“Great painters must create masterpieces in order to be remembered by society and by history. They can’t just make ordinary paintings, and definitely should not waste their whole life on painting for commercial sales.“  – Yim Mau-Kun

“Realism is not about replication. It does not try to faithfully capture the subject like a camera. It is a process of extraction and distillation that requires creativity and tremendous skill.“  – Yim Mau-Kun

“Plein-air landscape painting is a process where natural (objective) beauty inosculate with artistic (subjective) beauty.  Natural beauty emphasizes “feeling” while artistic beauty focuses on “gusto,” or “fun.” If you concentrate on pursuing photo realism, then painting becomes a chore rather than pleasure.“  – Yim Mau-Kun

“I like painting people and have always preferred painting portraits from life as it is like conversing with life.  After all, is there anything more exciting and sophisticated than life itself?  Is not the ultimate expression of art the human form itself?”  – Yim Mau-Kun

“The beauty of a painting lies in the composition, the artist image, the ambiance, the colors and skillful use of brushstrokes.”  – Yim Mau-Kun

A Discussion on Oil Painting Color

A Discussion on Oil Painting Color

by | Sep 23, 2017 | | 1 Comment

As we're in the initial stage of planning for a book on oil painting, I came across correspondence with an American artist friend via e-mails through translation by my daughter Iris.  The conversation reveals some fundamental differences in the concepts of colors, how...

On Art Diversification and Representational Art

by | Dec 28, 2016 | | 1 Comment

Note: This is originally published in the second edition of the artist’s drawing book “Drawing by Mau-Kun Yim” in 2000. Since the publication of the first edition of my drawing collection in 1993, I have received many inquiries about a new edition. After many years of...

Charcoal Drawing Demonstration

by | Dec 28, 2016 | | 0 Comments

Mau-Kun Yim and Nitram Charcoal teamed up again on this demonstration video of charcoal drawing, showcasing how the artist used a full range of Nitram Charcoal’s products to create this portrait.