“Las Vegas Centennial Series”
– 100 Painting Tribute by Master Artist, Dr. T.F. Chen

Dr. T.F. Chen – one of the last living Master Artists in the world today and Cultural Ambassador with the Friends of the United Nations and the Arts For Humanity World Tour – is captivated with his new theme – the city of Las Vegas.

After his first recent visit, Dr. Chen couldn’t get enough of Las Vegas. He cleared his busy schedule and set up a studio in LV to paint. Dr. Chen initiated his signature style of “Neo-Iconography” in 1969, which appropriates “icons” from throughout human and art history -- placing them together in contexts that defy time, space, and cultural barriers; resulting in a stunning, eclectic composition. How fitting for the City of Icons!

Dr. Chen is also known as the “Centennial Artist,” and has painted several 100-painting tributes to many of his inspirations on the occasion of their Centennials – such as “The Spirit of Liberty Series,” “Post – Van Gogh Series,” and “Jade Mountain Series.” These powerful, large-scale series have shown in museums around the world and been featured extensively in the media.

As a new part-time resident of Las Vegas, Dr. Chen once again picks up his brush and embraces the challenge of creating 100 paintings in homage to Las Vegas’ Centennial Celebration.
In the 3 short weeks that Dr. Chen set up his studio, he has already painted twenty paintings for the “Las Vegas Centennial Series.” In between lectures, worldwide exhibitions, and preparing for the Arts For Humanity World Tour, Dr. Chen aims to finish the 100 Paintings of Las Vegas within a year.

For more information, please contact Lucia Chen at (212) 966-4363.

Chen maintains studios both in New York and Taipei and has continued to work and exhibit internationally. When he is in Taiwan, Chen loves to paint landscapes that express the remarkable beauty of his beloved homeland. Although the natural environment of the “Ilha Formosa” has been affected by modernization, Chen points out that one would still be astonished by the exquisite scenery that he has experienced deep in the countryside, along the seashores and high up in the mountains.

Having toured the island countless times in his career, Dr. Chen has captured the landscape of Taiwan from north to south. Of particular interest, he has painted landscapes from Danshui, Yangming-shan, Honghsi, Yeliu, Hwalien, Kending, Tainan, Mt. Ali, Mt. Jade, and Meilong, to name a few.

Since “Tourism for Peace” has become an international movement, Dr. Chen, as the recipient of the Global Tolerance Award, would like to employ his art towards that purpose. As many of the aforementioned sites have been promoted for tourism in Taiwan, it seems that Dr. Chen’s very appropriate place to start.

Dr. T. F. Chen shows permanently in his Museum Building at 250 Lafayette Street in SoHo, NYC.

On April 20th, 2002, Dr. Chen opened his exhibit at the Jacob Gelt Dekker Institute for Advanced Cultural Studies on the occasion of the Grand Opening of Kura Hulanda, one of the newest and most dynamic World-Class Cultural Centers, located on a Dutch-Colonial UNESCO World Heritage site in Willemstad, Curacao.

Dr. Chen exhibited and lectured at the Taiwan Center in San Diego, CA; Houston, TX and in Los Angeles, CA (May 11 - July 30th 2002; January 2003).

Dr. Chen's "Jade Mountain: Love and Peace Series" is currently traveling on a three-year touring exhibition in Taiwan (July 20th, 2000 - October 20th, 2002).

On December 11th, 2001, Dr. T. F. Chen was the first artist-painter to receive a "Global Tolerance Award" from the United Nations. Dr. Chen was honored for his lifetime of work dedicated to peace, tolerance and love; and for his art of multiculturalism; a body of work expressing a shared vision of humanity. As a desig-nated "Cultural Ambassador for Tolerance and Peace" with the Friends of the United Nations, Dr. Chen is working in partnership with the FUN for a World Art Campaign called: "Building A Culture of Tolerance and Peace through the Arts."

In 1998 and 2000, Dr. T. F. Chen was invited to exhibit his masterpieces at the State of the World Forum. The State of the World Forum 2000 brought together over 1,000 key leaders from around the world in the fields of business, politics, science, technology, education, and the humanities in a combination of lectures, roundtable discussions, and social events focused on issues affecting us all. For more information on the State of the World Forum, please visit http://www.worldforum.org/.