Known for his works with oil to create kinetic paintings in an exploration of the human figure, Simon Birch (www.simon-birch.com) has shown at major art galleries around the world. He is the winner of Louis Vuitton Asian Art Prize in 2007 and the Sovereign Prize Manfred Schoeni Award in 2004. Over 18 years ago, Simon started his career as a construction worker at the Tsing Ma Bridge, while developing his career as an artist outside of work. Despite failing to sell a single work for 5 years, it was Simon’s passion and persistence that got him where he is today – working on an enormous project in New York, making the biggest art projects in Hong Kong history, and having his works valued at a few hundred thousand dollars from just a few thousand when he started (not that scale and money is an indicate of success but hey, it’s a start). Simon Birch is a UK-born artist who is a permanent resident of Hong Kong. He has had solo shows in Beijing, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Miami, and Singapore, as well as exhibiting in group shows at the Hong Kong Museum of Art (2008), the Haunch of Venison, London, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, in 2011. Working with oil on canvas, Birch has also ventured into film and installation work culminating in some particularly notable large-scale projects, including the 20,000 square feet multimedia installations HOPE & GLORY: A Conceptual Circus (2010) and Daydreaming With…The Hong Kong Edition (2012) at the ArtisTree, TaiKoo Place, Hong Kong. These large multimedia projects integrated paintings with film, installation, sculpture, and performance housed in specifically configured spaces. Birch’s work has been featured and reviewed in many international publications, including Artforum, The Guardian, The International Herald Tribune, and The New York Times. Simon is one of Hong Kong’s most well known and vocal member of the Art community. He frequently speaks on issues artists face in Hong Kong: lack of venue space, government support, and the excessive amount of red tape artists have to jump through to get project approval. The next project that Simon is working on is called The 14th Factory, a 250,000 square feet installation in NYC.