Ben is the third son of General Lau Tung Choi, the Commander of the 63rd Chinese Nationalist Army (circa 1948).
Both General Lau, Ben’s father, and his maternal grandfather are accomplished calligraphers. Ben had no idea that he would become an artist when he went to New York from China. His meeting with the great American master, Knox Martin (www.knoxmartin.com) in 1976 set him up for a lifetime of artistic endeavor. Knox Martin had told Ben that he was the greatest Oriental artist since Hokusai. Master Martin was known to have the clairvoyance of seeing the aura of enlightenment on a young artist simply by looking at the latter’s creation. That unusual ability, according to Ben Lau, is only possible with the Alpha Seers, (or bona-fide artistic geniuses) which he discusses in vast detail in www.trueartblog.com. The website is also called “The Alpha Seer”, which will see its day in print.
In Ben’s works can be found strong calligraphic and poetic elements. He will tell you that the true artist is a natural mediator between beauty and the material world. The ability of Alpha Seeing is native to him. Such an artist is able to work magic with his subjects,for example, the material apples in Cezanne’s painting and the material sunflowers in Van Gogh’s have been transcended to take on a spirituality that cannot decompose and have become timeless.
That is the lesson of the mainstream masters, whom Ben believes himself heir to.