10 Questions with Haoxuan Chen

Chen Haoxuan (born in 1994 in Changsha, China) studied at the Painting Department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Turin, Italy, from 2014 to 2021. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees and is currently a painter living in Changsha. Since returning to China in the autumn of 2021, he has shifted the focus of his research to the re-reading of the self, gazed at the direct expression of the identity of the subject and the object, and often looked at the positioning of the self in different fields under different circumstances with a critical eye in his works. In his work, the supposed and the real coexist and are narrated in the first person or the third person perspective of the symbol in different fields, and these narratives construct a world full of jokes, blurring the subject and the object. For example, in the work 'Bathroom Story' (2022), the subject of seeing and the object being seen are actually blurred in meaning. In Chen Haoxuan's paintings, the characters are fragile and distorted, and the realistic actions of the characters tell a kind of reality, but their meaning is another. Chen Haoxuan has exhibited his work in group exhibitions, including the Venice International Art Fair, 2021, the Genoa Biennale 2021, and the Shanghai Oil Tank Art Center, 2022.

@chxanthony

ARTIST STATEMENT

Chen Haoxuan often paints teenagers in different scenes, and those teenagers are symbolic and can be seen as his own narrative about himself. There will also be frequent images of black cats, for whom the black cat is symbolized by the other. These objects are very important to him, and they are related to them, and then uses strong colors to express their concern for their relevance.

INTERVIEW

First of all, tell our readers a little bit about you. Who are you, and how did you start experimenting with images?

I am Chen Haoxuan, born in 1994 in Changsha, China. I am currently an independent artist, and I completed my painting studies in Italy between 2014 and 2021. During my studies, I enjoyed reading and playing games. In books, I often found novel ideas, then recorded them and practiced them with painting. Later, because of the epidemic, everyone was in quarantine, so I stayed alone for a long time, and I slowly became a little anxious, so I began to pay attention to myself and alleviate my anxiety by painting. Therefore, slowly thinking about man's existence became the subject of my paintings.

Why did you choose to pursue a career as an artist? 

Because for me, engaging in art is just a simple choice.

You studied in Italy and exhibited both in Italy and China. What is your favorite experience as an artist so far?

In fact, it feels the same, but my favorite thing is to open the mailbox and find that I have been selected, which I like.

Can you tell us about your creative process? What aspect of your work do you pay particular attention to?

I like to start with an object I have a connection with and then think about my relationship with it. Or maybe I'll put myself in a scenario and see if there's a possible connection. What I pay special attention to is that what I draw must start with me.

Your paintings often depict teenagers. Where do you find your inspiration? And what messages do you want to convey?

My inspiration comes from myself, and I regret that my adolescence didn't have too much experience. Maybe I subconsciously added to my adolescence.

What about your colors? You seem to have a very defined palette, what do these colors represent for you? 

In my paintings so far, the use of color is generally two-dimensional, with either contrasting colors or single tones. Because, for me, I don't care much about the emotions that color itself refers to. I care more about the existence of color itself because the color is a tool for the embodiment of my thinking.

Is there anything else you would like to experiment with in terms of your art career?

Next, I want to draw a series of facial features and try to make my paintings into an installation, which seems to be very interesting.

You recently moved back to China. How did this influence your art? Does this move have any repercussions on how you create? 

The move back to China had a big impact on me, and I found that my paintings began to slowly become richer. Also, I often find my childhood toys or diaries at home, as if to tell me that I am still like when I was a child. So slowly, I got some degree of healing from these objects, and of course, it had an impact on my creation.

What are you working on now, and what are your plans for the future? Anything exciting you can tell us about?

I'm still painting continuously and am currently working towards a solo exhibition. Is this an exciting thing for me to be 28 years old?

Finally, what is one lesson you learned from the recent Covid-19 pandemic? And how did it help you further develop your art?

The epidemic has given me a long time to live alone. And at the beginning, I was actually very anxious, and I found that I needed to meet and communicate with others, and it was difficult to be alone. Slowly I began to try to live alone, and began to understand myself. This is important to me.