Born in 1974 in Singapore, Max Kong graduated from RMIT University, Australia with a degree in Fine Arts and a Masters of Fine Arts degree from LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore. Highly acclaimed for his process and innovation, he is a recipient of many awards including the Platinum Award of the 28th UOB Painting of the Year Competition and Certificate of Distinction from Philippe Charriol Foundation. Max's works have been featured in international art fairs in Singapore, Korea and Japan and are part of prominent private and public collections including the Singapore Art Museum and K.K. Women and Children's Hospital. Over the last 15 years, the artist has exhibited his works extensively in Singapore, Korea, Japan, Thailand, China and New York.
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The Art of Max Kong - Dr. Sian E. Jay, Art Critic 
 
Max is one of Singapore's fastest emerging artists, his work popping up in the most unexpected places - probably because his work 'speaks' to so many people on so many levels. Ironically Max is not altogether interested in the finished product, working instead from the premise that it is of greater relevance to focus on "How to Paint" instead of "What to Paint". And the painting technique is indeed unusual.

Using a series of customized tools and painting media, Max embarks on the creation of abstract imagery that is quickly and almost subconsciously executed. It is his fascination with his process that has led to him embarking on his ongoing exploration of "how to paint" using process-oriented tools.

In many ways it could be argued that the methodology employed by the artist, is induced by the fast-paced society in which he lives - it reflects the way he responds to the world around him. His works are purely spontaneous, unplanned. They are the outcome of dragging and overlapping paint media across a surface using one of his customized tools. The resulting canvas invariably leaves the 'scars' of the process as evidence of 'how' it was painted. The results are remarkably open, leaving the viewer to deconstruct and decode the artist's method.

Working as a full time artist, spending weeks on end in his studio, Max finds that the continuous process of painting influences and informs the way he works - series after series of imagery emerges, always different, always evolving. His process of working challenges the paradigms of conventional painting through his exploration of alternative methodologies and materials. The process inevitably introduces elements of chance as the surfaces that become the paintings emerge.

One of his favorite media is cement; he took his inspiration from the cement screeds used on the walls of architecture. What is so startling about the cement paintings is the way they convey a sense of movement and fluidity, and have continued to inspire the artist. When working with cement, Max confesses that the material dominates the process through the creation of rhythm and spontaneity as he applies cement to the surface of the canvas. It is the material and process that define the final aesthetics.

If the form and outline of the painting is the result of unconscious process, the finish is very much one of conscious control. He applies hundreds of white dots to the surface as a rational, almost mathematical process. Placed in ordered, regular intervals across the surface of the image, the final painting emerges, the artist creates regularity and order to an otherwise chaotic process.

2012                 
Notion of Light, Gallery Shimada, Kobe, Japan 

2011                 
Circle of Light, +case Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
35° of Light, Art-2 Gallery, Singapore
Rising Sun, Gallery Edel, Takarazuka, Japan 

2010                 
Max Kong Solo Exhibition at Gallery Edel, Gallery Edel, Takarazuka, Japan 

2009                 
One Day Forest, Tanglin Camp, Singapore
A Solo Exhibition by Max Kong, Galerie Dauphin, Singapore
Max Kong Solo Exhibition, Ishida Teisensha Hall, Kyoto, Japan 

2008                 
Rain, Studio Miu Window Gallery, Singapore 

2007                 
Systematic Inspired Paintings, Studio Miu Window Gallery, L’escalier Artist’s loft, Singapore 

2006                 
Max Kong Solo Exhibition, Ode to Art Gallery, Singapore
Enigmatic Inspired Paintings, Studio Miu Window Gallery, Singapore 

2005                 
Max Kong Solo Exhibition, Sentosa Artist Village Gallery, Singapore

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