Born in Taipei in 1936, Liao Shiou-ping graduated from the Department of Fine Arts at National Taiwan Normal University in 1959. He went to Japan to study in the Graduate School of Paining at Tokyo University of Education (the forerunner of University of Tsukuba) in 1962 and graduated in 1964. In the following year, he moved to France and continued his studies with Professor Roger Chastal at école nationale supérieure des Beaux-arts de Paris. He also entered the print art studio to study with Professor Hayter. Liao moved to the United States of America in 1969 and returned to Taiwan to teach in the Department of Fine Arts at National Taiwan Normal University in 1973. During his stay in Taiwan, he had been active in print art development. In 1977, he was invited by University of Tsukuba to start a print art studio there and had served as the teacher for two and a half year. Since 1979, he had been teaching print art as a professor in the Department of Fine Arts at Seton Hall University in the USA until 1992 when he resigned because of health problems. Liao Shiou-ping’s contribution in print art teaching and printmaking is greatly acknowledged, which has even won him the title “the father of contemporary printmaking in Taiwan.” It is perhaps because of his achievement in printmaking that his oil painting is less noticed. In fact, Liao Shiou-ping is the first painter born in the post-war Taiwan to be selected in the “Japan Fine Arts Exhibition,” proving that his oil painting is as important as his printmaking. His artistic career can be divided into five different styles: “The Mark on The Door,” “The Seasonal Flavors of the Rural Life,” “The Wooden Man Eulogy,” “The Lyric Painting of Doors and Windows,” and “The Garden Salon.”

Since the early stage of his artistic practice, Liao Shiou-ping has adopted the folk cultural practices as the subjects in his painting. He thinks of Lungshan Temple, Wanhua Market, and the festive religious rituals as the inseparable parts of his life. Therefore, he has transformed these childhood memories into paintings, while Gods of the Temple II is one of the examples. It is based upon the deity of the local religion in Taiwan.

Liao Shiou-ping grew up in a time when Taiwan had moved from the period of Japanese rule to Nationalist government’s retreat to Taiwan. In the 1950s when he was still studying art, Liao had experienced the modern art movement in Taiwan. Under the influence of modern art, Liao still had his unique personal insistence. He chose a path which was different from his fellow artists. At that time, most of the artists went to Europe if they wanted to study abroad. However, Liao Shiou-ping decided to further his studies in Japan. Although it was inevitable for him to be influenced by the Western art movements since he was surrounded by the concepts of modern art when studying abroad, he still insisted that his painting should feature those objects associated with his life and memory. Since the early stage of his artistic career, he has been exploring daily subjects such as the folk cultures, religions, and architectures in Taiwan as well as the images from the mass culture. From the perspective of local aesthetics, Liao Shiao-ping transforms the local style of Taiwanese culture into the form of modern painting. His unique artistic expression is thus highly appreciated by the art society.