Originally trained in ink painting and calligraphy in the studio of seminal New Ink Painting master Lui Shou Kwan, Frog King was encouraged by his teacher to take flight with his energetic and performative style and break from tradition. Frog King is one of the earliest Chinese contemporary artists to explore the use of ink painting as a conceptual tool, incorporating it as both action and material into multiple-media installations, performances, happenings and assembled environments incorporating discards and everyday objects. Through his practice Frog King drifts between Chinese and Western cultures by combining chinese calligraphy with Latin writing which, he terms “sandwich font” or by bold splashes of paint used with both a performative and taoist intention. He finishes his works by embossing a multitude of red ink Chinese chops that he has created himself. Kwok Mang-ho moved to the East Village in New York in the 1980s where the Frog King persona burst forth. He says, “During the 80s in New York, the artists Keith Haring, Basquiat (samo), Warhol and others all has big identities so I decided to become Frog King”. He opened the Kwok gallery as an experimental incubator for himself and other artists and worked also making original fashions, objects and jewellry. No doubt inspiring him for his future costuming and encoutrements.