HONG MEI-LING（1940-)
| 1982 | B.F.A. (Painting) San Franciso Art Institute U.S.A. |
| 1984 | M.F.A. (Painting) San Franciso Art Institute U.S.A. |
PUBLICATIONS
Picture album: Looking for Tao, MEI-LING HONG, 1983-1987
Picture album: Looking for Tao, MEI-LING HONG, 1991-1996
Picture album: Looking for Tao, MEI-LING HONG, 1996-2006
Picture album: Looking for Tao, MEI-LING HONG Solo Exhibition, Taipei City Art Museum, 2013
COLLECTION
Collection: Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, San Francisco, US
Collection: Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan & Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
Hong Mei-Ling is from Hualien, Taiwan, a graduate of Hualien Normal School in 1959. In 1977, after some years of teaching, she attended National Academy of Arts Western Painting program. After graduation, she became a student in San Francisco Art Institute(SFAI), and earned an MFA in 1984. As Hong’s art combines gorgeous colors from Western painting and the abstract aura found in Chinese thinking, she has been well-recognized; her work was twice selected/nominated by SFAI annual Spring Show, she also joined multiple local group exhibitions in San Francisco.
Although Hong resided in San Francisco for years—she confessed—despite the long paths she has walked, it was inconceivable to separate her deep Chinese cultural roots from her life engaged in Western painting; quite the contrary, her mother culture is found interwoven with her creative life in Western art. Unceasingly, her creations attempt to search for a religious, profound and pure state amidst the colorful complexities of daily life. She first painted under the theme Looking For Tao in 1983, ever since then each of her works have been titled Looking For Tao. The exploration of life paths is now her principle subject in painting .
Mountain peaks, valleys, long paths, tunnels, and stairways are main motifs in Hong’s paintings. There are layers of subtle hues under the seemingly simple, colorful shapes; in the calmly-composed layout, something about the paintings beckons one’s sight back and forth. She said, “I deem life a searching journey, chasing after one’s ideal, hence every painting in this series is a small stop on my journey looking for Tao (the Way). Every one of them is like a movement of Life’s Grand Symphony. I thus entitle them in a similar way to which movements are numbered.” For many years, Hong has been like a hermit to the art world, devoted to her creative life. As in the journey searching for the Way, she shows no fear even when facing hardness in the same way as Don Quixote, who clung to his own romanticism even during impossible situations, and voluntarily followed his dreams all the rest of his life.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
| 1985 | The Lab Gallery, San Franciso, U.S.A. |
| 1985 | Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan. |
| 1990 | Space II, Taipei, Taiwan. |
| 1990 | Dimensions Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan. |
| 2001 | Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan. |
| 2003 | Ke-Yuan Gallery. Taichung, Taiwan. |
| 2013 | Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan. |
| 2020 | YX Art Space: Looking For Tao 1985〜2019 |
JOINT EXHIBITIONS
| 1983 | Walter&Mcbectn Gallery S.F., U.S.A. |
| 1985 | Diego Rivera Gallery S.F., U.S.A. |
| 1987 | Walter&Mcbean Gallery S.F., U.S.A. |
| 1989 | Space II, Taipei, Taiwan. |
| 1991 | Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan. |
| 1991 | Dimensions Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan. |
| 1991 | Chin Shih Gallery Taichung, Taiwan. |
| 1991 | New Trends Gallery Taichung, Taiwan. |
| 1993 | Duchamp Gallery, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. |
| 1994 | Top Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan. |
| 1994 | Taipei Normal College Gallery, Taiwan. |
| 1996 | Masterpiece Art Center Taipei, Taiwan |
| 1998 | aipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan. |
| 2002 | Ke-Yuan Gallery, Taichung, Taiwan. |
| 2004 | Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan. |
| 2006 | CYCU Art Center Chung Yuan Christian University. Chung-Li, Taiwan. |
| 2008 | Tea Gallery Taipei, Taiwan |
1992
Oil on canvas
162×122cm
Looking for Tao #47
Under distant heavens,
Along endless roads,
I´ve traveled alone,
For a dream、an ideal,
I´ve crossed ranges of mountains,
I´ve passed forests of thorns,
I´ve wandered winding mountain vales,
To search for the utopia of my soul.
“Looking for the Way”is the title of my paintings.
I conceive of life as a quest in search of a dream.
Every one of my paintings represents a small stop on this journey in pursuit of this dream.
Since every piece is like a measure in “ The Symphone of Life”,
I have employed numbers to name each of my canvases.
I will continue my journey in search of the Way till my life´s end.
