Before opening his famous high-end Chinese restaurant called Mr. Chow, he struggled as a painter in London for many years. He designed many architectural projects, including all of his restaurants, the Giorgio Armani boutiques in Beverly Hills and Las Vegas. Michael Chow returned to painting in 2011, and in 2012, he started working with precious metals - welding and sculpting them into paintings juxtaposed with trash. For Chow, the act of painting is an internal desire to channel the chaos and harmony of nature in order to achieve clarity.
Previous exhibitions held at locations include: Young Contemporaries (1957), R.B.A. Galleries, London; One-Man Exhibition (1958), New Vision Centre Gallery, London; Three Contemporary Chinese Painters (1958), A.I.A., London; Artists of Fame and Promise (1958), Leicester Galleries, London; Summer Exhibition (1958), Redfern Gallery, London; One-Man Exhibition (1962), Lincoln Gallery, London; Three-Man Show (1964), ICA Gallery, London. His works are in numerous private collections as well as the Museum of Modern Art, New York (MOMA).
2014
PAINTING COLLAGE – MIXED MEDIA: HOUSEHOLD PAINT WITH PRECIOUS METALS & TRASH
THE EAST WEST BANK COLLECTION
96 X 72 IN
BEVERLY HILLS COMMERCIAL BANKING CENTER, CALIFORNIA
Created with a combination of techniques, including thrown paint, collaging, burning and splattering, the works are an exercise in what Mr. Chow calls "controlled accident." Comparing a collage to his own life, Mr. Chow has said that, "In collaging, you can put things together that shouldn't be together, and that's my life."
The materials used include egg yolks preserved in resin, discarded rags, bubble wrapping, gold and silver sheets, sponges, and other found materials. From a distance, the thickness created by the materials make the painting look like an aerial topographical view of a landscape. Up close, the painting is a dramatic and expressionistic work that combines drips of paint with an incongruent mixture of materials with a rich sculptural character.
