Beak Boys And His Friends, 2003-05

Ed Pien is a Taiwan-born, Toronto-based artist who works in drawing, large-scale paper cuts and site-specific installations, video, and public commissions. Evoking questions of the body, the archetype, and cross-cultural understanding, Pien‘s work investigates personal and cultural histories as exemplified by his Chinoiseries (2010) series of drawings sparked by 18th century ceramic designs, his Drawings on Hell (1998-2004), a long term investigation of Western and Taiwanese notions of fear and punishment, and his London drawings (2006) which explore colonial perceptions and representations. Pien is also acclaimed for his room-sized paper cuts and translucent paper and ink installations such as the Hieronymous Bosch inspired Earthly Delights (2001) held in the collection of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. His work also appears in the collections of The Canada Council Art Bank, the McIntosh Gallery in London, Ontario, the Hamilton Art Gallery, the Agnes Etherington Art Centre in Kingston, Ontario and in private and foundation collections. Pien has exhibited in Canada and internationally at significant venues such as New York’s Drawing Centre, Amsterdam’s W139, the Centre Nacional e las Artes in Mexico City, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the National Gallery of Canada. His work has also been shown in commercial galleries and artist-run centres worldwide.