Kyle Ma Featured in 2016
When Southwest Art contacted Kyle Ma in 2016 for the annual “21 Under 31” story, his mother answered the phone. Kyle was at school, she said, a sophomore at an Austin area high school. By all accounts, Ma is one of the youngest artists to appear in the feature. Even then, the budding artist was already attracting attention as the new wunderkind on the art block. The article cast a broader national spotlight on Ma, with him noting, “It was very meaningful to be featured in the article early in my career, because it offered me encouragement to keep going on. It was important at that point to be recognized and get my work in front of a larger audience.”
In May, when we caught up with Ma, he was in Florence, Italy, sketching the picturesque streets, canals and architecture of the historic city as reference material for future artworks. “I am inspired by the masters, such as [John Singer] Sargent, [Edward] Seago and [Telemaco] Signorini and their depictions of Italy. The significance of Florence in art history made me feel it’s important to visit here,” Ma says.
Although he majored in geology at the University of Texas, Austin, in his free time, the artist attended art workshops, created paintings and entered competitions. By the time he graduated from college in 2022, he was established enough to pursue a career as a full-time artist.
When asked if he ever dreamed as a teenager that he might be a successful artist painting in Italy one day, he replies, yes. Success has come early for Ma. One of Ma’s paintings was juried into the prestigious Oil Painters of America’s National Exhibition when he was 16. Five years later in 2021, at the age of 21, he received the Gold Medal, the top prize at the competition.
contact informationkylemafineart.com
representationWilcox Gallery, Jackson WY, wilcoxgallery.com.Folly Cove Fine Art, Rockport, MA, follycovefineart.com.Waterhouse Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA, waterhousegallery.com.InSight Gallery, Fredericksburg, TX, insightgallery.com.Hindes Fine Art, San Antonio, TX, hindes.com.Highlands Gallery, Lambertville, NJ, highlandsartgallery.com.
Included in “Catching Up: Conversations with Five Past ’21 Under 31′ Artists” by Bonnie Gangelhoff, from the August/September 2024 issue.
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