Emotion, before structure.

“I am a deeply emotional person, and that intensity shows plainly in the work. A painting usually only begins once the model is in front of me — that is the moment my thinking starts to unfold. Under the pull of emotion I work quickly, truthfully and directly, often disregarding anatomical structure, texture or proportion.”

“I don’t believe art is only about expression. It is about the reflection and thought that arise in the act of expressing. Technique, to me, is a language — it lets us say precisely what we mean. Yet it is the unintended, the chaotic, the conflicted, the emotional fragments born of the need to express — that, to me, is art.”

“I am driven by curiosity — always exploring, always experimenting, drawn to the unknown and the possibilities it holds.”

Phupha (Chen Qingshan) was born in China in 1979 and began studying painting in 1995. In 2005 he set up a studio at the M50 Contemporary Art Park in Shanghai; in 2015 he moved his practice to Chiang Mai, Thailand, where he lives and works today.