Born 1997 | Lives and works in London, UK and Hong Kong
In her kaleidoscopic abstract paintings, Kristy M Chan (b. 1997) reflects on the banal and surprising aspects of migration and cultural displacement. In vivid jewel tones, she explores feelings of disorientation and fluidity, often embracing the humor and strangeness of living between Eastern and Western cities in our hyper-networked contemporary moment. The London-based artist, who was born in Hong Kong, works intuitively, primarily with oil paint and oil sticks. Her canvases are characterized by confident, erratic marks that attempt to structure broader passages of color. There is a tangible speed to her gestures, which are layered and effaced. She creates striations and threads of color, establishing boundaries that she overrides or pushes up against with conflicting texture and form. There are metaphors here for interpersonal and intercultural relationships, and also for digital interaction. Her brushstrokes swipe, drag, and overlay. Chan has also compared her formal approach to the Japanese floral art of Ikebana, which emphasizes negative space as an important element of composition.
Before priming her surface, Chan dusts the unprimed linen with pigment. This color is redistributed by her application of primer, which she lays down with rote, monotonous gestures. The unintentional forms that result prompt the direction she takes with a painting. She then consults a list of titles she has compiled over time — cheeky or quotidian phrases and observations — that guide her movement. Some paintings have Mandarin or Cantonese titles. “Depending on the different regional dialects, the way you experience the artwork can differ from individual to individual,” she explains. “The different titles are a reflection of the social climate of people moving around all the time…I think I have a different personality when I speak different languages.” In compositions that seem to vibrate with activity, Chan projects her own reckoning with the ways in which cultural, physical, and digital environments impact identity.
