Luo-Han Chen

Degree: Fine Art MFA
University: Newcastle University
Graduation Year: 2023

New Blood Art Commentary

An afterimage comes to mind when viewing Luo-Han Chen’s paintings, almost as if one has glanced at the sun for a moment too long before looking at something else. The outline of a shell for instance, or maybe a tree, asserts itself against a dark, slightly blotchy background.

An afterimage holds the viewer even after they have stopped looking at the image. In many ways, Chen’s paintings do something similar, keeping us thinking even after we’ve stopped looking. We are left thinking about the natural world that forms the subject matter or the paintings; we consider human relation to the natural world; we ask questions of art’s ability to evoke such feelings; we contemplate the brushstrokes and mark making. In short, the image stays with us even after we’ve stopped looking.

Artist Statement

That which lies beyond human reason, we call the incomprehensible—the unpredictable randomness that operates effortlessly in non-human systems.

In my paintings, subjects are always adrift. This space might be the ocean, the sky, or the cosmos. Many of the themes I have explored before exist within these boundless, formless backgrounds.

Jellyfish are a subject I hold dear. They appear fragile and harmless, yet some are lethally venomous, and certain species can, in a way, live forever.

Their bodies blur into the water, their drifting tentacles sometimes knotting and entwining. Yet, through instinct and trial, they unravel. They part, but they are never truly separate—the boundaries of their forms remain uncertain.

People consume jellyfish; they become part of our bodies. We are intricately entwined with other non-human beings. Regardless of the subject, what fascinates me is always the presence of things within the indistinct void—a tangible image emerging from the undefined.