Chris Huen Sin Kan: Puzzled Daydreams

Online Exhibition
Scroll

Simon Lee Gallery is proud to present Puzzled Daydreams, a solo exhibition by Hong Kong-based artist Chris Huen Sin Kan. Bringing together new paintings and works on paper, this exhibition launches Simon Lee Gallery’s new Online Viewing Room, available to view exclusively online from Friday 3 April.

Huen’s largescale oil paintings are derived from observation of his own life, portraying quotidian experiences through a fresh set of aesthetic strategies that bring the domestic and surreal into compelling partnership. His technique, imbued with both deft abstraction and the hallmarks of traditional Chinese ink painting, involves layering one dab of paint over another until the pattern on the canvas echoes the spirit of the scene. The blank spaces and fragmented forms give voice to a specific moment and the way it exists, or perhaps escapes the artist’s consciousness.

From his studio in leafy Yuen Long, north of the dense urban centre of Kowloon, Huen depicts a cast of recurring characters including his wife Haze, two children, and dogs Balltsz, MuiMui and Doodood. His dream-like pictures evolve organically and haphazardly; the artist forgoes underdrawings and sketches, and rather than paint from a photograph or from the scene itself, favours intuition by opting to eternalise transient moments from feeling and memory. Depicting what has been seen but perhaps forgotten, Huen’s intuitive exploration of perception flows with a deep sensitivity and alchemy of recognition, attaining a specific resonance steeped in individual sensation and shared experience.

In his new work, Huen investigates the ‘specious present’, a concept first defined by E. Robert Kelly in the 19th century. The present is experienced via the accumulation of every passing second; it is a past so recent that while we term it as the present, it would be better explained as the ‘specious present’. As such, the ‘specious present’ is a collection of all the moments that make up the short duration of which we suppose ourselves to be constantly sensible. The same phenomena occur with sight. As we look into space – especially a space in which no specific event occurs – we establish our understanding of what’s in front of us by bringing together different perceptions from disparate, very recent moments. This theory resonates with Huen’s own impression of how we experience time and space, as explored by the tumbling perspective and all-over composition of his paintings.

Installation Views
Artwork: Chris Huen Sin Kan, Joel and Haze, 2020

Chris Huen Sin Kan

Joel and Haze, 2020
Oil on canvas
200 x 240 x 5 cm (78 3/4 x 94 1/2 x 2 in.)
Artwork: Chris Huen Sin Kan, Doodood, MuiMui and Balltsz, 2020

Chris Huen Sin Kan

Doodood, MuiMui and Balltsz, 2020
Oil on canvas
200 x 320 x 5 cm 78 3/4 x 126 x 2 in

His technique, imbued with both deft abstraction and the hallmarks of traditional Chinese ink painting, involves layering one dab of paint over another until the pattern on the canvas echoes the spirit of the scene. The blank spaces and fragmented forms give voice to a specific moment and the way it exists, or perhaps escapes the artist's consciousness.

Artwork: Chris Huen Sin Kan, Haze and MuiMui, 2020
Artwork: Chris Huen Sin Kan, Balltsz and Joel, 2020
Artwork: Chris Huen Sin Kan, MuiMui, Balltsz and Joel, 2020

Depicting what has been seen but perhaps forgotten, Huen's intuitive exploration of perception flows with a deep sensitivity and alchemy of recognition, attaining a specific resonance steeped in individual sensation and shared experience.

Artwork: Chris Huen Sin Kan, Haze and Joel, 2020

Chris Huen Sin Kan

Haze and Joel, 2020
Work on paper
29.7 x 42 x 16 cm 11 3/4 x 16 1/2 x 6 1/4 in
Artwork: Chris Huen Sin Kan, Doodood, Balltsz and MuiMui, 2020

Chris Huen Sin Kan

Doodood, Balltsz and MuiMui, 2020
Oil on canvas
200 x 240 x 5 cm 78 3/4 x 94 1/2 x 2 in
Installation Video
Play
Pause
About Chris Huen Sin Kan

Chris Huen Sin Kan was born in 1991 and lives and works in Hong Kong. He obtained a BA in Fine Arts at The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2013. Recent solo exhibitions include Simon Lee Gallery, New York, NY (2018); Pilar Corrias Gallery, London, UK (2017, 2016); Nanhai Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan (2015) and Gallery Exit, Hong Kong (2015, 2014). Group exhibitions include Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre, Hong Kong (2017); Simon Lee Gallery, Hong Kong (2016); Leo Xu Project, Shanghai, China (2016); Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing, China (2015) and Parasite Art Space, Hong Kong (2015). His work is held in private and public collections, including Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing, China.

Download Press Release in English

Download Press Release in Chinese

Learn more about Chris Huen Sin Kan

Receive information on available works by Chris Huen Sin Kan

Basket

No items found

Viewing Room

Please provide your contact information to view this page.
By submitting this form you will be added to our mailing list.

* denotes required fields

We will process the personal data you have supplied to communicate with you in accordance with our Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe or change your preferences at any time by clicking the link in our emails.