Persevering
When young, Louis Yen briefly studied painting to strengthen his seal engraving skills. Some 30 years later, in 2008, he happened to visit an exhibition of oil paintings, which reignited his interest in the art form. Lacking any real formal training, Yen says that he needed to start with the basics. Beginning with optics and visual theory, he went on to study the structure of the eye, color, shading and so forth.
Yen’s first work, Sunset over Sutan Bay, earned praise and was given top billing at the Garibaldi Art Club’s Fall Show by vote of the more than 90 exhibiting artists. It was featured on the poster for the exhibition.
Looking at the beautiful sunset in the painting, we can practically feel the warmth of the light. But where is the Sutan Bay that is depicted in the painting? With a mischievous twinkle in his eye, Yen reveals that Sutan Bay is nothing but a figment of his imagination. It’s a place in his mind’s eye where he and his wife stroll while holding hands.
At one exhibition, Yen’s painting was placed in a dark corner, so that the painting, which itself had a dark background, appeared quite drab. It was then that he learned that artists were in the habit of using gallery lighting to bolster their chances at these competitions. But Yen didn’t want excessive display lighting to distort the hues of the original work. Consequently, he invented a painting technique to compensate for lighting differentials, skillfully balancing complimentary warm and cold colors, and using greys to capture fine gradations of natural light. No matter what conditions they are displayed under, his works appear to glow, as if they have been specially illuminated by a lighting expert.
Yen’s still lifes look extremely true to life, as if one could touch the objects in them. Take, for instance, his painting Jungle Juice, which earned second place at the Federation of Canadian Artists’ Still Life Show 2013. The grapes in the painting have a lustrous sheen and the slice of orange cantaloupe appears full of sweet juice. One can’t help but want to have a bite.
Such superb paintings earned Yen an invitation to the Annual International Representational Show (AIRS) of the FCA three years in a row. After earning a name for himself in Canadian art circles, in 2016 he was named a “senior signature member” of the federation, the first person of Taiwanese descent so honored.
Building Sutan of Crystal Dew while rising at 3 a.m. to paint overworked his muscles and accelerated their wasting. Now he often finds that he can only paint with his arms placed in hanging supports. But Yen, as if in a race against time, hopes to spend the time he has left in life in painting the beauty he holds in his mind.
In Yen’s dictionary of life experience, there is no such word as “impossible.” He has determinedly pursued his dreams, following a light that is uniquely his own.
Suffering several bone fractures, Yen overcame great pain and hardship to build Sutan of Crystal Dew, his mansion home that is an expression of love for his wife.
Sunset Harmony. Yen’s vivid landscape paintings evoke a strong sense of spatial depth. Viewers almost feel as if they could jump right inside them.
Louis Yen and his wife Susan are each other’s greatest pillar of support. In their home Sutan of Crystal Dew, which looks like the subject of a beautiful painting itself, they live their days guided by the light of hope. (photo by Lin Min-hsuan)
Louis Yen and his wife Susan are each other’s greatest pillar of support. In their home Sutan of Crystal Dew, which looks like the subject of a beautiful painting itself, they live their days guided by the light of hope.