title: Aye Ko (artist)
text: # Aye Ko (artist)
  
  Aye Ko (Burmese: အေးကို; born 7 August 1963) is a painter and former political prisoner from Myanmar. He is one of Myanmar's most profiled contemporary artists internationally. On 10 January 2017, he received the 2017 Joseph Balestier Award for the Freedom of Art. He is one of the founders of New Zero Art Space.
  
  ## Biography
  
  Aye Ko was born on 7 August 1963 in Pathein, Myanmar . Under the master artist, U Min Soe, he trained in classic and traditional painting . In 1990, he was arrested and sentenced to three-year prison about student revolution and the underground movement for democracy. In 2008, He founded New Zero Art Space with his colleagues.
  
  