Biography
Liu Han-Wen is a painter based in Taiwan. His subjects are cats, tigers, horses and other animals, alongside occasional landscapes and figures. He came to painting through drawing and sketching from life — years of it, at zoos, at stables, and beside his own cats — before rebuilding those studies in oil in the studio.
A canvas usually holds a single animal. The background is pared away and the light collects on the eyes, the mane, the turn of a muscle. Rather than describing an outline, he is after the instant in which the animal is thinking something.
Practice
- 2015Begins animals as a long-term subject; the Cat series takes shape
- 2019Extended sketching at stables; develops the Horse series
- 2022First public presentation of the Tiger series
- 2025The three series shown together; a personal language settles
Recent Exhibitions
- 2026Lord of the Mountain — Solo Exhibition
- 2025Art Taichung
- 2025Mane in the Wind — Works on Paper
Awards
- 2023National Art Exhibition, R.O.C. — Selected, Oil Painting
- 2021Tainan Art Award — Merit Prize
Collections
- Private collections — Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan
- Corporate collection — Taipei