FUZHOU - TAIPEI - PARIS - NEW YORK CITY - BEIJING

After 33 years abroad, after having lived in Taiwan, Paris and New York, I decided to revisit the country of my birth. Humans have a circle, a big circle. When you get older, you try to conclude things, it’s human nature. For an artist, the thinking for me is in your 20’s and 30’s, you bloom like a flower, a milestone. And when you go to the extreme point, after you’ve pushed and done everything, you end up at your original point.

During the 60's I was attending university in Taipei, Taiwan. It was a time of experimentation, artistically we were far separated from the western world, learning technique and traditional chinese painting but I yearned to grow and began to work with all forms of medium, searching in foreign magazines and press clippings for any art news outside of Asia.

Huawai / Fluxus       selected mixed media and paintings       see gallery for more

Early Conceptual      selected photographs and mixed media

Soon after university in Taipei,  I applied to the Ecole' Des Beaux Arts in Paris. I was determined to see the art world I had observed from thousands of miles away. It was the early 70's and while I had recently opened an art school of my own in Taipei, I knew in order to continue developing as an artist I needed to go there in person. I dropped everything, packed my few belongings and just left. It was an inspiring time and my work flowed out like an unstoppable force.

Manifesto: I am Art       selected photographs, mixed media and paintings       see gallery for more

I, Tzenist   22"x30"     selected watercolor and drawings

Subconscious Experimental   36"x36"     selected mixed media

What will be will be   40"x30"     airbrushed oil paintings

All My Nationalities   48"x36"     airbrushed oil paintings

As the 80's approached, I was interested in New York City and had gone to visit an fellow artist in Soho. It was so busy, so many galleries and an artist community you don't see anywhere else, all concentrated in one place. Once again I made up my mind right away, I had to move there. 

In Paris you live in a classical city, your environment is very fine and polished. Everything is beautiful, you are surrounded by fine art. When you live in New York, you work bigger. I began working with a bigger canvas, the American style is big and bold. Working in that way, it felt natural to move from a conceptual style to more expressionist style, I want to fill the canvas and began to work faster. Things are faster in New York, there is a vitality. Because my style is really all styles, It is my nature to change and transitions are immediate. I approach all my projects with a conceptual focus even though the mediums and styles change.

Red, White & Black   78"x96"       selected oil paintings       see gallery for more

Molbeing    selected mixed media, video art screencaps, installation photos       see gallery for more

Monochrome   78"x96"       selected oil and acrylic paintings       see gallery for more

Postmodern   78"x96"       selected oil paintings

Essay   22"x30"        selected charcoal drawings       see gallery for more

Conceptual Photographs       selected photographs        see gallery for more  

The paintings I worked on in Beijing were a culmination of my entire history, a result of my years of creating art and my experiences. I went to Beijing alone and had a very large studio built. The silence and solitary existence lets me think very deeply. 4 meter by 5 meter canvases. I began with single strokes, each stroke applied in alternating patterns, one horizontal, one vertical. 

It’s like a step in life, one by one I apply a 3 inch by 3 inch square in the technique of Chinese calligraphy which I learned from my family and first teachers. And each square also includes the concept of the ‘one to the ninth power’ I used in Ego from my time in Paris. The boldness of the American can be felt by the huge wall of paint and heavy textures when up close, but because it is so large it can still create a powerful effect, but the image becomes clearer and gives a different type of clarity. I put my entire history into each stroke.

Existence Precedes Essence Of The Theory     selected mixed media       see gallery for more

Beijing Studio     selected paintings, studio photographs       see gallery for more