- One of Chen’s favourite pieces, ‘Cube of Space-Time’, incorporates fragments from the walls of his 300-year-old ancestral home in Fujian province
- His Hong Kong solo exhibition, ‘Heart of the Matter 致知在格物’, is at Pearl Lam Galleries in Central until September 3
Chen Yufan says that no matter where he has gone, his roots have always called him back. Photo: HandoutChinese artist Chen Yufan’s latest exhibition in Hong Kong includes a return to his hometown, Putian in Fujian province.
Cube of Space-Time is one of his favourite pieces in his solo exhibition, “Heart of the Matter 致知在格物”, held at Pearl Lam Galleries in Central until September 3.
“I hope to have a dialogue with my ancestors and my homeland in a different way, across space and time, and to condense hundreds of years of history into a cube like this,” he said.
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Into this concrete cube, Chen incorporated demolished wall fragments from his 300-year-old ancestral house, which he has been renovating.
“A wall may have a history of over 300 years, but it may only take about 10 minutes to demolish it,” Chen explained, adding that the cube was constructed with the rammed earth technique that has been used since ancient times in China.
“I wanted to give new life to these old materials through a modern, minimalist form.”
Throughout Chen’s career as an artist, Putian has been a major source of inspiration.
“My hometown is like a huge mine – an endless trove of stories and ideas to explore,” he said. “It’s something eternal that I can always return to in my creations.”
Born in the 1970s, Chen grew up immersed in the clan culture of southern China. “Even today, clan ties remain very strong in Fujian and Guangdong. They shape family businesses and even entire industries,” he noted.
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After leaving Putian as a young adult to study and work as an artist, Chen never lost touch with his roots.
“I’ve lived in Hangzhou and Shanghai, but I still feel I belong to my hometown,” he said. “My work keeps taking me back there, like a thread running through it all.”
In his exhibition, Chen tried to focus on three local industries in Putian: redwood, shoes and jewellery. For example, Rods of Civilisation is composed of free-standing rods made from redwood scraps and offcuts gathered in Putian.
“I wanted to explore the intersections of history, culture and industry in my hometown, to understand its evolution through the microcosm of specific trades,” he said.
For young artists seeking to develop their own unique style, Chen advised looking inwards.
“Keep asking yourself: ‘What moves you most? What do you feel most deeply connected to?’ That’s where you can dig in and build a strong, meaningful foundation for your work,” he urged, explaining that his hometown was this important root.
“It’s a long process of self-discovery, experimentation and studying other artists. You need to patiently internalise your experiences until they become a nature in your art.”