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| 555 w. 9000 so. (801) 255-3004 Ancestor Square (435) 673-6363 Sandy, Utah St. George, Utah |
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His love of the American landscape, the fog-shrouded coast and all things romantic is
informed and illuminated by his youth and education in China. Born in Shanghai the son of an
art professor at the Art Academy of China, and educated at the People’s Liberation Army Art
Institute in Beijing, Mo was one of the few artists ever honored with shows at both the National
Theater and the National Gallery in Beijing. He only came to the U.S. in 1987 and fell in love
with the beauty of the land. Mo was one of a number of Chinese arts who attracted the
attention of Dave Usher, the late founder of The Greenwich Workshop, who was a pioneer in
gaining exposure for their work in the United States. "The things I see in this country are very
well suited to the kind of painting I like to do," he says. "The realistic landscape in a dreamlike
context." His boats and lighthouses and even trains appear out of a mist, like a vision taking
shape. It gives his work a lyrical, haunting quality that was celebrated in exhibitions both here
and in Asia. Refusing to rest on his laurels, however, he also attended the Pratt Institute’s
School of Art and Design in New York, graduating in 1993 with a Master of Fine Arts. In both
countries, fellow artists never fail to be impressed with his remarkable ability to balance his
image’s subject with the very air and light around it. To his pleasure, he finds many of the
same moods in America that he grew up with in China. "I guess it just goes to show," he says,
"that our similarities are greater than our differences."
informed and illuminated by his youth and education in China. Born in Shanghai the son of an
art professor at the Art Academy of China, and educated at the People’s Liberation Army Art
Institute in Beijing, Mo was one of the few artists ever honored with shows at both the National
Theater and the National Gallery in Beijing. He only came to the U.S. in 1987 and fell in love
with the beauty of the land. Mo was one of a number of Chinese arts who attracted the
attention of Dave Usher, the late founder of The Greenwich Workshop, who was a pioneer in
gaining exposure for their work in the United States. "The things I see in this country are very
well suited to the kind of painting I like to do," he says. "The realistic landscape in a dreamlike
context." His boats and lighthouses and even trains appear out of a mist, like a vision taking
shape. It gives his work a lyrical, haunting quality that was celebrated in exhibitions both here
and in Asia. Refusing to rest on his laurels, however, he also attended the Pratt Institute’s
School of Art and Design in New York, graduating in 1993 with a Master of Fine Arts. In both
countries, fellow artists never fail to be impressed with his remarkable ability to balance his
image’s subject with the very air and light around it. To his pleasure, he finds many of the
same moods in America that he grew up with in China. "I guess it just goes to show," he says,
"that our similarities are greater than our differences."
Mo Dafeng
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Twiggs Moore Gallery
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