Renowned artist Mei Chen Tseng has been newly appointed to the AUR Fine Arts faculty. She will begin teaching in spring 2024 on the following programs
- ART 102 - Drawing I
- ART 202 - Drawing II
- ART 302 - Drawing Workshop
Born in Hualien, Taiwan, in 1977, Mei Chen Tseng earned a BA degree in English literature from Fu-jen Catholic University in Taiwan and a master's degree in painting from Rome Academy of Fine Arts in Italy, in 2006.
She lives and works in both Rome and Taipei.
The experience of living and studying between Taiwan and Italy has given Tseng sensitiveness to iconic, conceptual, and spiritual imagery. Italian art has had a great influence on her way of depicting forms, light, and shadow, and a passion for wood engraving that derives from her love of literature and delicate details.
ARTIST'S STATEMENT ON 'NEGATIVE PORTRAIT OF HAND AND FOOT'
Shadow
The tight grip on the hand rings or pole of an MRT train clearly exposes the separation of muscle, blood vessels, and bones behind a thin layer of skin. As the lighting within the train changes as it moves from Taipei city to the suburbs, the shadows on the back of the hand dance like a vivid shadow play. If one does not pay special attention, the proliferation of shadow makes it difficult for the naked eye to capture the edges. Its sensitive features only need slight changes in light, direction, temperature, and other external factors for its shape to immediately transform. Sometimes, they form a horse, a penguin, or a dolphin. If in a bad mood, the shadow may even form a screaming woman, a barking dog, or the reaper’s scythe….
Shadows are hidden in depressed, negative areas of the body. The shapes that materialize, however, are more human than those that appear in lighted areas. Areas not affected by light aren’t necessarily completely covered in darkness, but are a gathering of all colors. If the human body is like a building, we are like shadows living within its structure. Vividly waving limbs communicate a sad song of life. Desiring to reach lighted areas, yet constantly forgetting, the shadows are the driving force that push one to the light.
Hands and feet are the two most peripheral parts of the body. When viewed in respect to area, they have a very complex structure. With blood vessels like elevated mountains, complex joints akin to streets on a map, and the special reflective texture of nails, they are able to form thousands of different positions. When light shines on the top surface, one can clearly see a strong contrast between light and shadow, revealing special hidden gestures.
Holding such a strong contrast between light and shadow, hands and feet can be viewed, perhaps even more so than the face, as individual portraits that express feelings which cannot be hidden by shadow. The brightest point under the light can be said to be the most dazzling moment in one’s life, and the different shapes of light and shadow symbolize the duality of all objects and events.
Mei Chen Tseng has exhibited across Europe and the Far East, including
2021 “The Organization of a Chaotic Mind”, Helios Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
2015 “Landscape of Words”, IP Gallery, Hualien, Taiwan
2013-2014 “Il canto dei segni”, Castello di Acaya, Lecce, Italy
2013 “The Book of Prints and Paintings”, Moon12 Gallery, Taipei
2012 “The Pianist on the End Grain Wood Block”, Wistaria Tea House, Taipei
2010 “The Story of an Abandoned Trunk”, MOCOBO center for arts and culture, Rome, Italy.
2010 “Negative Portraits of Hands and Feet”, Artpillar, Taipei, Taiwan.
2008 “Frammenti di memoria”, Cultural Bureau Gallery of Hualien County, Hualien, Taiwan,
2006 “Wood-engraving Between West and East” organized by the “National Committee of Pio II Piccolomini” in Embassy of Taiwan in Vatican, Gallery of Palace Viviani, Accademia Raffaello, Urbino, Italy.
She has twice been honored by the Society of Wood Engravers
- 2015 - Overseas Prize, Society of Wood Engravers, 78th annual exhibition
- 2013 - Overseas Prize, Society of Wood Engravers, 77th annual exhibition
And by the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers
- 2014 - The GreatArt Award, Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, The Masters-Relief Prints.