Ben Lau 劉大成 · Lau Tai-shing
Mr. Lau, in my considered opinion, is truly one of the greatest artists of our time, unknown, unsung. — Knox Martin, 1988
Ben Lau is the third son of General Lau Tung Choi, the Commander of the 63rd Chinese Nationalist Army (circa 1948). Both General Lau and Ben's maternal grandfather were accomplished calligraphers.
Ben had no idea that he would become an artist when he went to New York from China. His meeting with the great American master, Knox Martin, in 1976 set Ben up for his artistic career — Martin told him that he was the greatest Oriental artist since Hokusai.
In Ben's works can be found strong calligraphic and poetic elements. Ben believed that the true artist is a mediator between beauty and the material world: the material apples in Cézanne's painting and the material sunflowers in Van Gogh's are transcended to take on a spirituality that cannot decompose and has become timeless. That is the lesson of the mainstream masters, whom Ben believed himself heir to.
Ben was also a prolific writer on art. Beginning in 2006, he published more than eighty essays across two blogs — True Art Blog and The Alpha Seer — teaching readers how to see the metaphor at the heart of a painting, and defending the great masters against what he called the pretenders. Read Ben's writing →
