"Abstract Diary: July #3-05"
Chin Yuen, "Abstract Diary: July #3-05," acrylic on canvas, 48" 36".
CHIN YUEN
Martin Batchelor Gallery, Victoria
Sept. 9 - 30, 2006
By Beverly Cramp
Chin Yuen’s Abstract Diary series of paintings is a response to her desire to move beyond representation and other literal forms of visual language. Previously, she explains, her focus was on figurative works that used “story telling, anatomy, and chiaroscuro to communicate.” In May 2003, the Victoria-based artist launched the Abstract Diary paintings and by the end of the year she had won the opportunity to exhibit six of her abstracts in the 2004 International Expo XXIII in Huntington NY — an event that led to successful contacts with US galleries and a write-up in the New York Times Long Island Weekly. More recently, she received the 2005 Herbert Siebner Practising Artist Award from the Community Arts Council of Greater Victoria.
Yuen says she chooses colours, textures, and movements to express pleasure, vibrancy, and luxury. The Abstract Diary paintings, produced as either small mixed-media works or large-scale acrylics, are “a more reactive, intuitive, and playful approach that embraces my love for colours and the physicality of painting.” Her intention is to engage viewers’ imaginations and invite personal interpretations.
Represented by: Martin Batchelor Gallery, Victoria; Sooke Harbour House Art Gallery, Sooke, BC; Lunar Boy Gallery, Astoria OR, in the Vancouver Art Gallery and Art Gallery of Greater Victoria art rental programs, and online at www.guild.com