Young Taiwanese Realist artist – Chen Dao LEE was born in 1982 in Taiwan. He obtained his MFA from the Department of Fine Arts (Masters degree) ,National Taiwan Normal University. Between the years of 2004 – 2009, he spent time developing his craft in LA, London, Paris, Beijing, Singapore, New York and San Francisco. Chen Tao has employed a strange way to rebel against new media’s intervention in the traditional art of painting, he allows his art to become extremely “Classic”. Audiences with a brief understanding of art history can easily spot Lee’s manipulation of the subjects ‘poses in his paintings to recreate Caravaggio’s “Supper at Emmaus” (1598), or Georges de La Tour’s The Cheat with the Ace of Clubs, c. late 1620s. Therefore, people have used the words “parody” or even describe Chen Dao as” a Modern Story Teller with an Old Soul “ to describe Chen Dao’s ways of being able to tell modern stories with classical methods. In his recent series, Lee has shifted from depicting a logical scenario in his paintings to focusing on the figures entanglement, to describe emotions or relationships which are ambiguous, embarrassing or even helpless. Beautiful young women and fallen heroes frequently appear in Lee’s works as a symbol of the projection of modern people’s inner contradictions.
His solo exhibitions include 2012 HEROES, Hidari Zingaro Gallery Taipei, Taiwan, 2009 King’s Game, Aki Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan and 2009 Lee, Chen-Dao’s solo exhibition, LiLi Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan. He also participates in group exhibitions in high profile events in Japan and Taiwan. Such as Art Taipei 2012 , Young Art Taipei 2012 and 2011, 2012 Mancy’s Tokyo Art Nights, Tokyo, Japan. 2010《Geisai #14), Big Site, Tokyo, 2009《Geisai Taiwan, Taipei.
Chen Dao have received numerous awards, such as 2009 Silver Prize in Geisai Taipei#1, 2009 for the Kaohsiung Awards – Excellent Awards , Kaohsiung Awards – Observer’s Awards and 2009 Taipei County Art Awards – Excellent Awards (2009). In 2006 and 2005 , he received awards from Cathay Life Art for two consecutive years.
