"My art reflects my Chinese blood with my Costa Rican spirit," Isidro Con Wong says through his interpreter and fellow painter, Rigo Peralta, owner of Rigo Art, 1131 Linden St., Allentown, at the opening of the exhibition, "The Artwork of Isidro Con Wong," through March 14, The David E. Rodale Gallery, The Baum School of Art, 510 Linden St., Allentown.

Peralta has been Wong's champion in the Lehigh Valley and was instrumental in putting his work in front of Baum School of Art gallery director Rudy Ackerman, who immediately connected with Wong's vision.

Like most original and innovative visions, Wong's work defies easy classification. The wild swirls can form into abstractions that match the exuberance of Jackson Pollack, but the intense brilliant colors are reminiscent of Chinese watercolors.

So which is it? "Both and none," Wong says. "I am a completely authentic painter in that I paint only things from my imagination and memories. I take dictation from my dreams."

Wong, a son of Chinese immigrants to Costa Rica, always wanted to be an artist. For years, he had a series of jobs that could support him and his family: farming, fishing, cattle-rearing and shoemaking. It wasn't until he was in his 40s that he started decorating the bags of rice he cultivated with fanciful designs.

It was then that he made the transition to canvas.

Although he claims membership in no official school of painting, and is self-taught, it's easy to see the influence of the brilliant colors of his life in Costa Rica on his work: lush greens, brilliant reds, thick impasto jungle life forms that almost jump off the canvas. I suppose if you lived in that environment, that is what you would dream about, so his self-appointed label of "fantastic realist" certainly fits.

Wong's work has been collected and exhibited internationally, including the Ministry of Culture and Education of the Providence of Guangzhou, Guangzhou, China as well as the Monaco Art Center, Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Wong's work has enjoyed the recognition of art associations in Europe, the United States, and his native Costa Rica. He lives and works in San Jose, Costa Rica.

It is a special treat to be able to see his work here in the Lehigh Valley.