Catholic artist blends ancient East, West

Ken Woo answers questions from art lovers who gather on the evening of Feb 17 at the FORUM Arlington in Virginia to learn about Woo's projects and personal stories. Woo gained a reputation through his icon art work at Our Savior Church in New York. YUAN YUAN / FOR CHINA DAILY

After that, he decided to go back to China and entered the Central Academy of Art in Beijing to learn mural painting. Having left China at a very young age, he really didn't know much about the culture, he said.

To explore his roots, he retraced his great-grandfather's footsteps. "He was an orphan. He ran away from his host family and became a Buddhist monk," Woo said. "He travelled some of the Silk Road from the west to China to Shanghai."

Woo also visited some of the cities along the Silk Road, including Dunhuang, a city in China's northwestern Gansu Province that used to be a frontier garrison on the Silk Road.

Dunhuang is known today for the Mogao Caves, which are noted for their Buddhist murals.

A Catholic himself, Woo found a common thread in Christian and Buddhist art. "They're actually quite similar: The whole idea is to give an image of heaven. It's not necessarily to represent reality, it's to symbolize something that's in heaven and something that we can look forward to. In that sense, Catholicism and Buddhism are similar," he said.

Ultimately, he hopes to convey beauty, truth and goodness through his work, but mainly beauty. "It is a very important aspect of being human to enjoy beautiful art and to understand the history of art and culture; it's a part of our nature," he said.

And he is not concerned about how he should "fit in" to modern society. "Every painting of mine is a self-portrait or an autobiography," he said.

FORUM Arlington was started in October 2015 to engage the community through cultural events including regular concerts, lectures, dance nights, film nights, and exhibitions.

Yuan Yuan in Washington contributed to the story.