Raymond Chow, internationally renowned artist is currently exhibiting 10 pieces of his artwork, including four original paintings on canvases: 3 Kirkland Statues, 3 Boys on Shore, Golf Balls in Kirkland and Mothers Help, at the Carlton Inn at Totem Lake located at 12233 N.E. Totem Lake Parkway, Kirkland.

Chow has been actively drawing and painting the west coast of North America and Canada for over 58 years. He has travelled, drawn and painted many areas, including Kirkland, Seattle, London, Vancouver and China.

Chow is often compared to the great Spanish artist, Picasso. A booklet has been produced by Chow of one side Picasso painting, the other a Chow, and the similarities are uncanny. Their subjects and approaches to experimentation and spontaneity are so similar.

Chow has ventured into abstractionism with his interest of the Grand Piano. Chow plays and composes original piano pieces on one of his three grand pianos. One piano is a 1950 Broadwoods, 7-foot grand, another is the 7-foot Heintzman and the last a jaded decorated piano from Beijing, China.

The artist paints in series as Picasso did.  Chow started with a Green Women series on a white, then began a red series of women on black, a clock series of women sleeping on grandfather clocks and the latest a computer series with representationalism.

His drawings of cities stretched over 55 years and he draws on site. He accepts commissions and has painted several Canadian and American celebrities as Paul Anka, Clint Eastwood, Sonny and Cher, Gordon Lightfoot, Mike and the Mechanics children in France, the Queens Hatter Long, the Princess of Yugoslavia, and his daughter, Lisa who he painted in a series of 40 paintings over a period of 16 years.

When Chow became a single parent, he painted a series of eight women over a period of eight years all wearing the same white dress in a collection of 40 acrylic paintings on canvas, in search of a new love. The butterfly series came recently before the Computer series with attached butterflies to the canvas.

Chow has drawn Seattle 180 degrees, Vancouver 360 degrees and has produced books on his paintings and drawings. He lives in a converted warehouse in Richmond, B.C. with his partner Cate along with his three old collector autos, three collector grand pianos. He has also written over 800 original piano melodies, waiting publication.

Chow wrote eight stories ready to be produced into film. His latest is called “Key to the Red Chamber.”

Chow is related to Cho Cho, who united the three kingdoms, which is present day China. Cho Xuquin wrote the great 18th century novel: “Dream of the Red Chamber in China,” which is about the unifications of the three kingdoms in China.

Chow paints in acrylics and reproduces his art onto canvas and polyester with the archival ink gilcee process of spray jet. He has small and large editions available. For information, visit www.raymondchow.com.