Song-En Luo(1980-)
A native of the forest in Baihe, Tainan, the fourth generation of Christians.In 1999, he entered the Department of Fine Arts at Donghae University and constantly tried to make Christian art the core of his personal creation in a pure art environment.After receiving his M.A. in Art Creation, he went to the Institute of Art History of Leipzig University in Germany in 2009 to study the value of Christian art in the modern world.He returned to Taiwan in 2015 to teach painting and Western art history at his alma mater.
In addition to teaching and research, he has also continued to create paintings and write in order to open up the way for the development of Christian art in Taiwan.He has curated exhibitions such as “Creation on top of Christianity: An Attempt at Christian Art in Taiwan” and “The 500th Anniversary of the Reformation: Christian Art and Christianity in Taiwan.”
Experience
| 2007 | Graduate School of Fine Arts, Donghae University (MFA) |
| 2009－2015 | Study on the Department of Art History, University of Leipzig, Germany (Advanced) |
| 2015 – | Part-time Lecturer, Department of Fine Arts, Donghae University |
| 2016－ | Part-time Lecturer, Promotion Division, China Evangelical Theological Seminary |
Exhibition
| 2015 | Joint Exhibition and Curatorial Exhibition “Creating on the Faith of Christ: An Attempt at Taiwan’s Christian Art” / Taichung University Arts Center, Taichung |
| 2016 | Joint Exhibition / “Visual Arts III: Capital of the World, Light of Creation” / 2016 Good Ideas Festival, Taipei |
| 2016 | Individual Exhibition / “Ark at Sea – Tree of Life on the Island” / MadL Cultural Space, Taipei |
| 2018 | Joint Exhibition / Exhibition on Existence and Sense of Being – Exhibition of Works by Professor of Art at Tunghai University and Silpakorn University of Thailand / Art Center at Tunghai University, Silpakorn University, Taiwan, Thailand |
| 2019 | “Trees and Sad Songs,” Historical Materials Center, Taiwan Theological Research Institute, Taipei |
| 2020 | Individual Exhibition/ “The Bible Traveller 2020: Wrestling with Angels,” Asian Art Bookstore, Taipei |
| 2020 | Art Future Exposition “A Hundred Treasures”, Taipei |
Sailing to an Island
2014
Mixed media/Paperboard
39×88.5 cm
The image of isolated island or boat in “Sailing to an Island” repeatedly appeared in my head when I was studying in Germany. The image was always on my mind asking me to reveal it with my hands. However, why did I choose this subject to paint? I had no idea.
One time, I read a poet Min-Yung Lee’s works during my trip back to Taiwan. I finally realized why I always painted oceans and islands full of trees. One of Mr. Lee’s poetry talked about a conversation between a mother and her child. The mother narrated the scenery of Formosa. “Sailing to an Island” was not painted for this poem, but the image of this poem described gave meanings to the painting.
Staring at Disaster
2014
Mixed media
70×50／7×50 cm
The news of Israel-Gaza Conflict was never off from the headlines in summer, 2014. The missiles of Israel attacked Palestine and killed many people. The shocking images of destroyed cities urged me to response to this incident through my paintings. Therefore, I started to read the news and information about the war zone on the Internet. I decided to use pencil to draw bubbles because of its grey color. However, in the middle of my painting, Kaohsiung Gas Explosions happened and drew my attention.
With the increase of my painting time, I drew with pencil on the cardboard with different pressure. Looking at the disasters became a main purpose. Leipzig, where I was living during that time, was an old business town filled with the atmosphere of music, culture, and reading. It also had nearly two thousand hectares of green hinterland. The living and cultural condition is undoubtedly privileged. Under this condition, reading the disaster on the Internet, sad but not dangerous, made me think how to draw disasters.
Finally, I could not get an answer, but realized that this is an action with questions and it forced me to see. In other words, the meaning of “looking at the disaster” is a real existence among many harmless and interesting life incidents.
“Looking at the disaster” sublimated in my Bible devotion. One day, when I was reading Ezekiel Chapter 8, the action of “looking at disaster” was like the belief from God. “Son of man….Hast thou seen this?” Being a Christian and also an artist, I found my work ethics from the text of my belief. While I look at the unbelievably evil and hopelessness, I kept asking myself: thou seen this?
The column of peace in modern society
2014
Mixed media
70x50cm
“The column of peace in modern society” is one of the essays in“The Mythos and Logos of Taiwan’s Sunflower Movement: The Journal Collection of Public Theology“ written by the author. It is about the public art of the Unification Peace Column in Leipzig outside St. Nicholas Church in Germany. It talks about the existence of art works can be the evidence of Christian participation in society.
I use two perspective points to structure the sight of Unification Peace Column. On is when you look up to the sky, a group of angel from Revelation stands on the clouds. They symbolize a sense of the last day. The other is when you look down to the ground, the space with modern buildings; nobody will notice what happens in the sky. Unification Peace Column is an axis that divides the secular world. One side is the forest and some workers. The other side is a square with stone mosaic fountain and some modern people. The image is people using cellphones, ladies talking to each other, kids playing water, and a girl who lost both of her legs and a dog.
All these people scatter. They don’t relate to each other. They have no intersection. It is just like the Unification Peace Column in the square alone. Although it is a public art in memory of the Tag der Friedlichen Revolution (Leipzig), and the symbol of ancient church renovation, if nobody talks about the story, no one will notice and realize that faith and art are the witness of the times.
The Story of Life Tree
2019
Mixed media
75.5 x 95.5 cm
When I was doing research in Reformation art, I saw the symbols of the tree of the knowledge and the tree of life all the time. They inspired me to paint “The Story of Life Tree”. I painted it with rich colors. It also carried allegorical meanings.
For the tree of knowledge of good and evil, it is absolutely white. The ark and the snake are the corresponding symbols of good and evil; the image of the tree of life is full of colorful fruits. Its corresponding symbol is a dove with a freshly plucked leaf in its beak after the flood of waters and a peacock that symbolizes the eternity.
The entire “Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge” is arranged into a huge cross structure. It is located in the dark space of the painting. A hidden cross Karesansui is placed in the background to respond to the garden designer Mirei Shigemori who used this design in the Zuihoin of Daitokuji Temple. By using two different cross patterns created by the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge in the center and the hidden cross Karesansui in the background, the viewers can see the tree of life quietly in a meditation vibe created by the hidden cross Karesansui.
Stitch Genesis: Entering the Black Soil Area
2015
Mixed media
38.5 x 56 cm
After Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden, they had to work so hard to make a living. The new state of life was no longer a paradise of colorful trees but a dark land and soil.
The black is used here to imply that the fertilized soil under the feet is also a place where people have to constantly drift after losing the light.
Wrestling with the angel
2020
Mixed media
23x 23 cm
Ark and the Tree of Life
2013
Mixed media
33.2x 51.2 cm
Chopins funeral march: Prophet Jonah and Refugee
2018
Mixed media
77x 58 cm
Protesters 2014/2019
2014, 2019
Mixed media
38.5 x 56 cm
Genesis 7/7－Refugee and rescue boat
2016
Mixed media
19.5 x 59.5 cm
