Mei Chen Tseng was born in Hualien, Taiwan, and has always cultivated a deep passion for literature and art, two worlds that are inseparably intertwined in her artistic vision. Her academic path began with a degree in English Literature in Taipei, but a desire to engage directly with the cradle of the Renaissance led her to Italy, where her artistic voice fully took shape. Settling between Florence and Rome, she completed studies in Painting and Printmaking, ultimately dedicating herself to the technique of wood engraving on end-grain wood. Under the guidance of master engraver Francesco Parisi, Mei Chen discovered in this demanding technique — which requires the use of burins on extremely hard wood — her ideal language, transforming the resistance of the material into a true “dialogue with matter.” Her artistic research, influenced by a Taoist vision of the world, begins with a reflection on light and shadow, understood not only as technical elements of wood engraving — positive and negative — but also as metaphors for a philosophical vision in which the engraved mark becomes a threshold between the visible and the invisible, presence and emptiness, the resistance of matter and the lightness of creative breath. From the study of Western art derives a certain naturalistic rendering of landscape and space, often filtered and transformed through concept, memory, and personal experience.
Her work has been presented in numerous exhibitions in prestigious venues, marking important stages in her artistic development. From her early solo exhibitions in Italy, such as Wood Engraving Between Two Worlds at the Embassy of Taiwan to the Holy See in Rome, she went on to participate in major international exhibitions, including the 75th Annual Exhibition of the Society of Wood Engravers at Bankside Gallery in London. In recent years, her work has been featured in exhibitions such as Immediati dintorni at the Istituto Centrale per la Grafica in Rome and Philosophical Dialogue between Lights and Shadows at Helios Gallery.
In 2024 she presented the solo exhibition Viaggi Incisi at the Società Geografica Italiana in Rome, while in February 2026 she inaugurated The Great Image Has No Form at Aleandri Arte Moderna. She has also been invited to participate in the XII edition of the Premio Sciascia.
A member of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, and a fellow of the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica Venice and Kala Art Institute, she also founded the Mei Chen Tseng Printmaking Studio in Rome and the Burin Studio in Taipei.
Selected exhibitions and publications
- 2026: Exhibition catalogue, The Great Image Has No Form.
- 2024: Artist’s book, Viaggi Incisi, edition of 105 copies with original prints.
- 2023: Exhibition catalogue, Immediati Dintorni. ISBN 978-88-941940-3-6.
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