A NOTE FROM THE FOUNDER

My wife Lucia and I were born in Taiwan during wartimes in the 1930’s. It was the so-called “ Cultural Desert” -- a time when arts and culture were scarce and suppressed by martial law. I remember as a young boy, memorizing every worn page of the 50 art books that a local dentist had smuggled in from Japan. My inspiration was Vincent van Gogh, and at age 14, I decided to become an artist. I consumed anything relating to fine art, literature or music in that impoverished time, and fed my soul with their beauty. I made my friends among those creative minds who had left us all a legacy of their masterpieces. Though everyone in Taiwan was extremely poor materially at that time, I felt that the arts made me very rich.

In fact, I was always very happy as I nurtured myself with these masterpieces and with the joy that came from my own painting and writing. I believe that immersing myself in even the little bit of art that was available at that time, made me into a passionate, intelligent, creative man with a great love and keen sensibility towards our humanity and our world.

In 1963, I earned a scholarship to study art and literature at La Sorbonne and L’Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1969, upon seeing the American astronauts land on the moon, I felt that we, as humankind, were entering into a new era, that our cultural ecology was shifting from divergence to convergence. And this oneness of our world family has been blessed by the arts. Our world culture is enriched by the creative gifts of artists of all races, of all times and space, in all media. I then established my view of “Five-Dimensional World Culture” and initiated my art style of “Neo-Iconography” – an “Art For Humanity’s sake” to reflect and encourage our new global village.

I left France in 1975 and became an American citizen in 1983. With a mixture of Asian, European, and American influences, I grew very conscious of being a “World Citizen” – an increasing phenomenon among our cultures today. This kind of conscious awakening in the individual paves a way for a Global Culture based on Love, Peace and Tolerance for all.