Lee Chun-yi

born 1965 Kaohsiung Taiwan

lives in Taoyuan City Taiwan

Lee Chun-yi is a cosmopolitan Taiwanese artist who moved to Hong Kong at the age of five. Lee’s formative years, spent in Hong Kong, saw him study art under the great master Liu Kuo-sung at Chinese University of Hong Kong. Lee then pursued doctoral studies at Arizona State University in the US before returning to Taiwan to embark on an artistic career.

With a revolutionary method departing from the conventional use of a paintbrush, Lee employs calligraphy through the use of Chinese seals and ink rubbings. He carves Chinese characters into pieces of softwood to form chops, then stamps them repetitively on paper to form a semi-photographic image. Literally building up a visual composition through words, his paintings function as symbolic poems, with the strength of the stamp indicating the intended tone of expression.

Lee has participated in over 70 group and solo exhibitions internationally, including Los Angeles County Museum of Art's major exhibition Line, Form, Qi: Calligraphic Art from the Foundation INK Collectionin in 2025. He also co-curated the 10^th Beijing International Art Biennale: International Contemporary Ink Art Special Exhibition in the same year.

His works have been collected by the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford University, UK; Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Harvard University; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach; Phoenix Art Museum, USA; Jiangsu Art Museum, Nanjing; Qingdao Art Museum, Shandong; National Arts Education Institute, Taipei; Hong Kong Museum of Art, and other public and private collections.

BIOGRAPHY

1965 Born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan
1970 Moved to Hong Kong
1988 BA, major in Fine Arts, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong; studied painting with Liu Kuo-sung
1997 MFA, Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan
2004 MA, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
2009 PhD in Chinese Art History, Arizona State University, Tempe, USA
Post-doctoral fellow, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, USA
2011 Associate Professor, Department of Fine Arts, National Taiwan NormalUniversity, Taipei, Taiwan
2015 Published An Artistic Exploration of Postcolonialism: The Creative Concept of Lee Chun-yi’s Modern Ink Painting, Yuan-Liou Press, Taipei, Taiwan
2019 Published Within and Beyond the Shores: Lee Chun-yi’s Postcolonial Cultural Analysis of Contemporary Ink Art, Yuan Liou Press, Taipei, Taiwan
Participated in a Dialogue between Liu Kuo-sung and Lee Chun-yi: The Cultural Inheritance of Contemporary Ink Art, Ink Asia, Hong Kong
2021 Published Heartprints of Taiwan: Lee Chun-yi’s Contemporary Ink Art, Artist Publishing Co., Taipei, Taiwan
2022 Became a professional artist
2025 Co-curator, 10^th Beijing International Art Biennale: International Contemporary Ink Art Exhibition, Beijing Exhibition Centre, Beijing, China
Present Lives and works in Taoyuan, Taiwan

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024

Mountain Moved Heart Moved: The Art of Lee Chun-yi, Mingshan Art, Taipei, Taiwan

2021

Heartprints of Taiwan: Lee Chun-yi's Contemporary Ink Art, Mingshan Art, Taipei, Taiwan

2019

Enriching Steles: Ink Art by Lee Chun-yi, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong
Squared and Stamped: Ink Art of Lee Chun-yi, Fu Jen Art Gallery, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City, Taiwan

2018

Between and Beyond the Shores: The Art of Lee Chun-yi, Mingshan Art, Taipei, Taiwan 2015
Ink Re-Form: The Art of Lee Chun-yi, Mingshan Art, Taipei, Taiwan

2014

Squaring Things: Ink Paintings by Lee Chun-yi, National Taiwan Arts Education Centre, Taipei, Taiwan

2011

Hundreds of Blossoms, Michael Goedhuis, London, UK

2010

Whispering Pines, Soaring Mountains: Ink Paintings by Lee Chun-yi, Chinese Porcelain Company, New York, USA

2000

Wordplay: Paintings by Lee Chun-yi, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong

1999

The Four Seasons Paintings by Lee Chun-yi, Exhibition Galleries of Shatin and Tuen Mun Town Halls, Hong Kong

1997

Crying Mountains: Paintings by Lee Chun-yi, Yi Zhi Tang Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan Arts Center of Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan
Red Earth Art Center, Beijing, China
Shi Jr Tang, Taipei, Taiwan

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2025

Fine Art Asia, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
Line, Form, Qi: Calligraphic Art from the Foundation INK Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA
Art of the Word: Calligraphy and Chinese Artists, Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida, USA
Reconstructed Realities: Gu Gan, Lee Chun-yi, Wucius Wong, Alisan Fine Arts, New York, USA
ART SG, Alisan Fine Arts, Sands Expo & Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

2024

Themes and Variations, Alisan Fine Arts, New York, USA

2023

2023 Hengshan Calligraphy Biennial Exhibition, Taoyuan Museum of Fine Arts, Taoyuan, Taiwan
Beyond Tradition: The Metamorphosis of Chinese Art, Alisan Fine Arts, Cromwell Place, London, UK
Ink Asia & Fine Art Asia Special Project: The Aesthetics of Wandering, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
Ink Alchemy: Beyond Tradition, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong
Cynical Playfulness: Visual Representations of Taiwan in Contemporary Ink Art, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University Library, Hsinchu, Taiwan

2022-2023

By the People: Creative Chinese Characters, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong

2022

A Tradition Redefined: Gifts from the Li Family Collection of Chinese Painting, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, USA
Asia Now - Paris Asian Art Fair, Alisan Fine Arts, Monnaie de Paris, Paris, France
Past & Present Landscapes, Art Basel Hong Kong, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
Charting A Kun Island: A Pre-Exhibition of 400 Years of Fort Zeelandia, Tainan Art Museum, Tainan, Taiwan

