Su Hsin-tien was born in 1940 in Beigang Township, Yunlin County. In 1950, Su developed a passion for painting after being inspired by his fourth grade art teacher Chen Kun-yuan. In 1953, he was selected for the first Provincial Students Art Exhibition. He began a teaching course at Tainan Teachers College in 1956. In 1959, Su showed his talent by winning first prize for manga and second prize for scenery painting in a regional art competition. In 1962, Su was accepted into the art department of National Taiwan Normal University. In 1966, he graduated top of his department winning first prize in the oil and design categories in the department exhibition. In 1967, he formed the Hwa-wai Association with Ma Chao-kai and Hsu Huai-tsi amongst others to promote modern art. In 1968, he organized a joint exhibition with two other artists, Huang Hua-cheng and Guo Cheng-feng. Following in the footsteps of the Tong Fang Painting Association and Fifth Moon Group, the group initiated a new art movement. Su visited America in 1973, where he continued promoting modern art and developed his "process aesthetics" theory of painting. From this time, he began developing his depth illusion, multi-horizontal space and cyclic space painting techniques.

In 1972, Su Hsin-tien started developing his cyclic space technique. Using theories from philosophy, mathematics and physics, he pondered the real/non-real dependency of time space in the universe and the connection between interior and exterior. Using distortion, illusion and wandering perspective, he depicted cyclic fluctuations in time space, producing the multiple gravities of cyclic space.

In 1950s post-war Taiwan, groups of young artists such as the Tong Fang Painting Association and the Fifth Moon Group spearheaded the modern art movement. At the end of the 1960s, the Hwawai Association of which Su Hsin-tien was a member initiated a new art movement. The Hwa-wai Association was not just another 1960s avant-garde group. The group had a specific artistic theory that advocated a post-formalist style, new points of view of subject and object, and establishing a new style-theory based on the psychology of aesthetics. In addition, the group fused Buddhist philosophy and avant-garde aesthetics, birthing a painting movement that incorporated local philosophical influences. In the 1960s, the art community in Taiwan was enveloped by existentialist thought. The Hwa-wai Association proposed a new direction of thought, marking a new era with their new style. Su Hsin-tien sought to break with traditional theories by exploring different style and forms of Western art and aesthetics. Su explored and experimented with many different theories and styles, forming his own unique style.