T F Chen

Biography

Born in Japanese-occupied Taiwan in 1936. As a young boy, he memorized every worn page of the fifty art books that a Taiwanese dentist had smuggled in from Japan. At an early age, Chen began to study painting at a private artist studio in Taiwan. After graduating, Chen was exempted from the national admissions test and accepted by the renowned National Taiwan University where he studied English literature. Later on, Chen earned a scholarship from the French Government, and with one suitcase and $100 borrowed from a friend, he flew to Paris and spent 12 years there, becoming the first Asian to obtain a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Paris (La Sorbonne), as well as an M.A. in French Contemporary Literature. At the same time, he studied painting for seven years at the L’École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux -arts in Paris, researched and wrote critiques of Paris art shows. During this time he supported himself by washing dishes in a Chinese restaurant.

Career

In an interview with Chen stated that in 1969,while still attending La Sorbonne he established his “Five-Dimensional Universal Culture” theory and initiated his “Neo-Iconography” art style. Since then he has created over 3,000 art works in his signature style, conducted more than 200 one-man shows, and published 26 books on his art and philosophy. His artworks have been featured in more than 300 textbooks, magazines, newspapers and other media worldwide (such as in the widely used, university-level art history textbook Arts & Ideas).

In 1980, Dr. Chen gave a lecture on his “Five-Dimensional Universal Culture” theory at the International Science Conference. In 1998 and 2000, Dr. Chen presented his thesis and exhibited his artworks at the State of the World Forum. In 2001, the Friends of the United Nations honored Dr. Chen with the “Global Tolerance Award,” appointed him a Cultural Ambassador of Tolerance and Peace and invited him to organize the “Arts for Humanity World Tour” to advance art education and a Global Culture of Peace.

New World Art Center

In 1996, Dr. Chen co-founded the New World Art Center and the T.F. Chen Cultural Center a non-profit organization in SoHo, NYC – which sponsors and conducts artistic, educational and multicultural exchange events. In 2005, in partnership with the Friends of the United Nations, Dr. Chen then founded the Art for Humanity Foundation to sponsor and organize the “Arts for Humanity World Tour 2005-2010” to further advance his vision of a Global Culture of Peace through the arts.

Artistic notoriety

Chen was considered one of the pioneers of Post-Modern Art in the 1970s and has also been recognized as “one of the 20 most influential artists in the world today” by Dr. Thomas McEvilley, an art critic.

Dr. Jan Hulsker, an expert on Vincent van Gogh, called Dr. Chen “the Reborn Van Gogh!” when he viewed Chen’s “Post – Van Gogh Series” that he had created in celebration of the Van Gogh Centennial.