WESLEY TONGSON (1957-2012)

Born in Hong Kong, Wesley Tongson was a celebrated artist known for his innovative techniques in splashed-ink and finger paintings. Infused with teeming energy and compelling creativity, his paintings expressed his Zen spiritual beliefs and served as an escape from his spells of mental fragmentation. Simultaneously a keen student and a bold genius, Tongson studied Western painting at the Ontario College of Art and Chinese brush painting under teachers Madame Gu Qingyao (1896-1978) and Liu Kuo-Sung (b. 1932), all the while exploring experimental styles on his own. Eventually, Wesley Tongson embraced Zhang Daqian’s (1899-1983) imposing splashed-ink technique and developed his distinctive finger and fingernail paintings.