Chris Huen Sin-Kan

All images taken from the Pilar Corrias website (here)

As you may know, I had a piece of work shortlisted for the second round of the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition which meant Amy and I took a trip down to London to hand it over for judging. Whilst visiting the capital we spent a lot of time walking around enjoying the lovely weather when we stumbled across an exhibition opening at Pilar Corrias on our way back to the train station. We pressed our noses to the huge glass window for a couple of minutes wondering if it was open to the public before deciding that we would regret not going in if we didn't. We walked into the contemporary gallery probably looking very suspicious as we attempted to blend in trying to draw as little attention to ourselves as possible but I'm glad we did because it was fantastic! Unfortunately, because I was so worried about the fact I was unsure if we were suppose to be there, I didn't take any photos in case someone noticed me. Therefore the images in this post are taken from the Pillar Corrias website, I hope they don't mind!

It was an opening for two emerging artists; Elizabeth Neel's 'Vulture and Chicks' and Chris Huan Sin-Kan's 'Re-Fresh'. Elizabeth Neel's work is very much interested 'in the theme of the psychological undercurrent and friction between the individual and the "landscape", be it natural, urban, ideological or emotional' which is represented by her huge abstract paintings on raw canvas. I loved Neel's  exhibition because of the organic textures captured in the process of her paintings which reminded me of the work by San Francisco based artist Heather Day. However, it was Chris Huan Sin-Kan's work that really caught my eye.

Interested in observing personal, commonplace occurrences in the domestic space, he captures the details and minutiae of everyday life. I admire his use of quick, gestural brush strokes to catch the moments of his dog Doodood or the reality of human nature before they pass, a technique far from my own but has given me some inspiration to loosen up a little when it comes to painting. Chris Huan Sin-Kan captures typical scenes from his studio/home focusing on potted plants in the corner of his room or his dog sleeping on a bed or sofa. These are the types of themes that I am becoming more interested in and concentrating on whole interior scenes of domestic spaces is something I would like to try and materialise in future paintings.

Stumbling upon this exhibition was a great way to end the day in London and it was fantastic to discover such an inspiring artist. If you also like the work of Chris Huen Sin-Kan be sure to visit his website and also check out the Pilar Corrias gallery, they have shown and are likely to show more amazing artists!