exemplified by the work of Zhang Daqian in the 20^th century - and for which, eventually, Tongson would himself become best known.

Tongson returned home to Hong Kong in 1981, where he continued his studies with Harold Wong (Huang Zhongfang, b. 1943), the distinguished collector, connoisseur and painter. In the ensuing decade, Tongson continued to explore the creative possibilities of splash ink painting and began to draw on his Western and Eastern influences for the creation of highly original contemporary works. During the latter half of the 1980s these early works were shown in several solo exhibitions and in the 1988 group show, "Modern Chinese Paintings by Five Artists," at Hong Kong's City Hall.

Throughout his career, Tongson considered landscape painting to be the most difficult and highest accomplishment of Chinese art and devoted most of his energies to mastering the form, in particular mountainscapes. Indeed, in the 1990s, he often referred to himself as "Mountainscape Teacher" (Shandou Laoshi) and, in his later years, signed his paintings as "Mountain Taoist" (Shandou Daoren). Tongson also excelled in painting bamboo, plum blossoms, lotus, orchids, and pines, and was a highly accomplished calligrapher too.

Throughout the 1990s and into the new millennium, Tongson intensified his commitment to splash ink painting. His spiritual journey towards Zen-based enlightenment was by this time inseparable from his artistic explorations - transcending the conventional bounds of landscape painting was akin to transcending one's self. Tongson referred to his works during this period as Mountains of Heaven Zen paintings, and attributed their remarkable, meditative imagery to a pure state of mind, describing them as flowing from a world beyond and, emanating from, the artist's heart.

At the same time, Tongson continued to be inspired by Western art. Indeed, the strong colours in his work may have been directly influenced by his studies of Western art. In particular he admired cubism for the way in which it brought volume into painting, and among Western painters he clearly favoured Picasso, whose creativity he revered.

Tongson's work was shown to acclaim at solo exhibitions in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and the United States throughout the 1990s and at the group shows "New Trends - Art Hong Kong" in 1994 and "Art Asia" in 1995.

Tongson continued to form his own style of Chinese landscape art and to break from the traditional forms of Chinese landscape painting. From the late 1990s onwards, he explored ways of integrating his splash ink methods with traditional Chinese brushstroke techniques. Beginning in 2001, he also started to experiment with finger painting. By 2009, he had virtually ceased using brushes, working primarily with his fingers, hands and nails to create emotionally communicative and powerful pieces, a hallmark of his mature period.

Throughout his all-too-brief, intensely experienced life, Tongson was challenged by schizophrenia, countering this condition through his art. This constant creative tension, a source of true happiness for him, left us with a unique artistic legacy that realized a tranquil, enlightened, unspoiled natural world in stark contrast to the private, difficult world in which he lived. His work is in collections including the Hong Kong Museum of Art, M+ Museum for Visual Culture and MK Lau Collection in Hong Kong, USC Pacific Asia Museum in United States as well as numerous public and private collections worldwide. 

Tongson left this world on 16^th July, 2012.