Tseng Ying-Tung

Tseng Ying-Tung (Chinese:曾英棟) (1953 - ), a painter born in Tainan, Taiwan, worked as the Associate Professor at Shu-Te University College of Design before opening the Asir Art Museum named after his nickname “Gan Le Asir” in 2015. In Taiwanese, “Gan Le” is a spinning top, and “Asir” refers to someone born to a wealthy family. His nickname depicts his bountiful creativity synergized with the ease of enjoying life throughout his career. Tseng received a BA in Fine Arts from National Taiwan Normal University and an MA in Fine Arts from New York University.
Inspired by the ancient Chinese philosophers Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, Tseng’s art works emphasize the interaction between himself and his surroundings aiming to reach the balance of body and mind. Nature and Time are the central themes in his early paintings while Love and Money become omnipresent symbols of his later works since 2012, depicting how humanity physically and spiritually evolves from those two internal and external forces. 
Intuitional and sensuous, Tseng Ying Tung is a major figure in contemporary Taiwanese Art.
==Early life==
Tseng was born to a local prominent family in Tainan, an old capital in southern Taiwan. He grew up playing with antique teapots and wine ewers and also playing throughout the old streets and the stone walls that surround the city. With the daily encounter of so many antiques in the house and around the city of Tainan, Tseng fell in love with the texture of objects created by time and historic heritage. The air mixed with the smell of food, excrement, well water, and the scent of the distant sea greatly enriched his childhood memory and has further nourished his artistic inspirations ever since.
Tseng started showing great interest and talent in painting while studying at the National Pingtung University of Education Experimental Elementary School where he was encouraged by the liberal atmosphere there. While studying in the College of Art of National Taiwan Normal University as a scholarship student, however, he became frustrated with the traditional aesthetic style of lecturing and began to withdraw into self reflection. The only two things he determined to achieve then were to search for his unique personal style and seek a connection to his homeland.
To fulfill such determined goals, Tseng went to New York to pursue graduate studies in 1991. He immersed himself in all kinds of local art events. “I was like a sponge absorbing the experiences through visiting exhibitions, attending experimental theaters, and participating in all sorts of art events available. I finally learned to develop my personal taste of artistic appreciation and significantly broadened my creative horizon.” After a long period of self exploration, Tseng was enlightened to become the artist he had always wanted to be.
==Style==
Tseng held his first solo exhibition in Tainan in 1985. “New Heaven’s Paradise” series was first seen in his third solo exhibition in Kaohsiung, 1991. The poetic natural symphony in bright color of the series is the opposite side of the 1994 “Paradise Lost” series. The former is an ocean of innocence, and the latter is a deep and wavy sea of subconscious reflection of the uncertainties he felt after returning to Taiwan from New York.
The views of the distant seaside and eagles in the sky from his childhood memory became the themes of his “Ocean—Love Episode I” series in 2000, followed by the “Wetlands” series in 2010 and ”The Dream of a Flaming Island” series in 2012, a natural evolution from the ocean, intertidal zone, and then to land before forming the human world consisting of internal and external forces which became the two most recognized symbols "Love" and "Money" shown in Tseng’s recent works. 
Influenced by his childhood memory, Tseng prefers tactile and rough textures to smooth surfaces for his art creations. His works are usually presented with thick and layered depths consisting of the mixture of paper pulp, sand, and glue to represent the traces of time. His choice of bold colors is out of emotion and instinct rather than rationality and logic. He is a painter wandering from celestial heaven to the earthly world embodied with both spiritual and social aspirations to create a paradise of his own.
Growing up as a dream chaser, Tseng regards himself as a dreaming artist who can detach himself from reality to unleash his dreams when creating art works. ”If a man leads a boring life, his creation must be boring, too.”
==Public Art==
Tseng also started sculpting after participating in public art. The first of his many grand prize winning designs was the work for the public art design competition project (Chiayi Municipal Cultural Center) held by the Council for Cultural Affairs, Executive Yuan, Taiwan in 1996. Another winning work “Encounter：Urban Mask” (Taipei MRT Guting Station) in 1998, displaying various dangling masks stirred by the breeze from moving transit cars to resemble the encounters of commuters. Another winning work “Golden Eyes with Piercing Sight” gives the traditional Chinese fictional character Monkey King superpower to protect humans from disease of demons and monsters, resembling the guarding duties of the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, Council of Agriculture, Taiwan in 2005. Tseng stated the importance for an artist is to be open-minded to embrace local cultures during the process of creating public art.
==Asir Art Museum==
After receiving suggestions and some funding from Tainan-based entrepreneur Wang Ching Hsiang, Tseng transformed his studio in Tainan into the Asir Art Museum in 2015. The museum opened with Tseng’s solo exhibition “Two Cities”, co-exhibiting with Da Xin Art Museum in Guangzhou, China. The Asir Art Museum also has featured many prominent artists such as Ko Si Chi, Heinrich Wang, Lu Ming Te, and David Gerstein, becoming a significant art base in Tainan.
