Paul
Chan

Paul
Chan

Chinese, born in 1973


Hong Kong artist Paul Chan categorically rejects the labelling of his art as political, but it is hard to separate it from his deep commitment as an activist. This is shown by his many works focusing on the Bush years and the horrors of the war in Iraq, or those based on the utopian socialist theories of Charles Fourier.

Chan's art is not, however, devoid of a poetic and more reflective dimension. His mysterious, strikingly beautiful Lights series is like metaphysical shadow theatre. Whatever the medium, he uses large installations, painting and video to create a world with a strong visual identity, both scholarly and sensory.

The Pinault Collection now has one of his videos, Recessionale I, which was shown in 2012 during an exhibition entirely devoted to the moving image, “Parole des Images” (“Word of Images”), at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice.
Paul Chan's artwork