Chen uses this to introduce himself in the preface of his book, Dreaming of a New Renaissance.

A love for the land and people after thirty years of exile: Chen's head of unruly curls, his goat beard and passionate demeanor-- added to his heavily accented Mandarin with English sprinkled in--gives a distinctly "foreign" first impression. But after a while, unmistakably authentic Taiwanese slips from his lips. Thirty years abroad haven't changed his accent. Before one's eyes, the expatriate painter instantly shows his home colors.

This isn't Chen's first exhibition in Taiwan. Since his show at the Spring Gallery in 1984, Chen has held over 30 on the island. Every time he returns, he's busy juggling his shows with lectures, painting and, most of all, talking to people about neo-iconography. With the zeal of a missionary, he grabs at any opportunity to pass along his views on art to the people of his homeland--making up for the many years he was barred from coming home.

With his passionate love for his homeland, it's not hard to imagine that in the seventies, a decade of turbulent international relations for Taiwan, Chen would cast aside art and jump into the maelstrom, working for Taiwan independence. Finally, he left the World Federation of Taiwanese Associations and returned to the realm of art. Just then society and politics here were opening up. He could come back, and he brought with him the results of those many years overseas: "neo-iconography" and his so called "view of the five elements of universal culture."

His greatest love is for Van Gogh: Chen's original mentor, Huang Hun-sheng, a professor emeritus of Taipei Medical College, can talk nonstop about Chen, praising his intelligence and ability to accept new ideas. Chen's current "neo-iconography," however, caught Huang by surprise.

Chen's favorite painter is Vincent Van Gogh, and Van Gogh has also had the biggest influence on Chen. You can gauge the level of his admiration from the necktie Chen wears based on Van Gogh's Sunflowers. "When I was 14, I saw a book of prints of Van Gogh's paintings at Professor Huang's house," he recalls. "It moved me deep ly, and I decided then that I wanted to become an artist."

The art department at National Taiwan Normal University was Chen's first choice, but because of his outstanding academic record, he was specially admitted to National Taiwan University's Foreign Language Department without having to take the joint entrance examination. Making the best of the situation, he changed his plan to "first study foreign languages and then go to Paris to study art." Several years later, this goal was realized, and Chen went off with an attitude of "conquering Paris in five years and the world in ten."

When Chen got to Paris, he realized that it wasn't as easy as he had imagined. "There were 100,000 painters in Paris then. To be successful, you needed your own style." He spent five or six low-spirited years there not knowing what to paint, trying this and trying that, until he realized that the problem wasn't with his technique but with his way of thinking. "I started to research the history of Eastern and Western culture and fine art," Chen recalls, "and finally I understood the two guiding principles of cultural progress: the concepts that the pendulum always swings back and that things diverge and converge, diverge and converge."

Dream of the new little prince: Based on these ideas, Chen established his "five elements of universal culture" and began creating his "neo-iconography." Interestingly, Chen's well-known translation of the French book The Little Prince was released this same year, and he called his dream of a new renaissance, "the new little prince's dream."

And what in God's name is "the new little prince's dream"?

Chen took earth and wind to stand for Eastern culture, and water, metal and fire to represent Western culture. Put simply, "the five elements of culture" represent a merging of the occident and the orient. Taiwan not only has a heritage of 5,000 years of Eastern civilization, he holds, but is also absorbing much European and American culture. This process of creative merging is a precursor of what might happen around the world. This experience and environment is making Taiwan the cradle of a worldwide rebirth, much the way Florence was for Europe during the Renaissance.

In a nutshell, "neo-iconography," as an extension of this line of thinking, also blends Eastern and Western art.

Pointing to the not-yet-released Venus in Tahiti, Chen immediately begins talking your ear off in explanation. Venus is reposing in a South Pacific villa in front of a Mondrian screen. A Gauguinesque Iandscape beckons outside and to her right are "Fruit" by Pierre Bonnard. She wears a watch around her wrist and a television is on her bed. She is a classical beauty in a modern space. This smashing of time and space and combining of world-famous paintings is Chen's "neo-iconography."

The vanguard of post-modernism: In the eyes of art critic Lu Jung-chih, Chen's "neoiconographic" method of piecing together, copying and borrowing is one of the principal methods used in post-modernism. "But the works of art become surface forms only," she says, "and their original meaning is overlooked."

But she gives Chen credit for starting to use a post-modernist style in the early 1970s. "He wasn't a follower but one of the vanguard," Lu affirms. "He was going that direction when the movement was just starting." Leaving for future generations the question of whether his work is of any value, he does at least deserve recognition for toiling at the forefront.

Chen says that his current traveling exhibit is like "the closing of a curtain." "In the past I have chosen Western and modern themes. But from now on, Taiwan will be the main topic in the unfolding of my neo-iconography because Taiwan is my homeland." And Chen wants to make Taiwan "a center of the new renaissance."

After 30 years, Chen has not conquered Paris, let alone the world, but he still has a dream. Will the dream of this new little prince come true?

[Picture Caption]

The painting behind Chen Tsing-fang is entitled The Gleaners of the City, making reference to The Gleaners by Jean Francois Millet. The difference is that here they are gleaning aluminum cans. (provided by Chen Tsing-fang)

Chen paints at the Lungshan Temple. He plans to paint a hundred scenes in Taiwan.

Vincent Van Gogh is the painter that has influenced Chen most. He makes humorous use of Van Gogh's Self-portrait as a statement against smoking.

Chen paints at the Lungshan Temple. He plans to paint a hundred scenes in Taiwan.

Vincent Van Gogh is the painter that has influenced Chen most. He makes humorous use of Van Gogh's Self-portrait as a statement against smoking.