"I am a practising Nichiren Daishonin Buddhist and believe in the eternity of life"

Clem so discusses the Buddhist background to the nature of his work. Read full article here

"Capturing the ghosts of my ancestors"

Clem So reconnects with his Chinese heritage, painting the ancestors he has never had the chance to meet.

They say to write is to express, to paint is to release. If that is the case, then Clem So's work must surely be a powerful release of the anguished ghosts and demons  that have plagued him throughout his life.

So, born and raised in Liverpool in the 1960s, after his parents came over from China, depicts the ancestors he has never known in his latest collection of work Portraits of the Afterlife; tracing the intangible.'

It is a powerful and moving collection, and has been met with considerable acclaim after its showcase in Totnes, Devon, reducing some of the audience to tears.  But to depict the ancestors you have never known must be almost an ephemeral task - for how indeed do you trace the intangible? How do you capture the essence of someone you have never met?

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE AND INTERVIEW HERE