Chen graduated in 1972 from the National Junior College of the Arts. In 1977 he held his first solo exhibition in Taipei, and in 1981 was invited to exhibit at the Taipei American Culture Center. In 1984 some of Chen's works were shown at the exhibition of new Taiwanese painters held by the Hanart T Z Gallery in Hong Kong, and in1988, he traveled the US on a lecture-exhibition tour. Chen's paintings depict life and natural scenery in Taiwan, focusing especially on the psychoi-social implications of its rapid transformation from an agrarian to an industrially-driven society. Expressionism is combined with the unique traditions of oil painting in Taiwan for an individual style with strong nativist elements.