About
Artists
Exhibitions
Experiences
Residency
Collect
Artists
Exhibitions
Experiences
Residency
Collect
Chun Chen
(born 1986 in Shanghai, China; lives and works in Zug)
Artist Statement: My work explores loss, absence, and displacement—experiences rooted in personal and collective memory. Working with text, textile, sculpture in relation to specific spaces, I reflect on my upbringing during China’s rapid development and 15 years of migration in Europe. My practice examines memory, transition, and identity, evoking what is felt but unseen. I use domestic objects as a lens to explore geopolitical issues, transforming everyday materials into sites of resistance and remembrance. My art ultimately stands as a call to honor unheard voices and to challenge the mechanisms that silence them.
Education:
2023 - 2026 Bachelor of Fine Arts
Bern University of the Arts, Switzerland
2024-2025 Bachelor of Fine Arts
Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, Netherlands
1992 - 2000 Chinese Brush Painting, Shanghai Qunxing School of Art, China
Photo: courtesy of the artist.
Horizons Unfixed
Pencil on paper
30 × 40 cm
CHF 800 each
Horizons Unfixed is a series of pencil drawings inspired by encounters with the sea — from the East China Sea to the Adriatic, Mediterranean, Atlantic, and North Sea. Drawn from thousands of photographs taken over years of travel, these works distill shifting surfaces, light, and textures into quiet, meditative compositions.
“To me, the sea is both a connector and a threshold: linking continents yet remaining unstable and in constant motion. It becomes a metaphor for migration, displacement, and belonging — shaped by my own journey from China to Switzerland.”
Each drawing resists literal depiction, instead translating observation and memory into subtle gradations of graphite. Through delicate lines and tonal depth, Horizons Unfixed captures the sea’s dual nature — its capacity for calm and turbulence, continuity and change.
Together, the series forms an atlas of waters, each piece reflecting a different geography yet bound by the shared language of movement. It invites the viewer to pause in that in-between space — where departure and arrival blur, and we find ourselves adrift in the beauty and uncertainty of the journey.
Education:
2023 - 2026 Bachelor of Fine Arts
Bern University of the Arts, Switzerland
2024-2025 Bachelor of Fine Arts
Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, Netherlands
1992 - 2000 Chinese Brush Painting, Shanghai Qunxing School of Art, China
Horizons Unfixed
Pencil on paper
30 × 40 cm
CHF 800 each
Horizons Unfixed is a series of pencil drawings inspired by encounters with the sea — from the East China Sea to the Adriatic, Mediterranean, Atlantic, and North Sea. Drawn from thousands of photographs taken over years of travel, these works distill shifting surfaces, light, and textures into quiet, meditative compositions.
“To me, the sea is both a connector and a threshold: linking continents yet remaining unstable and in constant motion. It becomes a metaphor for migration, displacement, and belonging — shaped by my own journey from China to Switzerland.”
Each drawing resists literal depiction, instead translating observation and memory into subtle gradations of graphite. Through delicate lines and tonal depth, Horizons Unfixed captures the sea’s dual nature — its capacity for calm and turbulence, continuity and change.
Together, the series forms an atlas of waters, each piece reflecting a different geography yet bound by the shared language of movement. It invites the viewer to pause in that in-between space — where departure and arrival blur, and we find ourselves adrift in the beauty and uncertainty of the journey.