Aung Khaing

Aung Khaing’s interest in art blossomed during his university years at the University of Yangon, where he graduated with a degree in Chemistry in 1969 and later a Diploma in Accounting in 1980. During this period, the university library served as his window to the global art world. He forged lasting friendships with prominent modernist figures of the era—including U Nan Wai, Bagyi Aung Soe, Kin Maung Yin, Paw Oo Thet, and Win Pe—who profoundly influenced his trajectory toward modernism. His work remains deeply informed by international masters such as Van Gogh, Picasso, and Willem de Kooning, as well as the avant-garde spirit of his Burmese peers.

Although he began painting in 1963, his career faced significant obstacles due to the political climate of the 1970s and 1980s. In 1984, his entire exhibition of 120 paintings was banned by censorship officials who deemed his works unfit for public display. Faced with such restrictions, he refrained from public exhibitions for 29 years, continuing to create work in private. Throughout this period, he persisted in developing a unique style that moved away from traditional landscapes and pagoda scenes. He focused instead on traditional subjects such as dancers, rural life, and figures from Myanmar’s 37 nats, yet reimagined them through stylized, intense, and emotionally raw representations of human faces and nudes, rendered with his personal modern flavor.

Following the eventual easing of censorship, Aung Khaing’s career saw a major resurgence. He held his first solo exhibition in 2013 at the Lokanat Galleries in Yangon, a landmark event that formally reintroduced his work to the public. Subsequent solo exhibitions have been held at venues including Thank Gallery, Pansodan Gallery, OK Gallery, and Think Gallery for his exhibition titled Merry Dance of Mother & Kids. Today, Aung Khaing is held in high esteem within Myanmar’s artistic circles, respected both for the intensity of his work and his steadfast dedication to the modern art movement.