Chen Jing-rong was born in Changhua, Taiwan in 1934. He learned to sketch with Chang Yihsiung in 1953, and received the first prize in oil painting from the National Taiwan Normal University Department of Fine Arts Exhibition, as well as the second prize from the Provincial College Student Fine Arts Exhibition in 1954. He graduated from the Department of Fine Arts, National Taiwan Normal University in 1956 and initiated the Salon de Mai with Liu Kuo-sung, Kuo Yu-lun, Kuo Tung-jung, Cheng Chung-chuan and Li Fang-chi. The artist graduated from the Musashino Art University in Japan in 1963 and pursued further studies at the Tokyo University of the Arts. Upon graduating from the university’s Mural Painting Department in 1967, Chen returned to Taiwan. He soon began teaching at the National Academy of Arts and became the Director of the Fine Arts Department in 1972. Chen was awarded the prestigious Golden Nobility Award in 1976 and started teaching at the Department of Fine Arts, National Taiwan Normal University in 1977. The artist bagged the Wu San-lien Award in 1982. He received the silver medal for Knight Statue and Naked Woman in 1999 and the honorary award for Model in a Painting Studio in 2000 from Salon des Artistes Francais. Although Chen is a founding member of the Salon de Mai, he has not taken any abstract approach to deal with his works. Instead, he adopts a realistic method to portray skinny, melancholic figures and a bleak landscape. He is especially good at using blue and grey color hues to present a desolate world. His paintings always look mysterious, quiet and surrealistic.

Chen Jing-rong’s works are mostly based on compact sketches and a strict composition. A naked woman, a plaster bust and a square, which don’t seem to synchronize in time and space, make up this surrealistic picture. In this coldish grey setting, a mystified and lonesome aura can be felt. This painting invites viewers to ponder on the past, the present and the philosophy of life.

Chen Jing-rong graduated from the Mural Painting Department, Tokyo University of the Arts in 1967. Other than those who succeeded during the Japanese Rule, he is the first Taiwanese painter to have graduated from the university after World War II. During his stay in Japan, Chen befriended instructors and fellow artist friends like Hasegawa Roka, Shimamura Minao, Noda Tetsuya, Takeuchi Kazuko, Noda Kiichi, Ryohei Koiso and others. He received great help from these people and was able to advance his skill. Upon graduation, Chen returned to Taiwan to teach at university. Although he has never been able to do what he learned in Taiwan, which is mural painting, he has managed to come up with something of his own between printmaking and oil painting. Chen believes that “an artist is bound to feel lonely during the creative process,” and that “he or she must live with it because loneliness can be beautiful, too.” As a result, a bleak landscape with skinny, melancholic figures in chilling color hues become the typical subject matter in his works. Squares, still life objects, naked women and knights are often used to construct the painted scene. Chen integrates classicism and surrealism to deliver a mystic charm. Such is a very unique characteristic of his works.