In 1983, Lo Chan Peng was born to his parents in the small town of Chiayi, Taiwan. After graduating from the Chinese Culture University and National Taiwan Normal University with an MFA in Western Painting, he became known worldwide as a master of realism. He has received plenty of awards and accolades, such as the Art Renewal Centre People’s Choice Awards (2020), Purchase Aware, Honorable Mention, The Chi-mei cultivation Awards (2007), and the Kaohsiung Award (2008).
Lo has been working as an artist in worldwide institutions such as ARC Salon, Sotheby’s NY (2021), European museum of modern art, Barcelona, Spain (2021), and Berlin (2021). He completed his Artist Residency in Berlin, Germany (2011), and at El Segundo Museum of Arts in LA, USA (2013).
Lo paints in layers, a traditional oil painting method. A technique used by Jan van Eyck, a great artist from the Netherlands who lived in the fifteenth century. To elaborate, painting with numerous layers is referred to as “painting in layers.” Here, the term “many layers” refers to multiple layers of oil paint on the canvas rather than a large number of color gradations. Transparent and opaque areas between layers produce optical dyeing colors and light reflection, two distinct effects of light. He sees this trait as a potent allegory for the passage of time. The color layer resembles a rock formation that took years to build. Lo explains that “a long period of time has been congealed in one second as soon as the viewer looks at the painting.”
One of the biggest challenges he faces is ‘time’ itself. The process of his artwork always consumes a lot of time; usually, it takes him months to complete. He has the impression that everyone else is moving ahead while he remains stagnant. He sees the world advancing through the window, giving him the belief that he is on a fast train. Only when he is reading or traveling does this feeling go away. Other than that, he has a distinct sense of time.
“The concept of Life and Death also shows in my works,” expresses Lo. A body with two sides- life and death. One lives but endures constant tribulations while dying with boundless inner force. He believes that life’s force is revealed by death, but life continually moves toward death. Lumiére stands for his revised perception of the nature of life and death. Amid those distinctions are all of his inventions. Before our lives come to an end, they are a mystery game. After the untimely passing of his ex-wife, it took him some soul searching before he started painting again as he wanted to share it with people—his redemption is Lumiére.
“From now on, life and death, chaos and order, piousness and sacrilege, release and imprisonment, the incomprehensible gap exist between here and this shore and the other, all those differences are now merging into a single. All my creations are in the middle of those differences. They are a mysterious game before we reach the end of our lives,” says Lo
The horrifying anecdote of how our ideas are constructed from layers of “social notion.” An unintentionally seen news image served as the inspiration for Children of Syria. The image of the lifeless bodies of Syrian children stacked up like a small hill stunned him. The sense of melancholy emanates from the photographs. Although their lives have been cut short, he could still sense the power of life. Through his art, he demonstrates his concern for those deceased children. “The meaning of layer does not only signify the issue of time, but also issues such as faith, culture, gender, race, and nationality,” says Lo.
Lo’s recent exhibitions include ‘From hyperrealism to reality – Lo Chang Peng Solo Exhibition’ (Taipei, 2020). He has also attended International Art Fairs held worldwide, such as in London, Tokyo, Osaka, Busan, Seoul, Moscow, Singapore, Taipei, etc. Galleries, museums, and collectors worldwide have acquired his paintings, such as ESMoA, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Chi-met Museum, and Union Culture Foundation.