1977  Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao was born in Taiwan and immigrated to the U.S. in 1999 at the age of 22. There, he immediately took residence in Queens, New York, in close proximity to the 7 subway line, dubbed by the New York City Department of City Planning as the “International Express.” He earned an MFA from School of Visual Arts and a BFA from Pratt Institute. Liao’s renowned Habitat 7 series, for which he received critical acclaim, stemmed from his master’s thesis at SVA. Taken over the course of two years, Liao depicted the ethnic diversity of the communities along the 7 train subway line on its seven-mile route from Manhattan to Flushing. Liao has won the New York Times Magazine “Capture the Times” photography contest in 2005  with his work from the Habitat 7 series. After this major debut, Liao extended his perimeters to other areas that show the city as a constantly changing organism.

2012  Liao won the Emerging Icon in Photography Award from George Eastman House.

For more than a decade Liao has researched and documented the social landscape and complex chemistry of New York City. Over the years he has transitioned from large format film to digital photography, perfecting his method of stitching together several exposures to create one continuous panoramic image that vividly reflected the photographer’s observations that day.

Liao has extensively photographed the five boroughs, including projects such as Depth of Fields, Grand Concourse (commissioned by the Bronx Museum of Art), and Coney Island, all of which will be included in his latest solo exhibition at the Museum of City of New York.

Liao’s work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions, and can be found in the permanent collections of several institutions such as the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston; Queens Museum, NY; Brooklyn Museum, NY; J. Paul Getty Museum, LA; George Eastman House-International Museum of Photography and Film, NY; the Norton Museum of Art, FL; JGS Howard Stein Collection, NY; The Pilara Foundation Collection, SF; Allen G. Thomas Jr. Collection, NC; and Deutsche Bank art collection.

His first monograph, Habitat 7, essay by Anne W. Tucker, was published in 2008 by Nazraeli Press, which also published his second monograph, Coney Island, in 2013. 2014 October, Aperture Foundation published his third monograph, Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao: New York, encompassing his work in New York for the past 10 years.

Liao has lectured on his work and process at several institutes, including International Center of Photography, NY; J. Paul Getty Museum, LA, George Eastman House; Kentucky Art Museum; School of Visual Art, NY; Aperture Foundation, NY, and the Museum of the City of New York.

Education

2003  Pratt Institute of Art and Design, Brooklyn, NY B.F.A. Photography

2005  School of Visual Art, New York, NY M.F.A. Photography and Related Media Selected

Exhibitions

Solo show

2017  24 Solar Terms: Central Park Michael Foley Gallery

2015  Recent works, Frieze Art Fair New York. Deutsche Bank's VIP Lounge

2014  “Assembled Realities” , Museum of the City of New York

2013  New York City Building Time Lapse, 2009 – 2013, Queens Museum of Art.

    MTA Arts for Transit: Atlantic Avenue Light box project Greetings from Coney Island.

2012  Widely Different: New York City Panorama, South Street Seaport Museum (Two person)

2011  Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao, The Peter and Carmen Lucia Buck Foundation, NY

          MTA Arts for Transit: Light box project 7 X 7: Views Along the 7 Line

2010  Urban Panoramas, J. Paul Getty Museum, CA (Three Person show)

          BQMB, Julie Saul Gallery, NY

          Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao, Kentucky Art Museum, KY

2009  Grand Concourse at 100, Bronx Museum of Art, NY

          Habitat 7, Citibank, Long Island City, NY

2008  Habitat 7, Houston Center of Photography, 2008 FOTOFEST, Houston TX Visions of America, Crane

          Kalman Brighton, UK

2007  Habitat 7, Bulova Corporate Center, NY

2006  Habitat 7, Queens Museum of Art, NY

  Habitat 7, Julie Saul Gallery, NY

2003  Nature / Nurture, Steuben Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

Group show

2019  Psychogeography: Spiritual and Aesthetic, Hewitt Gallery of Art, Manhattan, NY

2018  Seeing the Worlds, Deutsch Bank, Manhattan , NY

2017  7 Line Subway Exhibition, New York Transit Museum, Brooklyn, NY

  Shifting Perspectives: Photographs of Brooklyn's Waterfront Brooklyn Historical Society

2016  NY at its CORE Museum of City of New York

2015  Aperture: Photographs Avenue of the Americas Gallery in New York

  Wild Noise: Artwork from The Bronx Museum of the Arts and El Museo Nacional de

  Bellas Artes at El Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes

  Time Present: International Photography from the Deutsche Bank Collection Touring Asia, National Gallery of Modern Art in 

  Mumbai

2014  Time Present: International Photography from the Deutsche Bank Collection Touring Asia, SingaporeArtMuseum

  Of Time and Buildings, George Eastman House, Rochester, NY

2013  A Beautiful Way to Go: New York's Green-Wood Cemetery, Museum of City of New York

  After Photoshop: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston TX

  0 to 60: The Experience of Time through Contemporary Art, North Carolina Museum of Art

2012  SVA Alumni Show Myths & Realities by Kathy Ryan and Scott Thode, School of Visual Art Gallery

  From Farm to City: Staten Island, Museum of City of New York 2011 New York, New York!

   The 20th Century, Katonah Museum of Art 2011 25 Years/25 Artists, Julie Saul Gallery, New York

2008  Rethinking Landscape: Photography from the Allen G. Thomas Jr. Collection, Taubman Museum of Art, VA

          Photoscapes, Kinz, Tillou Feigen, NY

2007  Habitat 7, Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie, Arles 2007 Vital Signs: Place, George Eastman House, Rochester, NY

          2007 Big Picture, Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL 2007 CHINA seen by..., University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI

2006  Depth of  Field, Pratt Manhattan Gallery, NY

2006  HotPics/06, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY

2005  See What I Mean, Visual Art Gallery, NY

2004  Nexus: Taiwan in Queens, Queens Museum of Art, NY

Awards

2012  Emerging Icon in Photography Award, George Eastman House

2006  New Photographers to Watch, PDN 30, Photo District News

2005  New York Times Magazine 2nd Annual "Capture The Times" Winner

Publications

2017  24 Solar Terms: Central Park, Nazraeli Press

2014  Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao: New York, Aperture

2013  Coney Island, Nazraeli Press

2007  Habitat 7, Nazraeli Press

Commission projects

2009  Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY 2010 New York Mets

2012  2016  Museum of the City of New York, NY 2012 Queens Museum of Art, NY

2014  Deutsche Bank Collection, New York, NY

2017  The Montefiore Fine Art Program and Collection

2017 / 2018 / 2019  Citibank Collection, Long Island City, NY 2019 Joan Mitchell Foundation, NY

Collections

The Art Museum at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY

Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY

Citibank Collection, Long Island City, NY

Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH

Deutsche Bank Collection, New York, NY

George Eastman House, Rochester, NY

The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX

Museum of the City of New York, NY

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO

Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL

North Carolina Museum of Art, NC

Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) of Salem, MA

Queens Museum of Art, NY

Rose Museum at Brandeis University, MA

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Yeshiva University, New York, NY

Ronay and Richard Menschel Collection, NY