Born and raised in Hong Kong, Maria Lobo's art training took her to Italy, Spain and the USA.  Studying at the University of Santa Clara and the San Francisco Art Institute, she gained degrees in Fine Art and Painting in 1985. Having been part of the San Francisco Hunters Point artists' community, Maria returned to Hong Kong in 1994 and now spends her time between Vancouver and Hong Kong. She frequently exhibits her work in the US, Canada and Hong Kong. Maria looks to her heritage for inspiration. Her work is "East Meets West" in both imagery and technique, reflecting her multi-cultural background as well as the East/West environment in which she lives.

About her new collection "Love Knots", she states: "My inspiration for this work is Asian Calligraphy but I am trying to work now in a more playful way, from my heart, not so much from my head.  The strokes are looser now.  I am using the idea of calligraphy as pure pattern and abstract shapes.  I am not interested in any words or any meaning, just the forms that are created or the fragments of the characters that make interesting forms. Patterning and use of negative space have always been part of my visual vocabulary, as well as the East-West influence, which is ever present.  I have also always used a sense of pattern, symmetry and balance in all my abstract work, since 1999.  This tends to give me a sense of "order on chaos" or "organizing the abstraction".  By using the grid system here, I am doing the same, with a color palette including reds, blacks, earthy tones and neutrals, with some metallic."