Able artistry

Multi-talented Taiwanese artist Leland Lee paints from the depths of his soul; profundity and richness of colour ooze from the images he alone can portray with such intensity.

Taiwanese artist Leland Lee with his mother Karen. Lisa Lin

Diagnosed with autism at the age of 18 months, his talent with the paintbrush was first discovered by his kindergarten teacher in Los Angeles, where he was born. Since then, he has, thanks in part to the dedication of his mother Karen, grown from strength to strength to become one of Asia's most promising painters.

The 30-year-old's signature artworks are full of colour and imagination. People, things and daily events captured in his artworks are often augmented and suspended in mid-air, covering the whole canvas.

Born and raised in the United States, where his father worked for Nasa, Lee attended the Los Angeles Conservatory of Fine Art between the age of six and 17, when his family relocated back to Taiwan.

His art exhibitions have not just featured in Taiwan but also in the States and Europe, and talks are under way to bring Lee's work to Thailand this year.

The artist's designs are also used on suitcases and merchandise packaging for Taiwan's famous, decades-old Astoria Café, founded by his maternal grandfather Archiybold Chien, a respected figure in Taiwanese cultural circles.

The mother-son duo was recently in town for the 15th Asia Pacific Conference of Giftedness. An adorable character, Lee's love for people is the first thing you notice about him. His eagerness to converse makes him an easily approachable person.

But his success today is a far cry from where it all began.

"Before he could speak, Leland was already drawing. He was born sickly. After we were told he had autism, a condition we had never heard of, doctors said he would never be able to walk and function properly in society," recalled his mother Karen.

"Needless to say I just could not get my head around the severity of the condition. My life fell apart and I became depressed."

Driven by her strong faith in God, coupled by the support of professor Ching-Chih Kuo of the National Taiwan Normal University, who took a genuine interest in Leland's development, Karen embarked on a journey with her son that saw him slowly develop into not just a promising painter, but a socially outgoing person. It was under Professor Ching's guidance, said Karen, that he blossomed.

"It is because of Leland's medical conditions that I became a Christian, and in doing so, I received God's assurance that I need not worry about my son's future, because God had it under control. This gave me the ability to take things a day at a time, even though it was an uphill battle, I knew I wasn't alone in this."

Lee hasn't allowed autism to stop him from sharing his passion for life. Through his unfettered, rainbow-like pieces of work and designs of hearts buried in numerous of his paintings, he offers the audience a glimpse into the abundant love in his heart.

Lee's art is composed of animated colours and liberating lines, often depicting common everyday activities from his perspective. Karen Kang

In the last decade, he has received a number of accolades, including "Certificate of Appreciation for Unofficial Diplomacy" by the department of NGO International Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taiwan. Prior to this, he was awarded the Ten Outstanding Young Persons trophy.

The LA Times also included him in a list of 100 remarkable kids, gifted and talented in visual arts from the Conservatory of Fine Art.

He has also rubbed shoulders with a number of dignitaries, including Pope Francis in Rome, where he gifted an artwork to him.

To get to know Lee's work, we looked at a couple of his exhibits. Three in particular which caught our eye were titled Scream, City Series and Moose And I Series (Moose).

Scream was inspired by his trip to a Picasso exhibition. It becomes obvious that the commotion that took place during his visit constituted a significant auditory stimulation for the painter.

The work boldly reflects the struggles he faces in daily life, especially when faced with high levels of noise of verbal interaction, which leave him with an overwhelming sense of helplessness.

City Series, on the other hand, is more lighthearted; lit up beautifully by an assortment of colours that portray bursts of emotion the artist felt on his visits to numerous cities around the world. His version of this experience is uniquely packaged with artistic twists added to the details in the frame.

Lee's work on the Moose series depicts the time he returned to Taiwan. Moose, which he paints with antlers, have become a constant fixture in his paintings; symbolising the projection of his own self-image.

Lee's creative approach could be best described as a magician that works with paintings. As he is a painter at heart, it becomes pretty obvious in most of his artwork that his creative process is not a structuralised one, which works for his benefit.

There are few that leave Lee's exhibitions without a smile. This could very well be because he makes it a point to portray the subjects in his paintings in pleasant setting, revealing the artist's thoughts on the meaning of "being alive".

Thanks to the positive experiences the Taiwanese artist has had in life, Lee seems to understand the joy of life quite well, making it a common theme in most of his work.

Emotionally stronger today, his mother Karen wants society to focus on ability rather than disability. While not all autistic people can become a Leland Lee, with love and attention, they can live productive lives.

"30 years ago, people had little knowledge about autism; there was also no internet to search for information," said the mother. "What added insult to injury was the persecution I received as the mother of an autistic child in Taiwan. Society blamed me for not doing more to avert this from happening to my son. I am slowly learning that this is not true and that I should not blame myself for it."