Fuen Chin

Abstract Landscape, Maroon

2022

I am a visual artist based in Kedah state, Malaysia. My calligraphic artworks take inspiration from the natural landscape and plants. It is a nostalgic reflection of my childhood spent in the Chinese herbal shop. Both of my late grandparents were Chinese from Southern China with backgrounds in Chinese herbs and medicine. They ran a small herbal shop in a small town called: Sungai Petani (it means Peaceful River). It was there where I learned the importance of Chinese herbs and the stories around them. It is these stories and my visions about plants that provides an endless inspiration for the calligraphic floral paintings. “Inspired by her family’s background in Chinese herbal medicine, Fuen creates calligraphic botanical paintings with dense, rhythmic compositions and bold mark making.” – Rebecca Wilson The vision provides me an endless inspiration to developing artworks, such as: the calligraphic floral paintings series (exhibited at the Vintners Place, London, 2019), the extra-long interconnected paintings about the mangroves (captured by drone and Matterport and perform through VR technology, 2022) and upcycling worn-out fibres to make The Storytelling Wardrobe (exhibited at the London Design Festival, 2016) Starting out as a self-taught artist, I eventually studied a Fine Art research degree at the Royal College of Art. The 4 metres long storytelling painting installed on an optical canvas at the entrance corridor of the Royal College of Art Jay Mews campus, citing the following response from the panel of judges: ‘We very much enjoyed your proposal and presentation and thought there were a lot of interesting possibilities that may emerge from your works.’ I continue to develop artworks concerning the natural landscape, within a more contemporary context.