Lee Chiu Yeh
Biography:
Lee Chiu Yeh, a Taiwanese artist based in New York, began her practice in traditional Chinese ink painting before transitioning into oil painting. Her work emerges from a multicultural context, where Eastern sensibilities and Western painterly traditions intersect to form a distinctive visual language.
Rooted in Chinese cultural heritage, Yeh’s early ink portraits reveal a refined sensitivity to human emotion and narrative. Her relocation to the United States—and subsequent recognition as an Extraordinary Ability artist—expanded her creative horizon, prompting an exploration of Western mediums and the integration of diverse aesthetic influences.
Yeh’s paintings are characterized by a poetic interplay between delicacy and intensity. She weaves together the soft fluidity of ink and the vivid chromatic depth of oil paint, creating compositions that resonate with emotional nuance. Nature serves as a recurring motif—wisteria blooms, canyon landscapes, koi fish, and animal forms—reflecting both her reverence for the natural world and her connection to traditional Chinese visual culture.
Her practice is marked by experimentation, incorporating mixed media, collage, and even architectural materials to push beyond conventional boundaries. This openness to material exploration enriches her work with layered textures, spatial depth, and unexpected visual contrasts.
Across both abstract and figurative modes, Yeh constructs dreamlike environments where movement and stillness coexist. These painterly landscapes invite viewers into a contemplative space, offering encounters that are at once intimate, atmospheric, and culturally resonant.
Through her continued inquiry into identity, place, and the natural world, Lee Chiu Yeh presents an artistic vision that is both deeply personal and universally evocative—one that expands the dialogue between cultures and mediums while inviting audiences into a realm of emotional and aesthetic reflection.
Exhibitions & Art Fairs:
1987
Learning Chinese painting as a student of Mr. Jinhuo Chang, who is a student of Master Zhaoshen Jiang.
Learning Chinese zhuan calligraphy as a student of Mr. Zequn Chen, who is a student of Master Xinyu Fu.
Learning Chinese calligraphy as a student of Master Tianwen Zhou.
Extending deep contact with the Taiwan aboriginal tribes to provide volunteer service.
1990
Won third award in National Youth Calligraphy and Painting Competition; by painting “Quiet ZhongShan Tomb”, collected by National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall. Go to Japan to take a sketch painting class.
1991
Won second award in National Youth Calligraphy and Painting Competition by painting “The Big Tree in Home Town”, collected by the National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall.
1992
Won the first award in the National College Calligraphy and Painting Competition, and was invited to the National Fine Arts Exhibition, Taiwan Province Exhibition, and Taipei County Exhibition. graduated from Fu Jen Catholic University. Went to Jiangsu Province, China, to ask for advice and instructions from Mr. Wenzhi Song, Mr. Zixi Wei, Mr. Dayu Chen, Mr. Baowen Fan, Mr. Yiming Feng, and Mr. Ming Ya.
1993
Landscape Painting Exhibition, Chung Ming Gallery Accepted by Mr. Baowen Fan, the Chairman of Hsu Beihong Research Institute of Jiangsu Province, as his formal student. Afterwards, I followed teacher Baowen Fan to sketch-paint around China.
1998
Visit Malaysia for sketching. Joint Chinese Calligraphy and Painting Association.
2000
Greeted the visit of painters of Chinese painting from Jiangsu province of China. Starting the program of visiting Taiwan’s aboriginal tribes to take sketch paintings this year.
2001
Visited New York, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Washington DC, USA to take sketch painting
2003
Visited places in Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto of Japan to take sketch painting.
2004
Go to the Philippines to visit the aboriginal tribes and take sketch painting
2005
Follow Teacher Baowen Fan to visit the Jianna area in China to take sketch painting.
2006
Go to the area around Yunnan, China, and visit the local minority tribes and take sketch painting.
2007
Attended PIMA seminar and had conversations with Mr. Albert VAEA, the Chairman of PIMA, to exchange opinions and experience, and Professor Sucui Ko of Queensland University, Australia. Joint Austronesian Development Association. Held an individual exhibition of heavy color ink painting by Lee-chiu Yeh.
2008
“Exhibition of Taiwan Indigenous People Culture Features in Color Ink Painting of Lee-chiu Yeh” held in the Taiwan area Fine Arts Museum, Museums, and Culture Museum. The major newspapers and TV stations carried reports on this exhibition.
2009
“Exhibition of Painting in Color Ink of Minority People Culture across the Taiwan Straits” in National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, and “Artists” magazine had a special report on the exhibition.
2010
Individual Exhibition, Nan-ning City, Guan-xi Province, China
2011
Being assigned as a member of the appraisal committee for the 4th National Indigenous Children Painting and Creation Competition.
2012
EXTRAORDINARY ARTIST GREENCARD live in New York, USA
2018
Published in the Art Tour International Art shows in New York Fall Issue 2018 – Artists for a Green Planet”.
2020
Art Tour international art show in New York
2022
Art Tour international art show in New York
2023
Published in Art Tour International Art Shows in New York
2025
Honorable finalists in Circle Foundation for the Arts contest Published in the Circle Foundation for the Arts shows in France
2026
Honorable Mention in Circle Foundation for the Arts contest
Arts shows in the Louvre in Paris
Arts shows in the Parcus gallery
Arts shows in the Gallery Makowski Hong Kong
Arts shows in the Gallery Makowski New York
Arts shows in the Switzerland Zurich
Publications:
Heavy Color Ink Painting by Lee-chiu Yeh
Taiwan Indigenous People Culture Features in Color Ink Painting by Lee-chiu Yeh Color Ink Painting by Lee-chiu Yeh
Artworks are being collected by the National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, and museums in the USA, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, New York, Paris, France, Germany, Switzerland as well as by private collectors.
Statement:
“My work begins with observing nature and listening to the quiet passage of time. My early training in traditional Chinese ink painting taught me that emptiness and stillness are expressive forms in themselves. Living in the United States expanded my artistic vision, leading me toward abstraction as a language capable of expressing both the visible landscape and the invisible emotional terrain.
My Silent Horizons series is not intended to depict a specific place. Instead, it reflects my perception of the earth, light, and the accumulation of time. Expansive fields of color and richly textured surfaces resemble geological strata, preserving traces of memory while revealing the quiet rhythms of nature. The horizon becomes more than a boundary between land and sky—it becomes a threshold where memory, perception, and inner reflection meet.
Through repeated layering, scraping, and rebuilding, each painting records the passage of time within its material surface. Rather than offering a representation of the natural world, I seek to create contemplative spaces where viewers can slow down, reflect, and reconnect with both nature and themselves.
For me, painting is not about illustrating the world; it is about revealing the silent dialogue between time, memory, and the enduring spirit of the earth.
I see painting as a quiet dialogue between the visible and the invisible. My work invites viewers to slow down, to inhabit moments of contemplation, and to rediscover the profound connection between the human spirit and the living earth”.
