LOS ANGELES, CA.- Kohn Gallery announced the representation of Oslo-based, Chinese artist Jinbin Chen. This fall, Chen will hold his inaugural U.S. solo exhibition with Kohn Gallery in Los Angeles.
As an extension of himself, Jinbin Chen’s work narrates the encounter of bodies and asserts a permeability between the borders of life and art; the personal and impersonal. Chen’s focus lies in his own perceptions of the world, those which he sees as an instant source of inspiration, while simultaneously remaining open to the new, undiscovered perceptions that exist independent from one’s own experiences.
Chen depicts male subjecthood in various states of ecstasy, fragility, and vulnerability. Through his subjects, Chen uncovers a language of intimacy that excludes the sexually explicit, and rather, paints his own vocabulary of desire: a vernacular that absorbs a viewer’s gaze. In his portraiture, the masculine traverses a terrain of liminal gender dispositions and attaches layers of meaning relating to objectification, fetishism and intimacy.
"Jinbin’s unique depiction of gender is deeply rooted from his personal experiences,” says Joshua Friedman, Partner of Kohn Gallery. “His interdisciplinary practice and tender use of simile reframes contemporary perceived masculinity. We are thrilled to welcome his distinctive voice to our program.”
With delicate color palettes that recall the work of David Hockney and Jenny Saville, Chen creates environments that house his subjects in themes of gender temperament, desire, the abject, identification and differentiation. He extends himself through surrealist color sensibility and an interdisciplinary practice of text, object, sculpture, and performance that orbits his painting practice. Chen’s multi-practices are an allusion to his ethos–an exploration of desire and determination embracing the freedom of becoming.
Jinbin Chen (b. 1994) was born in Guangdong, raised in Xiamen, China and is currently based in Oslo, Norway. He received his MFA from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts in 2021 and his BFA from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, in 2019. Chen is a recipient of the The Cultural Council Project Grant, Norway; BKV Project Grant, Norway; and a recent nominee for the Blixsprisen Award, Denmark. His work has been included in exhibitions throughout The Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, and Norway. Recent and upcoming exhibitions include The Moment You Told Me You Wanted to Experience It, I Thought About Giving You That Experience, White Box KHiO, Oslo, Norway (2020); The Heimlichkeit of the Home, Fotogalleri Vasli Souza, Oslo, Norway (2021); London Craft Week, Cromwellplace, London, Britain, UK (2022); Omega and (Anti-)Decay Atlas, Northing Space, Bergen, Norway (2022), and his forthcoming U.S. debut, solo exhibition at Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2022).