2021

Art Taipei, Taipei World Trade Center, Taipei, Taiwan

2020

Brushless, Alisan Fine Arts-Aberdeen, Hong Kong
Longing for Nature: Reading Landscapes in Chinese Art, Museum Rietberg, Zurich, Switzerland
Taipei Dangdai Art & Ideas Contemporary Art Fair, Alisan Fine Arts, Taipei Nangang Exhibition Centre Taipei, Taiwan

2019

Brushing Nature Landscape Paintings, Ink Asia, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
Generation Differences: The Mainstream Variation of Taiwan, Tainan Municipal Cultural Centre, Tainan, Taiwan

2018

Beyond Ink, China Art Museum, Shanghai, China
The Voice of the Brush Part II, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong

2017

Memories Interwoven and Overlapped: Post-Martial Law Era Ink Painting in Taiwan, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan
Corner & Field: Shenzhen Art Museum Contemporary Art Exhibition 2017, Shenzhen Art Museum, Shenzhen, China

2016

The Literati Within, Sotheby’s S|2 Gallery, New York, USA

2015

Anti-Grand: Contemporary Perspectives on Landscape, Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art, Richmond, USA

2014

Visions of the Present: Chinese Contemporary Ink, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong

2013

Exhibition of Taiwan Artists Originally from Shandong, Shandong Museum, Jinan, China

Noirs d’Encre. Regards Croisés, Fondation Baur, Musée des Arts d’Extrême Orient, Geneva, Switzerland

2012

Ink: The Art of China, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
International Ink Painting Exhibition, Chung Shan National Gallery, National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Taipei, Taiwan

2011

International Paper Art Exhibition, Chung Shan National Gallery, National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Taipei, Taiwan
7th International Ink Painting Biennial of Shenzhen, Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Shenzhen, China

2010

Legacy and Creations: Ink Art vs Ink Art, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
Brush and Ink Reconsidered: Contemporary Chinese Landscapes, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, USA

2009

Mountains of the Mind: Classic Chinese Stones as Muse for Modern and Contemporary Landscapes, Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, USA

2008

Hong Kong Art: Open Dialogue Exhibition Series II- New Ink Art: Innovation and Beyond, curated by Alice King, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong
A Tradition Redefined: Modern and Contemporary Chinese Ink Paintings from the Chu-tsing Li Collection, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix; Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, USA

2007

3rd Chengdu Biennial: New Trend of Contemporary Ink Painting · Ink Works from Taiwan, Chengdu Contemporary Art Museum, Chengdu, China
The New Face of Ink Paintings: Modern Ink Painting Group Exhibition, Central Plaza, Hong Kong
Contemporary Trends in Chinese Ink Painting, The Chinese Porcelain Company, New York, USA
New Ink School: The Master and the Student, Leda Fletcher Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland and Shanghai, China
A Tradition Redefined: Modern and Contemporary Chinese Ink Paintings from the Chu-tsing Li Collection, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, USA

2006

The New Chinese Landscapes, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
Abandon and Adhering: International Modern Ink Painting, Asian Arts Gallery, Center for the Arts, Towson University, Maryland, USA
International Modern Brush Painting Exhibition, Chinese Cultural Center, San Francisco, USA
Contemporary Hong Kong Ink Painting Exhibition 2006, Hong Kong Central Library, Hong Kong
The 1st Taipei Contemporary Ink Painting Biennial, Chung-shan National Gallery, National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Taipei, Taiwan

2005

Treasured Objects of the Literati, Hong-Gah Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
Shuimo: Liu Kuo-sung and His School, Step Gallery, Arizona State University, Tempe, USA

2004

Ink Painting Exhibition: Contemporary Taiwan Ink-Wash Paintings, Chengdu Modern Art Museum, Chengdu, China
Contemporary Ink Painting from Taiwan, Guangdong Art Museum, Guangdong, China

2003

Spring in Sichuan, Summer in Shangdong: Hong Kong Modern Chinese Ink Painting Joint Exhibition, Chengdu Modern Art Museum, Chengdu; Qingdao Art Museum, Qingdao, China

2002

Hong Kong Cityscapes: Ink Painting in Transition, Brunei Gallery, University of London, London, UK
Beauty of the Ink, Shanghai Chinese Painting Institute, Shanghai, China

2001

Modern Chinese Art: Khoan and Michael Sullivan Collection, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford University, England
3rd ROC Modern Ink Painting Exhibition, National Taiwan Arts Education Institute, Taipei, Taiwan
The Way of Shuimo: Exhibition on Hong Kong Modern Chinese Ink Painting Association Silver Jubilee Anniversary, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Hong Kong

2000

Contemporary Chinese Paintings from Taiwan, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
Chinese Contemporary Ink Painting Exhibition: New Approaches, National Taiwan Arts Education Institute, Taipei, Taiwan
New Century of Chinese Ink Painting: Exhibition of Chinese Ink Painting from Hong Kong and Taiwan, Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre, Hong Kong

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, USA
Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, USA
Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, USA
Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Eugene, USA
Denver Art Museum, Denver, USA
Jiangsu Provincial Art Museum, Nanjing, China
Qingdao Art Museum, Qingdao, China
Shandong Museum, Jinan, China
National Arts Education Institute, Taipei, Taiwan
Tainan Art Museum, Tainan, Taiwan
Taoyuan Museum of Fine Arts, Taoyuan, Taiwan
Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong