Born in Taipei in 1955, Yu Peng’s artistic journey began after his military service, during which he spent three years as a street artist, mastering the ability to capture the essence of his subjects through quick sketches. His travels across Europe, the United States, and China shaped his artistic language, reconnecting him with the cultural and philosophical roots of Chinese art. This transformation inspired a shift in focus from Western to Eastern artistic traditions. Yu explored a wide array of media, including woodblock prints, ceramics, watercolors, sketches, and shadow puppetry, imbuing his art with literary and narrative depth. However, his ink and oil paintings remain the most iconic representations of his oeuvre. The works in this exhibition exemplify Yu Peng’s ability to transcend surface appearances, employing surreal imagery to explore metaphysical themes. His art seamlessly bridges traditional and contemporary forms, blending the textures of Western oil painting with the compositional principles of Chinese landscape art. Yu’s signature use of swirling lines and intricate structures reflects the foundation of his early sketching practice. He often distorted and transformed figures within a conceptual framework of "sketching," crafting a fantastical aesthetic that merges Eastern elegance with modern sensibilities. His artistry has received international acclaim, with works housed in esteemed institutions such as the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Berlin State Museums, and the Taipei Fine Arts Museum.

The characters in Yu Peng's paintings are often centered around nude women or celestial maidens, while men are typically portrayed as fairy-like boys or secondary figures. In Family, the arrangement of figures follows this approach. Using the bai miao (fine-line) technique, Yu skillfully outlines the figures with firm yet fluid lines, surrounded by an array of small animals and plants. The freehand forms, organized through a flat compositional layout, create a fantastical and enigmatic narrative setting. The painting’s vivid colors, dominated by orange-red tones, evoke a fiery and intense emotional atmosphere, contrasting sharply with the indifferent expressions of the characters. The style combines the grandeur and poetic resonance of Chinese ink painting with Western sketching techniques. This unique visual language, distilled from Yu Peng's personal life experiences, imbues the work with an imaginative space that transcends reality.

Yu did not come from a traditional academic background. As a self-taught artist, Yu Peng drew inspiration from traditional Chinese masters, including the Northern Song dynasty landscape painters, the Four Great Masters of the Yuan dynasty, and the Four Monks of early Qing. Meditating in the Forest (2011) portrays a dense thicket of trees in the foreground, with the faint silhouette of a meditating figure nestled among the layered foliage, evoking a serene, introspective mood. Distant mountain ranges rendered in muted gray and white tones provide a stark contrast to the vivid greens and blacks of the foreground, creating a sense of depth and ethereality.  Yu Peng’s dedication to meditation and qi cultivation, which began in 1989, infused his later works with profound Daoist undertones. Meditating in the Forest captures the Daoist ideal of harmony between humanity and nature, reflecting Yu’s spiritual aspirations during his later years and his pursuit of metaphysical unity.

Yu Peng once remarked, “Art must return to life. One must begin with personal experience before connecting with others and the environment, establishing a shared dialogue between life and art.” Through his works, Yu transformed life’s experiences into a distinct and unparalleled visual language. Often referred to during his lifetime as a “modern ancient,” Yu’s art transcends temporal and spatial boundaries, existing at the intersection of antiquity and modernity, reality and imagination. His innovative techniques and vision opened new frontiers in contemporary art, leaving an indelible mark on the history of modern art.