ChenXi, Chauncey
Chen Xi (b. 2000, Shenzhen, China) is a painter based in Shenzhen. He received a BA in Oil Painting from Sichuan University and an MA in Fine Art Painting from Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London.
Drawing inspiration from cartoons, urban signage, and contemporary visual culture, Chen's practice explores the relationship between image making, social reality, and abstraction. Influenced by Guy Debord's concept of the spectacle, his paintings combine saturated colour, simplified forms, and symbolic imagery to examine how visual culture shapes everyday experience.
His work has been exhibited in China and the United Kingdom and has received several awards, including the Highest Award at the 10th National (Dafen) Chinese and Youth Oil Painting Exhibition in 2021.
Selected Works
Fat Leo
Bang
Leo
Mr. Horn Star
Two Side
M....
Work Available
Manta
Cross
40.
Artist Statement
My practice departs from Guy Debord’s The Society of the Spectacle. Given that the social spectacle is to a large extent controlled by a small portion of the population, my aim is to engage in creative and unconventional production within an existing framework. During my studies in the UK, my research direction was closely tied to the notion of cartoonish abstraction. I am particularly drawn to animation that critiques social realities, such as South Park; accordingly, my palette features high saturation and high contrast, and my pictorial language tends toward flatness—shaped by my habitual viewing of cartoons and drawing comics.
At the same time, influenced by Jean Dubuffet’s Art Brut (raw art), I strive to simplify the visual surface, allowing it to become slow, honest, but also muddy and unruly. I have also studied cartoon-based and minimalist artists, including Rose Wylie, Joe Bradley, Mark Rothko, and Stanley Whitney. Early on, my subject matter revolved around the urban landscape; I often photographed street life and roadside signs. I see these reduced signs as eternal microcosms of society and as shadows of my own lived experience. Consequently, my work constitutes an exploration of simplified forms, colours, and signs.
Now I seek to strip away superfluous ornamentation, returning painting to its most elemental state of points, lines, and planes. It is simple yet complex, vulgar yet profound, humorous yet serious, clumsy yet layered, and moves continuously between abstraction and figuration—finding complexity within simplicity.
Awards & Exhibitions
2020 6th China Oil Painting Newcomer Exhibition: "Excavation & Discovery" and awarded Third Prize (Oil Painting Institute of Chinese National Academy of Arts, Art Museum of the Oil Painting Institute of Chinese National Academy of Arts)
2021 10th National (Dafen) Chinese and Youth Oil Painting Exhibition and awarded the Highest Award (Qualification for Membership) (China Artists Association, Shenzhen Longgang Red Cube Art Museum)
2021 Selected for the First "From Seville to China: Velázquez Painting & Sculpture Competition" and awarded Outstanding Prize for Young Talents (Seville City Council, Spain; CLATIA Global Art Network; Shanghai Hongqiao Contemporary Art Museum)
2021 "On Site, Online, On Scene: China Community Art Education Action Plan Exhibition" (Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Sichuan Artists Association, Chongqing Artists Association)
2021 Selected for the 10th Sichuan New Artists & New Works Exhibition (Sichuan Artists Association, Chengdu Winshare Art Museum)
2021 Selected for the 12th and 13th Annual Exhibition of Art Works by Chinese University Students and awarded Third Prize; "Indoor Series" awarded Third Prize (Beijing Sino-Visual Academy of Art, Chinese Academy of Fine Arts Research)
2021 Sichuan University Education Foundation Bojun Scholarship – College Award – Outstanding Student; 2020 Sichuan University Art Competition – First Prize (Professional Group)
2022 Rubens Colour Prize 2022 – Second Prize (Oil Painting Category) (Rubens, Shanghai Owen Art Materials Co., Ltd.)
2023 Beautiful Bay Area – Exhibition of Chinese Painting, Oil Painting and Animation Works (China Artists Association, Guangdong Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Guangzhou Art Museum)
2023 Green & Beautiful Bay Area – Invitational Exhibition of Fine Arts Works (Guangzhou Artists Association, Guangzhou Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Hall A, Ground Floor, Yujian Art Creation Center, Guangzhou)
2024 Camberwell College of Art, Postgraduate Fine Art Show, 45–65 Peckham Road, London, SE5 8UF, UK
2024 "Abstract Art", Royal Blue Gallery
2024 "Process", Millbank Tower, London, UK
2024 "Chauncey – Color and Form", South London Gallery, London, UK
2024 "Where Are We Calling From", Copeland Gallery, London, UK
2025 "Intergrowth" – The 2nd Hong Kong Youth Innovative Design Award – Excellence Award (Hong Kong Contemporary Art and Culture Research Institute, Organising Committee of the Hong Kong Youth Innovative Design Award)