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M, also known as Michael Chow, was born in 1939 in Shanghai and sent alone to London at age 13, where he turned to painting to cope with isolation. He studied at Saint Martin’s School of Art and the Hammersmith School of Building and Architecture, and by 1958, the Museum of Modern Art in New York had acquired one of his works. Despite early success, he grew disillusioned and walked away from painting. In 1968, he opened the first MR CHOW in London, blending food, art, and design into a bold celebration of Chinese culture. Over time, he became known for redefining the dining experience as a kind of immersive theater. After a fifty-year hiatus, he returned to painting in 2015 with large-scale, visceral works that embrace both chaos and control. The 2023 HBO documentary AKA Mr. Chow captures his creative resurgence and the raw, experimental energy of his studio practice

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