Obispo Plaza in Havana Painting

BIOGRAPHY Mason Mansung Kang was born and grown up in the Republic of Korea (South Korea). He obtained a BS Degree in Chemistry Education from Seoul National University in 1975. Mason worked for petroleum/ oil & gas/ construction industries until he retired in 2012 after 35 years of service. Learning to paint has been his biggest dream since he was young. As an amateur painter, he acquired six group exhibitions and two solo exhibitions by 2013 in Korea. He was finally able to pursue his passion after retirement by studying at the Graduate School of the Academy of Art University, San Francisco, USA from Feb 2014 until he obtained MFA in Painting in Aug 2016. He likes scenes of nature with harmonious light and shadows, especially in the sunny weather in California. Because of joining the fine art Study Abroad program to Florence, Italy in 2015, he also gained plenty of experience with plein air painting there as well. He recently won 1st, 3rd and the ‘Body of Work’ prize under MFA Landscape/Cityscape Category in the 2016 Spring Show at the Academy of Art University, notably by his painting, ‘On the Hill’, he was selected as the ‘Winner Emerging Artist’ of the ARTMUSE Contest in 2016, and also selected as the Painter for the Online Gallery of the Leisure Painter Magazine in the issue of August 2016. He sincerely hopes his works can ultimately present viewers with a sublime sense of warmth, happiness, and contentment.