Yuhao Chen, (b.1994, China) currently lives and works in Chicago, IL. He received his BFA in painting at Penn State University in 2018, and his Post-Baccalaureate certificate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2019. He will receive his MFA in drawing and painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His work has been exhibited in Chicago and New York City.
Evoking an emotional response is essential to my work. I consider it similar to writing a poem. With limited references, coloration, and form, I hope to reflect a deeper insight that has resonance with the viewer.
My inspiration comes from reflecting on daily life and the way small observations can shed light on understandings that often weren’t apparent in another form, almost like a shadow that reveals another contour of the form. In this way, my work is seldom about the details or a specific narrative so much as an overall feeling – the general quality or character of something.
When I think about the social context in relation to my work, it is impossible not to think about the pandemic and how it has influenced our lives. Something that the pandemic made me think about is the notion of distance and how that distance changed the way we see or experience. I think distance is also a very important part of my current work. It speaks to the tension between the desire of wanting to capture an insightful moment; of wanting to make it a shared experience; and the impossibility of that aspiration.