Hong Kong artist’s paintings of his family and dogs show the beauty of everyday life
Chris Huen currently has a solo exhibition in Vancouver of his artworks that combine Western techniques with traditional Chinese ink styles
UK-based Hong Kong artist Chris Huen Sin-kan was recently in Vancouver in Canada to attend the opening of his solo show at the Centre of International Contemporary Art (CICA), presenting paintings of what have become familiar subject matters to those who follow his practice: his family and his dogs.
Titled “I Do Nothing Everyday”, the exhibition shows new works that feature his wife Haze, son Joel, daughter Tess and his three dogs, Balltsz, MuiMui and Doodood, standing or walking amid forest-like settings.
“I don’t really have a specific topic that I want to talk about,” the 33-year-old says. All he has done for the past decade, he says, is depict the passage of time and paint his own life.
Despite what he describes as the banality of his practice, Huen has come to be one of the most recognised of his generation of Hong Kong-born artists.
Ever since he completed his bachelor’s degree in fine arts at the Chinese University Hong Kong in 2013, his oil paintings that combine Western painting techniques with traditional Chinese ink painting styles have garnered much attention from institutions and collectors.
