Ji Chen’s sea- and land-scapes are founded on an epic, musical tension between calm, distant horizons and broad, dramatic movement in the foreground. The Chinese-Australian artist cites the inspirational role of his childrens’ piano playing on his form, perhaps accounting for his rhythmic composition that relies on the harmony between the constituent elements in his works. Ji Chen’s dusty landscapes muster desert dryness through moody, swirling skies and scraggly, weeping formations of red and yellow rock, while his seascapes juxtapose monochromatic horizons with thrilling foregrounds amass with churning, colliding swaths of blues, reds, whites and grays. 

In combining these diametrically opposed styles of application Ji Chen also articulates a personal journey, the contrast between the traditional values he brought from China to his new home in Australia. Beyond the change in cultures, the experience of Australia’s unique and harsh landscape is evident in all Ji Chen’s work. He renders nature with an eye for the sublime, as something simultaneously beautiful and potentially violent.