Hsia Yang was born in Xianxian County, Hunan Province. Hsia Ju-hsian is his original name. In 1945, he studied at the private Jong-ying High School and then transferred to Municipal Teachers College of Nanjing from which he graduated in 1948. In 1949, as a soldier, he moved to Taiwan with his army battalion. In 1957, he and Wu Hao studied under Huang Jung-tsan, Ju De-chiun and Lee Chun-shan at Fine Art Study Studio on Hancou Street in Taipei. Then he had to stop his study because he could not afford the tuition. Afterwards, he studied at Lee Chun-shan’s Andong Street Studio and made the acquaintance of Hsiao Chin, Ho Kan and Li Yuan-chia. In 1957, he cofounded the East Painting Society. In 1959, he worked at the Mandarin Daily News as a graphic designer. In 1963, he moved to Italy and then to France. In 1967, he moved to live in New York and earned his living by restoring antiques. In 1977, influenced by American Photorealism, he produced the Black and White, the Marginal Colors, the One Person and the Birds in the City series of photorealist works. In 2000, he was given the National Award for Arts in Fine Art by the National Culture and Arts Foundation. Currently Hsia Yang lives in mainland China. (Part of the text is adapted from the NTMoFA webpage. Lin, Min-hsien. Collision and Action—The Development of Modern Art in Post-war Taiwan (1945-1987). Taichung: the NTMoFA, 2004. 205.)

As the trend of Photorealism emerged, Hsia Yang moved from Paris to New York in 1968. He felt the contrast between moving passersby and their background. Basically he felt the same way in Paris. That was why he started to try working with the Photorealist style. Katty was the first piece of his Fuzzy People series in this period. Its concept emphasizes on the confrontation between people and things around them. It makes people feel the alienation of modern people who are always rushing somewhere. Because the artist’s approach is different from Photorealism, it is called “photo-futurism.” Until 1974, Hsia created more works of the series that were mainly black and white. (Part of the text is adapted from the NTMoFA webpage. Chang, Tai-shen. Collection Catalogue 8. Taichung: the NTMoFA, 1996. 239.)

Influenced by Lee Chun-shan’s advocacy of abstract, avant-garde art, Hsia Yang cofounded the East Painting Society with Hsiao Chin and Ho Kan, introducing many avant-garde painting styles popular in the West. For instance, as he was influenced by Mecbanism in his early career, he adopted the style of split image and multi-surfaced figures. Later on, influenced by abstract expressionism, he began automatic painting. During his stay in France, he developed the Fuzzy People series that introduced the Western trend of avant-garde photo-futurism to Taiwan and made a great impact.