Local artist Harold Wong believes most people today look for instant gratification in art.
He says that's a Western concept which doesn't apply to Chinese art.
'The essence of Chinese painting is that it needs to be looked at carefully and time has to be taken to appreciate all its subtle qualities,' says Harold, who was born in Shanghai but moved to Hong Kong with his parents when he was five years old.
Although he worked in various industries including trading and manufacturing companies, he found his true metier as a painter, and began painting full-time eight years ago at the age of 47.
Today his paintings - mainly landscapes done in traditional Chinese black ink - grace the private collections of a slew of high-profile people in Hong Kong and abroad, including Nora Fok, Vincent Lo, George and Mary Bloch, Sir John Swire and Jack Wadsworth.
