GLASGOW.- A solo exhibition by acclaimed artist, Hock Aun The - the first student from Asia to graduate from the School’s Drawing and Painting Department, (studying from 1970-1974) opened at The Glasgow School of Art on 1 October 2022. Expanding Traditions, which features new and existing work dating back to the 1970s, runs in the Reid Gallery until 29 October 2022.

‘I would like to dedicate this exhibition to my former school, which nurtured me as a student, as I wish my work to be a new inspiration to all students.’

Hock Aun Teh was born in Malaysia to Chinese parents, he grew up in a remote jungle village of Sungei Gedong, in Perak State, Malaysia, and did not even know where Glasgow was, initially thinking it was in Russia, until he applied for a visa to go there. His original art training in Malaysia focused on English watercolours and the traditional Chinese ink painting of birds, bamboo, flowers, and landscapes with waterfalls.

Quite apart from the inevitable cultural shock he experienced on his arrival here, he found that the art being taught in the West was very different to what he had learned in Malaysia. At that time, the whole Western world was undergoing a transition to video art and performance art, while at home, with the Oriental philosophy of painting as a spiritual commitment, he had been taught to paint from imagination, to paint calligraphically, and to paint fast. Although it was a struggle, he overcame these hurdles, and is now an accomplished and internationally-acclaimed abstract artist.

Teh considers that his work contains four different cultural elements: his bright and strong sense of colour, which is unmistakably tropical; his calligraphic effect, which is Chinese; his materials, which are Western; and his techniques, which are unique and personal to his creative methods. His works are featured in many collections all over the world, including The Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), The Bulgarian National Art Gallery for Foreign Art, and The National Art Gallery of Malaysia. He also holds a Black Belt 6th Dan in Taekwon-Do and is the Grandmaster and Founder of the martial art of Tukido.

Hock Aun Teh now lives and works in Glasgow, but makes regular trips back to South East Asia.