This month the gallery will be ablaze with colour as Ronnie Ford returns to Hong Kong for an exhilarating exhibition of new works.
It is now just over two years since Ronnie Ford left his post as Head of the Art Department at Sha Tin College in the New Territories to devote his time to his career as a full-time artist. Within months of establishing his studio in Dunoon in Scotland, he had exhibited in some of Scotland’s top galleries and his artistic career took off from there.
'Capturing the Spirit' presents the countryside around the artist's second home in France, an area resplendent with dazzling sunflowers, heady lavender and flowing vineyards. Also on show are Ford's visions of the Scottish landscape that surrounds his studio. Visitors to the show will be treated to a peek at this new landscape – the mist and mountains, lochs, glens and gardens of Argyll – all executed in Ford’s unique signature style of highly textured and vividly coloured canvases.
Ford's uniquely textured canvases have evolved from his studies of sculpture and optical art. His time in the Far East also encouraged him to challenge Western perspectives and to explore the Chinese idea of taking a journey through the landscape. Ford focuses on capturing the spirit of the landscape, which was the goal of the Chinese masters who believed that anyone can copy a person or a landscape but only a true master can catch its spirit! The results are powerful and seductive works of art that celebrate life and nature.
Ronnie Ford has had numerous successful solo exhibitions in Europe and Asia. Since returning to his native Scotland in 2003, his work has been exhibited widely and he is fast becoming a sought after name in the art world. In the past year alone Ford has had six sell-out solo exhibitions in London and around Scotland and has exhibited at three of the most reputable art fairs in London, namely Chelsea Art Fair, Art London and the Affordable Art Fair. Ford was also commissioned to paint four large pieces for the new wing of Cotswold House Hotel which was opened by style guru, Sir Terence Conran in April 2005. His last Hong Kong exhibition in 2003 was the central feature of the number one Canto Pop star Sammie Cheng's MTV video. Ford regularly supports charities, among them the Esther Benjamins Trust, POWER4 Limbs, the Society for Aids Care in Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Charity Auction, by donating artworks for auction.
