Chen Ching-jung studied in Japan in his youth, and received a bachelor’s degree from the Department of Western Painting, Musashino Art University as well as a graduate degree from the Institute of Mural Paintings, Tokyo University of the Arts. He taught art after returning to Taiwan. With his solid and profound training in sketching and aesthetics, he traveled to Paris in 1986, and became a member of the Salon d’Automne in 1993. Chen is skilled at building mysterious and lonely spaces with landscapes of lower chroma and strict composition. He is famous for his surrealist paintings.

“Artistic creation is a lonely path.” “An artist must be able to endure loneliness, yet sometimes loneliness can be quite beautiful.” Chen always expresses his insights towards art through his paintings. Created in 2003, “The Girl Playing Mandolin” is rare among Chen’s works in that it is painted with brighter and warmer tones. Inside the dim and quiet world, the bare-footed girl lowers her head to pluck the strings. The oil lamp at the front implies brightness and hope, suggesting the artist’s expectation of a beautiful life.