Taiwan Today

Inspired by his career in lantern displays, painter Lin Chi-yu experiments to recreate light on canvas.

The phenomenon of “midlife crisis” is well known, but Lin Chi-yu (林吉裕) confounds this stereotype through starting a new career and flowering as an oil painter after making the bold decision to go all-out to realize his dream of being an artist. After graduating from New Taipei City’s Fu-Hsin Trade and Arts School at 18, Lin tried his hand at various jobs. He designed window display graphics; made film, television and theater props; and organized events and marketing programs. Lin then settled down for over 20 years in his own company, which offered total lighting solutions including design, products and electrical system planning for, among other clients, the Taiwan Lantern Festival. First staged in Taipei City in 1990 by the Tourism Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the annual event celebrates the first full moon of the lunar year.

  Born in a rural community in central Taiwan’s Changhua County, Lin grew up witnessing his parents’ hardships. They were fishmongers at a local market and struggled to support their family. Driven by this background, Lin worked hard and accumulated expertise and financial stability in the business world. However, after a long career in lighting systems, he felt the urge to explore his inner self and reflect on his past. In an unusual decision for his demographic, he undertook a Master of Fine Arts at Taipei-based National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) in 2010 at the age of 45. Lin’s plaudits did not come until much later, though, as he only started oil painting five years ago.

New Stage
  In recent years, Lin has actively courted international exposure by participating in some of the world’s most prestigious art competitions and exhibitions. To his delight, he won awards including the Special Commendation from the President for his works “Black Tide,” “Golden Tai Chi” and “Golden Wheat Field” at 2021’s Florence Biennale in Italy. He was also named one of the Top Contemporary Artists of Today by Israel-headquartered Art Market Magazine for his pieces “Reason” and “Return in Glory,” which featured in its Gold List Special Edition the same year. This year, the painter received New York-based ArtTour International Magazine’s Top 60 Masters Award for “Accumulation,” “Endless Love” and “Prance.”

  Art competitions provide one of the most effective ways for exponents to gain exposure in the commercial world. “Establishing myself as an award-winning artist represents a breakthrough that has taken me to the next level,” Lin said. “That type of recognition makes it easier to showcase my work to an international marketplace and expand my reach, not just in the art industry but within mainstream media.” 

Fresh Vision
Once on his artistic journey, Lin discovered that his creative process profoundly transformed him. “Turning 50 made me rethink my priorities and realize how important it was to make the most of the time I’ve got left and pursue things that make me happy and fulfilled,” he said. “My creative drive comes from a strong desire to express my thoughts about spiritual growth and the environment. Painting is the perfect medium.” 
  Lin felt it was essential to find his own visual language and break with tradition. With that in mind, he developed a technique that he dubs “chopping and weaving,” in which he uses brushes to pile up oil paint thickly on the canvas before cutting and scraping flakes off with a variety of knives to form interlacing patterns giving depth and chiaroscuro to the marks. In addition, Lin works in monochrome with different textures and tones over an entire canvas.

  Drawing on memories of his childhood, the natural world became Lin’s favorite subject and source of inspiration. His work almost exclusively features deer, elephants and fish, which are often intertwined with trees and forests. “I want to use my work to express my love for nature and convey positive messages, such as hope, love and perseverance,” he said. “Of course, I also want to make my paintings aesthetically pleasing and intriguing.” Though in Chinese symbolism the deer represents longevity and riches, Lin says for him it has a wider meaning—representing devotion, grace, and peace. In India, elephants are revered as a symbol of good luck and prosperity, but for Lin they also represent courage, power and wisdom. The artist uses recognizably Eastern images such as in his painting “Golden Tai Chi,” which shows a pair of koi in a pose of yin-yang balance based on the graceful spirals of the slow-moving Chinese martial art, tai chi. Lin’s oneiric and symbolic work uses other recurring themes including hands and floating seedheads and reprises them with ever-varying surfaces and marks.

Gallery Allure
  New Taipei-headquartered Taiwan Aesthetics Society (TAS) supports Taiwan artists like Lin in establishing a global presence and takes pride in their achievements. Its chair Lin Yi-chia (林翊佳) selected the artist to be promoted in the organization’s regular exhibitions, lectures and networking events. “Talent and hard work have led to Lin’s international success,” she said. “His art is a lively synthesis of natural images and imagination.” Lin’s years of expertise in designing a festival that takes place in the dark, which required a combination of visual and technical knowledge, came back to him after he started to paint with oils. The ability to create complex illuminated environments now underpins his statements on canvas. “With his cognizance of luminescence and meticulous attention to detail, Lin excels at forming an inner glow from the paint. That is a distinguishing feature of his art,” the TAS chair said.

“Lin’s work makes a direct connection with audiences and TAS always receives positive feedback from his exhibitions,” she said. “I saw some people examining his paintings up close for quite some time to see how the quality of light was achieved.” She believes that Lin, now in his 50s, still has untapped creative energy and potential to make further exciting developments as an artist. Lin Chang-te (林昌德), former dean of NTNU’s College of Arts, said the mark of an artist is to find their individual mode of expression. He feels that the painter has done this through his focus on certain themes that make an impact or convey an idea in striking images. “Overall, Lin’s style is surreal and symbolic. It’s a world suffused with animals and trees,” the former dean said. “He creates dreamlike scenes that blur the line between reality and fantasy.” Deer grow antlers that morph into tree branches in his “Delicate Fragrance,” and “I Can Help” features a hand holding an elephant in a mysterious moonlit forest setting. The former dean sees Lin’s composition as presenting an ideal, harmonious coexistence between humans and animals. He further notes two colors that he feels are characteristic of the painter: blue in all its shades, bringing serenity and a mystical ambience; and earthy brown tones in images associated with healing and strength.

  Mitchell Hung (洪孟啟), former Minister of Culture, remembered a 2018 group exhibition in which Lin’s creations first caught his eye, and he has since become a keen fan who enjoys witnessing the artist’s progress. Hung feels Lin’s unique take on composition and structural execution is what piqued international interest, resulting in awards and recognition. “Lin creates unusual effects in oil paint,” the former minister said. “He has found a fascinating new method to use the medium that seizes attention and prompts people to take a closer look.”

Hung feels that Lin’s technique captures animals’ movement and facial expressions particularly well. “Eyes are the windows of the soul in humans and animals alike. Lin is adept at depicting emotion through light in the eyes, and this made a deep impression on me. It gives a spiritual dimension encompassing reflections on life, relationships and values.”
  The painter himself wants to refine his visual language of chopping and weaving to produce more intricate pieces full of symbolic detail and technical precision. “I aspire to create paintings that deliver a new visual experience,” Lin said. “By promoting my art internationally, it may become one of Taiwan’s cultural characteristics like Hakka floral cloth or Pili puppets.” 
 

Write to Kelly Her at kher@mofa.gov.tw