The Asir Museum consists of the ground floor as the exhibition room for local and international artists, the basement for Tseng’s permanent exhibition, the second floor as Tseng's working studio, and an outdoor garden. The elegant and comfortable design of the museum provides Tseng with a paradise to create art and enjoy life.
==Chronology==
2022 
* Solo Exhibition, How High is a Mountain and How Deep is Your Love, Asir Art
* Museum, Tainan, Taiwan
* Solo Exhibition, Peach Blossom Spring, Eagle Art Space, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
* Solo Exhibition, Artrue Gallery, Taipei
* Solo Exhibition, Galerie-Kuchling, Berlin, Germany
2021 
* Bulleted list item
* Solo Exhibition, Accumulated Sweetness, Tsung-Yeh Artist Village, Tainan,Taiwan 
* Joint Exhibition, Freedom。Love, Galerie-Kuchling, Berlin, Germany
2020
* 2020 Solo Exhibition, Blooming Tipsiness, Asir Air Museum, Tainan, Taiwan
2019
* Joint Exhibition, The Light of the World: The Contemporary Arts from Taiwan, The Holy See
* Joint Exhibition, International Steel Sculpture Art Festival by Tangshang Delong, China
* Solo Exhibition, The Energy of Taiwan: Accommodate All the Rivers, Look 
* Beyond the Continents, Bunkamura Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
* Solo Exhibition, Sprout: The Conservation of Energy, Gallery Lane Cove + 
* Creative Studios, Sydney, Australia
* Cloud of Taiwan collected by National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts/ Art Bank Taiwan, Taiwan
* 2018 Solo Exhibition, Five Element, Galerie-Kuchling, Berlin, Germany
* Solo Exhibition, Spring Shower Sprayed Energy, A/NT Gallery, Seattle, USA
* Solo Exhibition, The Energy of Love and Share, Goethe Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan
2017 
* Awarded Excellent Tainan Artists, Traveling Exhibition of Excellent Tainan Artists
* Solo Exhibition, 17 Voyages to Formosa, Pablo Neruda Library, Berlin, Germany
* Joint Exhibition, Next Art Tainan: The Story of Contemporary Art in Tainan, 
* Asir Art Museum, Tainan, Taiwan
2015 
* Established Asir Art Museum in Tainan
* Solo Exhibition Two Cities, Da Xin Art Museum in Guangzhou, China
2012 
* Solo Exhibition, Asir Dreamed a Butterfly, Licence Art Gallery, Tainan, Taiwan
* Solo Exhibition, The Dream of a Flaming Island, Lee Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
2011 
* Solo Exhibition, Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, M&C SAATCHI Art Gallery, Shanghai, China
2010 
* Solo Exhibition, Asir in an Intertidal Zone, Taiwan New Art Gallery, Tainan, Taiwan
* Solo Exhibition, Lighthearted Asir as a Spinning Top, Licence Art Gallery, Tainan, Taiwan
2009 
* Joint Exhibition, International Art Exhibition: Dialogue between Southeast Asia and Taiwan by Department of Cultural Affairs of Taoyuan Government, Taoyuan, Taiwan
* Awarded public art project of entrance image Sword Lion, Anping, Tainan, Taiwan
2008 
* Solo Exhibition, The Relativity of Freedom, Licence Art Gallery, Tainan, Taiwan
2005 
* Grand prize winner, open competitive bid of public art project, Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, Council of Agriculture, Taiwan
2004 
* Sketches Collected by National Museum of Taiwan History
2003 
* Grand prize winner, design competition of public art project, Children Art 
* Gallery, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan
2000 
* Solo Exhibition, Ocean-Love EpisodeⅠ, Howard Salon, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
* Ocean-OceanⅡ collected by Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan
1998 
* Grand prize winner, open competitive bid of public art project Encounter: 
* Urban Mask, MRT Guting Station, Taipei City Government, Taiwan
1996 
* Grand prize winner, design competition of public art project, Chiayi 
* Municipal Cultural Center, Council for Cultural Affairs, Executive Yuan, Taiwan
1994 
* Solo Exhibition of Lithographs, First Bank Art Gallery, New York, USA
* Solo Exhibition Paradise Lost, Up Gallery, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
1991
* Solo Exhibition New Heaven’s Paradise, Up Gallery, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
1986 
* Initiate and participate in New Style Art Biennial, Southern Taiwan
1985 
* First Solo Exhibition, Tainan, Taiwan
Category:1953 births
Category:People from Tainan
Category:National Taiwan Normal University alumni
Category:New York University alumni
Category:Professors