First Impressions

Dec 13, 2018

“I’ve always been drawn more to portraits than any other type of painting. The human face is very complex and changes constantly with moods. When we meet someone, we look at their face to read their emotions and understand their personality.”

Vibrant colours, larger than life canvases and piercing eye contact define artist Kos Cos’ striking portraits, particularly in his Incomplete Totality series. Inspired by historical religious paintings, the collection depicts various women backed by circular halos making viewers focus on their detailed faces even more.

“For many years, artists used circles to distinguish saints from ‘mere mortals’. It became a popular perception that a circle around a head symbolised holiness. With Incomplete Totality I’m trying to challenge this and explore how the addition of a simple circle that has no preconceived symbolism or significance can alter the viewer’s perception of a subject.” says the artist of his work.

Created using thick brush strokes of oil paint, which Cos prefers due to the paint’s colour intensity and versatility, the portraits appear to hold an intangible energy, bursting with life though confined to the canvas.

“My mind is full of faces that I’d like to paint and so I’m constantly looking out for these imaginary faces in real life because I need real people to add soul to my work,” Cos explains.

Though painting since childhood, the Sri Lankan born artist only started exhibiting his work six years ago in his current home base of Hong Kong, which Cos believes is an excellent place for artists thanks to the city’s unique vibe and energy.

“Luckily for me, portraiture is re-emerging as a new trend in the art world. I think it had previously been a dying art with the development of photography. But I’ve never liked doing simple portraits in a traditional way. I tend to start with very sketchy and patchy strokes to get the essential features of the subject and then I use large colour brush strokes to add movement and energy so that the whole piece becomes more engaging with the viewer.”

While his followers now recognise his work through its strong use of colour and bold strokes, Cos is currently working on a new collection of portraits that he says is going to be completely different from previous work.

“I’m very excited about this new direction. It’s still too early to say more about it but I will show my new work in the first half of 2019.”