Boy Kong
Chi, 2021
acrylic on canvas
72 x 60 x 2.5 inches
$30,000

[info below images]

Inspired by Van Gogh's Starry Night (below L), this painting began as a basic sketch (below R), a request initiated by a client’s suggestion.

Once Boy prepped to make the actual painting, the artwork morphed into a piece about Chi:
In traditional Chinese culture Chi (also called Qi) is believed to be a vital force forming part of any living entity. Chi translates literally as "air" and figuratively as "material energy", "life force", or "energy flow". Chi is the central underlying principle in Chinese traditional medicine and in Chinese martial arts. The practice of cultivating and balancing Chi is called qigong.

As Boy painted the canvas, slow calculated movements were creating a choppy effect, and ultimately led him to - though measured - quick series of brushstrokes, motions and activity which were rooted in instinct and in his own personal energy flow.

In our complex era of instant everything and NFTs, Boy Kong is the artist of the Zen, one who is less interested in trying to forge a new and unexpected path forward into a mind jarring digital age, but rather one who asks us to slow down, take deep breaths, and think about our relationship to nature and everything which has come before us. This is - to me - self evident in Chi.

-Avi Gitler, April 2021