Art N Beyond - Artists

Master Wan Ko Yee immigrated to the United States from China and is a master of art of outstanding international fame. During the thousands of years of art history, never has anyone made such magnificent achievements as Master Wan Ko Yee. A pioneer in fields such as Chinese painting, Western oil painting, representational painting, abstract painting, impressionistic painting, the art of applying colors to portray realistic rock texture and rock grains, as well as sculpture, frame art, and calligraphy, he has reached the summit of which others can only dream. He has also reached the pinnacle of world-class achievement in the fields of religion, cosmology, philosophy, science, literature, poetry, etc.

As early as 1991, the Master was awarded the title of “Master of Oriental Art.” The representative presenting the award highly praised the Master when he said, “Professor Wan Ko Yee restores the 5,000 year old intrinsic culture of China.” In 1994, the 5,612 experts and scholars representing forty-eight countries and regions at the “World Poets and Culture Congress” unanimously named Master Wan Ko Yee as a “Distinguished International Master.” The certificate was signed and issued by Juan Antonio Samaranch, the then President of the International Olympic Committee.

In September of 1999, the Master was conferred a Ph.D. in Buddhism, Philosophy, Art, Calligraphy and Painting by the American League of Colleges and Universities. Moreover, Master Wan Ko Yee is the only artist awarded the position of “Fellow” by the Royal Academy of Arts in the United Kingdom in the Academy’s over two hundred year history.

In the beginning of the 21st Century, Master Wan Ko Yee created “Yun sculpture,” which amazed the world of art. The birth of “Yun sculpture” raised art to an astonishingly new height. During the thousands of years of human civilization, no one else’s sculpture actually surpassed the delicate and wonderful beauty of natural stones. Only Yun sculpture art created by Master Wan Ko Yee surpasses the natural world and its beauty! No precious stone in this world can compare with the beauty, mystery, majesty, and resplendence of Yun sculptures. Inside the Yun sculptures entitled “Boulder With Mist” and “Wonder of a Mysterious Cave,” there are grottoes that contain constantly lingering auspicious mist. For the first time in human history, mist has been created through carving skills. It is truly unprecedented! Furthermore, attempts by countless artists have proven that Yun sculptures cannot be replicated! This is a miracle in the history of sculpture!

The mystery and matchless beauty of Yun sculpture have shaken the world. The Organization of American States (OAS), composed of 34 countries including the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, sponsored the “Master Wan Ko Yee Yun Sculpture Exhibition” in 2003 at the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. Ambassadors from various countries who attended that exhibition highly praised Master Wan Ko Yee as having made a great contribution to art in the world. They marveled at the Yun sculptures they saw, uttering words of admiration such as, “They are enrapturing, unique masterpieces!”

On October 28th and 29th, 2003, the U.S. Congress held an art exhibition for the first time in its history. It was called “Exhibition of Yun Sculpture Art Originated by Master Wan Ko Yee for the Benefit of Mankind” and took place at the Gold Room of the Congressional House Office Building. A continuous stream of visitors came to the exhibition. Hundreds of them wrote down their sincere impressions in guest books. The congressmen who attended were so excited that they gave forth spontaneous speeches of praise and admiration. Some people came to the exhibition three or four times in one day. Many people praised the Master’s Yun sculptures as “treasures from heaven”!

The Chinese paintings of Master Wan Ko Yee stand on the summit of the history of that genre of painting. Whether Western or Eastern, no artist in history is comparable to Master Yee. He is able to paint landscapes, flowers, birds, fish, insects, animals, and human figures as well as intriguing abstract compositions. His techniques include heavy coloring, light touch, fine and detailed brushwork, freehand brushwork, large format composition, splash-ink, and oil painting. He has reached the highest level in all of these areas. The Master has learned from the strong points of both ancient and modern masters of Chinese painting, merging what he has learned to create transcendent artwork. He has formed his own style, which has reached the acme of perfection and naturalness in both technique and artistic conception. They mark the apex of the history of Chinese painting.

The original paintings of the Master entitled “Majesty” and “Venerable Da Li Wang” were sold for US$2,125,327 and US$2,207,912, respectively, at international auctions. They not only became the highest priced paintings by any living artist in the Pacific region and Southeast Asia, but also broke the records for the highest priced Chinese paintings sold through auction.

Master Wan Ko Yee is also an outstanding man of letters. He has composed a great amount of poetry using the classical Chinese forms of shi, ci, ge and fu. He has also written many books and discourses. His writing style is elegant and classical, varying and evolving without limit. When read aloud in Chinese, his written words sound melodic, like gold knocking on jade, and when chanted flow naturally and smoothly, like floating clouds or a running stream.

