Kaiyan Chu
Kaiyan Chu
Plus VAT if applicable
Dad, I can beat anything, 2019
Oil on canvas
50 x 100 cm
About this work
Dad, I can beat anything is an ode to Children and their vulnerability as a group, mixed with a strong curiosity and desire to control the outside world. In this painting, the artist tries to establish a story about children, showing a dinosaur scratched on the hood of the obsolete car by a child who subsequently ran off. Chu questions where this mark-making may have come from- a cartoon the child watched, or from his own inner world? The artist is interested in what the sign says about the child: ‘He may have wanted to create this destructive incident by scratching a mark to express his inner desire to control and conquer his surroundings.’
About Kaiyan Chu
Kaiyan Chu is an artist born in Ningbo, China and obtained a BA from Minzu University of China in 2018, and an MA from Royal college of Art in 2020. Chu was shortlisted for the ‘Outstanding Overseas Young Artists Nomination Scheme’ of KuArt and won the Academic Nomination Award, and has exhibited in various institutions internationally including 508 Gallery in London and Museum of Minzu University of China in Beijing.
Kaiyan Chu’s works are inspired by his experience of adolescence, which entailed a beautiful phase in his growth. At that stage, he remembers being sensitive, pure and brave. ‘A small event could stir up ripples in my hearts’, he says, ‘and what I did is to trace those ripples. But I don't want to hold those emotions too tightly, I filter the intense parts hoping to express them in an implicit, silent and static way.’ For the artists, the medium of painting is an introverted, quiet act. His aim is not to show accuracy related to narrative but using the medium to turn to other extremes. ‘I hope that my painting can become a ground of imagination and emotion, connecting the audience and the story in the painting, or arousing another story in the viewers’ mind.’
Education
2020 Royal College of Art, London, MA Fine Art MA
2018 Minzu University of China, BA Fine Art
Selected Exhibitions
2020 Josh Lilley Gallery, London (shortlisted for the ‘Outstanding Overseas Young Artists Nomination Scheme’ of KuArt and won the Academic Nomination Award Beacon)
2020 50/50, Fold Gallery, London)
2020 RCA2020, Royal College of Art, London
2020 Art Works, Canadian National Academy of Arts & One Art Gallery, Markham
2020 Snapshot, Hockney Gallery, Royal College of Art, London
2020 National College Students' Art Exposition, Wuhan International Conference and Exhibition Center, Wuhan
2019 Youth Art 100, Guardian Art Center, Beijing
2019 Backward Reading, 508Gallery, London
2019 Life Drawing Open Exhibition, Salvation Army Hall, London
2019 Ten Thousand Green Art Fair, Block Sixteen Innovation Garden, Shenzhen
2019 WIP Show, Royal College of Art, London
2018 Graduation exhibition of Academy of fine arts of Minzu University of China, Art Museum of Minzu University of China, Beijing
2016 Fog, Museum of Minzu University of China, Beijing