Asia Art Center (Taipei) is pleased to present Every Tree, An Elf Singing, the first solo exhibition in Asia—and the artist's first outside of the United States—by Los Angeles-based artist Chase Biado, opening on April 19, 2025. The exhibition features ten new paintings that serve as an introduction to Biado’s distinctive blend of memory, fantasy, and emotion.
Biado’s paintings emerge entirely from imagination, without the use of reference images. Drawing from memory, the subconscious, and fantasy, his works explore the boundaries between the inner self and the natural world. With nature as its central theme, this exhibition expresses a romantic yearning for vitality and a quiet, introspective sensibility. Through elves, trees, and vivid, animated color, Biado opens a visual portal into his inner fantasy world, prompting viewers to reconsider their relationship with nature and to rediscover the poetic and the spiritual embedded in everyday life.
When we’re gone,
the elves who were always here will come out of hiding
from between rocks and through mirrors.
New fish will emerge, smiling.
Maybe some kind of kangaroo man will poke at our skeletons
and wonder what our voices sounded like.
What was it like to be alive?
I remember being quiet and listening to trees.
I heard dogs will eventually talk.
—Chase Biado
Throughout the exhibition, Biado continues his exploration of the relationship between nature and mythology, the inner world and outer landscapes. In Dryad, a solitary spirit-like figure quietly awaits at the edge of a forest, revealing the blurred boundary between the natural and the artificial. Dog in the Park presents a black dog framed by flowering trees and a pink cityscape—a familiar yet otherworldly presence suspended between the urban and the mythic. Alone in a Café captures a moment of quiet alienation, where a solitary figure sits amid symbolic objects, their stillness woven with narrative tension. In Reading Inside, a glowing, pupil-less figure stares out while a bird watches from the windowsill, conjuring an atmosphere of inward reflection and gentle surrealism.
Color plays a central role in Biado’s practice. From high-contrast, energetic palettes to soft, layered hues, the emotional and expressive use of color is key to this body of work. The paintings not only depict the forms of nature but convey the artist’s internal landscape, inviting viewers into a contemplative and imaginative space. Through this visual language, Biado creates a unique world that exists between reality and the fantastical—one that rekindles our attention to the everyday, the natural, and the emotive.
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Chase Biado
Chase Biado was born in 1985 in Portland, Oregon, and received his BFA from Portland State University in 2012. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles. Recent exhibitions include Liquid Night (2023) at The Pit in Los Angeles and his New York solo debut Elf Energy (2024) at DIMIN. He has also held solo shows at Noon Projects and other venues in Los Angeles. Together with artist partner Antonia Pinter, Biado co-founded the art and design duo "A History of Frogs," with whom he exhibited at the Herbert Art Museum in the UK in 2023.
