SIMON LOK

About this artist

Born and raised in Guangzhou, China, Simon Lok (Saiping Lok) developed an interest in art when he was a teenager. He learned drawing and painting when he was in his early twenties through tutoring. He took the five-day entry exams that includes drawing, painting, story boarding ,Chinese literature and art history for a prestigious art school in his home town three times but failed all three times. Art schools and universities in China at the time did not accept any applicants over the age of 25, so when Lok reached his age limit, he moved to America in 1982 to pursue his art career. He enrolled in Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and Cal State Long Beach and studied illustration during the late 80s and early 90s.

Simon Lok was hired as a visual development artist by Disney Feature Animation in 1993. His work involved designing the mood and look of several feature films such as Planes, The Princess and the Frog, Bolt, Brother Bear and Mulan, among others. It was by working at Disney that his prowess began to shine. By immersing himself in a highly competitive yet friendly environment, he not only learned many useful design principles from his peers, but he also actively joined many landscape painting activities of California Art Club (CAC) and workshops taught by well-known artists in the nation in his free time to improve his painting skills even more. He applied his greater understanding of light and color to his works, which were largely admired by his peers.

After a successful career spanning over two decades in animation, Lok turned his attention to easel painting. He began venturing into figure painting, which quickly became one of his favorite subjects in addition to landscape painting. It is the staging of figures in a landscape setting that fascinates him.

Simon Lok is a signature member of CAC. He received the Best Painting award for Flower Girl and the Artist Choice award for Summer Desert in 2020 at the Slopoke Fine Art of the West show . He is the recipient of the first-place award for landscape in the CAC Gold Medal Exhibition in 2012 and the Museum Purchase award of Bowers Museum Landscape Painting Competition in 2004.