Graduated from the National Taiwan Normal University and Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Liao studied under S.W. Hayter at Atelier 17 studio from 1965 to 1968. In 1968, he moved to the United States. He has mastered printmaking techniques of etching, screenprinting, stone lithography, woodcut and mixed media printmaking. His career can be divided into seven periods: 1. the sign of gates (1968-73), 2. the emotions of four seasons and pastoral moods (1979-84), 3. the praise for the wooden figure (1984-89), 4. the metaphoric phase of windows and walls (1988-90), 5. the elegant gathering in the garden (1990-94), 6. the narrative of four seasons (1995-1999) and 7. knots and silent symbols (1999-). His pieces won innumerous awards and were collected by collectors and museums. In 1978, he won the Golden Seal award of the Printmaking Society of R.O.C. In 1998, he was awarded with the 2nd National Award for Arts in Fine Art by the Executive Yuan of Taiwan.

Based on printmaking techniques, the artist used symmetrical structures and abstract forms to create the Signs of Gates series, attempting to explore life’s journey and mankind’s relation with the cosmos. The stable, symmetrical composition of his life series represents the Doctrine of the Mean in Confucianism. In the piece, there are scissors, umbrellas, rattan baskets and other daily-life objects used in the ritual offering to ghosts. The household doors and windows are surrounded by symbols of men and women, clothes and shoes, suggesting rich and peaceful life of mankind. In terms of colors, red, considered auspicious in Chinese society, is the background while the colors of gold and silver mean affluence. The idea the piece aims to convey is: “a perpetual natural order hides behind the complex modern life in the joyous atmosphere of traditional festivals.” (The quote is from a critique of Liao’s work.)

The artist lived nearby the Longshan Temple in his childhood. His impressions of incense smoke swirling around golden Buddha sculptures and soft candle light followed him to Paris, Japan and the U.S. His memory of the folk culture and religious rituals is his origin of inspiration. In 1954, he became a student at the Department of Fine Arts of the National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) and majored in oil painting. He studied under painter Liao Chi-chun. Wu Dong-chun took him to Li Shi-chiao’s home for special lessons at night. Liao and Li were both distinguished painters who had studied in Japan. The main subject matter of their works was the people and folk culture in the streets, temples and suburban areas in Taipei. For Liao Shiou-ping, this was about painting his childhood. In 1959, he graduated from the NTNU. In 1962, he was admitted to the Graduate Institute of Painting of the University of Tsukuba in Japan. Then he felt it might be better to depict the colors, lines and folk culture of his hometown with printmaking techniques instead of Western painting. This idea led him to his career in printmaking. In 1965, he went to France and studied at the oil painting studio of the École des Beaux-Arts. Meanwhile, he studied printmaking at Atelier 17 studio. In 1969, he moved to New Jersey in the U.S. In 1973, he was invited to teach printmaking at the Department of Fine Arts, NTNU. He introduced many new techniques and concepts of modern printmaking and had a crucial influence on printmaking in Taiwan. He is regarded as a major figure that facilitated the transition from traditional woodcut to modern printmaking in Taiwan. Ingeniously combining the visual concepts of modern painting and local symbols in Taiwan, his work of Eastern aesthetics reinterprets and reinvents the aesthetics of Taiwan’s folk culture.