Chen Ching-Yuan received his M.F.A. in 2013 from the School of Fine Arts of the Taipei National University of the Arts. In recent years, Chen Ching-Yuan attempts to capture through his painting the subtle sensibility that weaves through literature, mythology, and history in different cultural contexts. The artist’s unique compositions coalesce into a constellation of images where the absence of the temporal element and the fragmentation of meaning elicit unexpected narrative parallels between the artist’s imaginary worlds and the essence of humanity.
Questioning the role of individuality and self-awareness in Asian societies is very present in Chen Ching-Yuan’s work through the representation of cultural practices as well as everyday life scenes. His paintings highlight the tension between the group and the individual in China, tension that is even stronger in Taiwan in its own context. The Taiwanese artistic scene has been actively responding to these preoccupations, and Chen Ching-Yuan is not unconnected to this creative environment. He doesn’t work with the limitation of rational thought, but with a creative process that requires the development of poetic thinking, which can be understood through one of his major sources of inspiration: the Romantic painters of the 19th century.