riday, January 11, 1991 China Post

Chen Tung-Yuan fills rustic paintings with goats in comeback art exhibition

The bucolic charm of the painting collection is unmistakable.A mother tends to her little one while the graying grandma looks on.A few steps away,a goat is nursing her kid.Another small goat nibbles away the grass on the ground.

Little boys and girls play hide-and-seek beneath the luxuriant foliage of Mother Nature in another landscape painting. Nearby,five goats seem to just loafing around.

Watercolorist Chen Tung-yuan returns to the art scene with a one-man show at the Magnet Art Gallery in Taipei after lying low for five years. His absence does not mean that he has been in hibernation. In fact,he has been painting with his heart and his eyes the rapidly disappearing ruatic scenes of his eternal fascination.

Chen Tung-yuan does not give up that easily.At least,not his art. Obligations brought on by sickness in the family forced him to put aside his painting brushes for a while.

Born in I-lan in 1953, Chen knew and learned to love the life close to the soil. Even after he left home to study in the city,he continued to pine for the local color provided by the natural setting affection he expressed in his paintings.

At a very young age, Chen already manifested artistic inclinations. He sketched frequently the life in a farming village.

Chen’s shining quality as artist surfaced when he was taking fine arts at the National Taiwan Normal University. In 1975 and 1976, he won firet prize in the NTNU-sponsored painting competition. Upon his graduation in 1977, hegarnered the top orize in the nationwide painting contest.

The award-winning artist quickly attracted the attention of gallery owners.From 1980 on-ward,the Lung Men Gallery Presented the watercolorist in four one-man shows. Each time, he showed his talent in drawing farmers, the agricultural terrain, the water buffaloes and the chickens.

But for his comeback exhibit at the Magnet Art Gallery, Chen has chosen to highlight the goat, the zodiac animal of 1991. Each painting still retains Chen’s sentiments about his eustic roots.

The paintings of Chen will be on view until Jan, 20. The Magnet Art Gallery is located at 1, Alley 28, Lane 27, Jenai Road, Sec. 4. For details, call 752-9974.