The Master’s calligraphy has transcended all traces of worldliness. His calligraphic style is elevated and expresses a broad perspective. Sometimes he uses swift movements of the brush. In an instant, he may convey the innocent charm of a child. There is wonder in his seemingly normal strokes. His calligraphy is naturally graceful, exhibiting depth and brilliance. All Chinese people know of the great calligrapher Xi-Zhi Wang. They know of Shao-Ji He and Huai-Guan Zhang, who excelled at the rapid, cursive style of writing. There was also Yue Fei. In modern times, there have been Shu-Tong Li and You-Ren Yu, who can be called the finest calligraphers. However, the Master’s calligraphic style incorporates the strengths of all of the various schools and has reached the level of consummate skill. After one has personally viewed the Master’s calligraphy and compared the Master’s calligraphy to the calligraphy of those great calligraphers just mentioned, one will know who sets the example for others!

Employing his superlative oil painting artistry, the Master has created “supernatural abstract colors.” He has thereby again opened up a new world of art that is beautiful, mysterious, and soul-inspiring! You will find the bright and dazzling colors leaping and dancing, vigorous like towering waves surging over thousands of miles, yet stored up into wonders at the fine tip of a brush. They freely transcend worldliness. Various colors are mixed ingeniously and beautifully, distilling beauty from their mutual nourishment. Their many forms and meanings are like a golden dragon breaking away from the earth’s crust and soaring in the azure sky above the blue sea, free at will, unbridled and unrestrained, all worldly dust whisked away, ever changing, and beautiful beyond compare! This form of art most embodies the essence of Western abstract painting.

The frames and jade-like plates created by Master Wan Ko Yee can be described as “embodying the essence of Nature yet surpassing the craftsmanship of Nature.” The frames of the Master cannot be limited to the concept of frames. They also are a particular kind of extremely exquisite and precious art. They vividly reproduce the superlative craftsmanship seen in the creation of everything in Nature yet embody what is refined rather than coarse, amplifying the ephemeral or unostentatious beauty of precious natural beings in life to the perfect zenith of art.

The Master uses his painting brush to create imitation jade-plates, which are unique and amazing treasures in the history of mankind. The Master’s imitation green jade, white-jade, and red coral all look real and vivid in their textures, luster, colors, patterns, grains, and shapes. Yet, they are so far superior in their exquisite, flawless and gorgeous beauty that the natural treasures cannot be their equal. Every piece is the most revered art of the highest caliber. They manifest a level of artistry that people have always been yearning for yet could not attain in the history of art!

The appearance of the Master’s uniquely beautiful, unfathomably mysterious, and holy works of art have shattered mankind’s long-held understanding of artistic creations. Such works of art have opened up a new and miraculous page in the history of aesthetics! Master Yee has thereby brought artistic happiness to mankind. The astonishing beauty of his artistic creations stirs our souls. However, we are not surprised that they resulted from the sculpting and painting skills of the Master. That is because we deeply understand that Master Wan Ko Yee’s artistic talent is as vast and infinite as the open sea. His mysterious artistic masterpieces are the natural crystallization of his various astonishing talents and the natural outflow of his limitless Buddha-dharma wisdom.

The Master is a Great Dharma King of Buddhism. It is difficult to find another person in this world who has succeeded in gaining the high state of virtue and realization that the Master has attained. Many world-renowned monastics, virtuous laypersons, and accomplished practitioners of prajna wisdom have formally acknowledged him as their master. During May of 2000, an international Buddhist assembly was held entitled “Symposium to Distinguish Correct and Erroneous Buddhism, Buddhist Studies, and Buddha-Dharma.” That assembly was attended by more than 2,000 eminent monastics and virtuous people representing 28 countries and regions and 416 temples and Buddhist organizations. After long investigation and discussion, the attendees unanimously selected Master Wan Ko Yee as “the world’s only authentic Buddhist Master”!

It is precisely due to his unfathomable Buddha-dharma realization that the Master has acquired erudition and penetrating understanding of the laws that govern the growth and change of everything in the universe. He has thereby attained the highest achievements in various fields, such as religion, literature, philosophy, painting, calligraphy, sculpture, and application of color. No one in history can match such achievements! The Master truly deserves to be called a master artist the likes of which have never been seen in history! Because of this, today we can stroll in this inexhaustibly profound, rare, and beautiful world of art and enjoy one after another ingenious work that retains Nature’s spirit and form but transcends its superlative craftsmanship.