Yu Peng
born 1955
First Look
This image offers a bird’s-eye view of mountains, rocks, and clouds. The artist’s inscription notes that “green mountains are shrouded in beautiful mist and clouds,” and mentions his travels “to and fro across the Taiwan straits.” He recalls those scenes from the past and has, he writes, “new dreams.”
Tradition
Yu Peng’s search for his cultural roots took him from his native Taiwan to mainland China, where he visited Beijing, Hangzhou, and the Buddhist caves at Dunhuang, in Gansu province.
Redefined
Yu’s childhood interests in puppetry and ink and oil painting led him to develop a style so eccentric that he was denied admission into any fine arts school. Exaggeration and deliberate clumsiness yield a comic theatricality.