HO KAN (HUO GANG, TAIWAN, B. 1932)

Ho Kan's early work is influenced by Surrealism in its thought and composition, as the artist used pure dots, lines and circles to build up the composition. The painting style has a distinctly philosophical resonance, and hints at the exploration of the mysteries of the cosmos. From the mid-1960 onwards, his work gravitated towards rational geometric abstraction, as it illuminated the evolution of a unique artistic language. In Untitled, which was painted in 1965 (Lot 334), blocks of blue of varying shades fills the entire canvas, while an orange geometric shape appears in the middle of the composition. In Untitled from 1999 (Lot 335), the composition is comprised by bright red and black. Both works employ sharp, contrasting colours on the plane for the creation of space. As for the three works executed in the 1970s (Lots 331, 332 and 333), they feature large blocks or black or dark blue as the main tone, accentuated by bright colour blocks with strong symbolic overtones, which instills in the work an ethereal touch and a geometric playfulness.