Art Basel Hong Kong 2025

Yu Peng was born in 1955 in Waishuangxi, Taipei, Taiwan, and passed away in 2014. He grew up in a relatively stable postwar era. After completing his military service, he worked as a street artist in Taipei’s New Park (now 228 Peace Memorial Park), drawing portraits for visitors. His years as a street artist sharpened his quick and keen powers of observation and made him a highly skilled figure sketcher. Yu Peng’s career can be divided into three periods: early (1980–1997), middle (1998–2004), and late (2004–2014). His early output consisted mostly of drawings and watercolors. His drawing style was deeply inspired by Chen Yigeng, and the influence of Taiwanese and international artists he encountered through “Lion Art” and “Artist” magazines is also evident. In 1997, at the invitation of his friend Zheng Zaidong, he moved to Shanghai, where he lived for three years and traveled widely across mainland China. This experience greatly enriched the depth and range of his ink landscapes and figure paintings, with his “Desire Landscapes / Figures” series standing as the representative work of this period. From 2005 until his death in 2014, he continued to travel frequently between Taiwan and mainland China, taking part in numerous projects and exhibitions. Although Yu Peng is best known for his ink painting, his early drawings and pastels reveal the source of its strength: the successful transformation of Western drawing lines into the remarkable brushwork of his middle and late periods. His works are marked by originality and a strongly personal mode of expression.