Guanyi Chen Chinese, b. 2001

Guanyi is a painter whose work, astonishingly detailed and meticulous, is a meditation on the nature of systems - how they emerge, evolve, and ultimately reflect the delicate balance between order and chaos, precision and imperfection, the universal and the particular. She is particularly attracted to the imperfections found in those rhythms; where, how, and why they arise, and what impact they might have on the greater whole.

 

Her paintings respond to all manner of systems, processes, and patterns, from the movement between conscious and subconscious thought (When That Zone Brings Me Timelessness, What Else Is There?, 2024) to ancient Chinese divination practices (Random Possibilities Or Inevitable Logics, 2024) to the physiological attributes of early computers (Minimum Units of Thought, 2025).

 

Guanyi's work evokes both microcosmic and macrocosmic landscapes. Her mark making manifests itself in fine lines indicative of natural growth patterns or as computer-like arrangements of countless minute dots. Through prolonged, meditative sessions of mark making, she explores the relationship between systematic precision and natural irregularity. Her paintings emerge from a deeply focused state where the physical ritual of repetitive action, where she is ‘in the zone’, invokes an almost transcendental state. This similarly serves as an investigation into how the mind processes, stores, and reconstructs visual information, a key facet of Guanyi's practice.

 

Guanyi graduated with a BA in Fine Art from the Slade in 2024. She has also been awarded second place in the MetaU Art Prize.