Khin Zaw Latt, the rising star of Burmese art, who was recently rated one of the top five new artists in Asia opens an exhibition in Hong Kong on 21st May inspired by the streets of Mandalay.

Now in his early thirties, his work is attracting the attention of serious collectors of modern Burmese art worldwide. Interest increased steadily since his enormously successful Buddha and Moving Forward painting series. His current work reflects the social and environmental changes, which affect the outlook of city people as Myanmar leaps into the 21st century. As with any developing country, urbanization bears the brunt of social change, but is the young who have to make the biggest changes – hence his street children series.

When recently asked about the children, he explains - “It is about the street children who have never had the chance to go to school. I saw so many street children during my last trip to Mandalay. I talked with them, got to know about their difficult lives. Some of them have shining eyes even though they are begging on the street - I keep thinking about their future. What is going to happen to them next...”

About the Artist:

Khin Zaw Latt, a graduate of Yangon's University of Culture majoring in oil painting. He won the Myanmar Contemporary Art Award in 2008, was a finalist in the 2009 Sovereign Asian Art Prize and won the first Myanmar National Portrait Award in 2011. Since then, he has regularly exhibited overseas.

KZL has deep reserves of raw artistic talent and the desire to search for and create new themes and illustrate new subjects. The plight of less fortunate young people is something which really disturbs the artist. He is involved with one of the many orphanages which care for children, who have been left alone due to cyclone Nargis or the conflict in the north of Myanmar.

Image: © Khin Zaw Latt, Asia Fine Art Gallery