'We're not free,' Beijing artist Chen Yu scribbles on the back of a business card. That, he says, is the motive behind his art: long oil paintings showing rows of identical people. 'Most people feel trapped,' the 35-year-old says. 'They don't dare really express themselves.'
Take Untitled 2003 No22, an image of five identical men with white T-shirts and short-cropped hair. All of the men lean to the left and wear the same bored expressions - and all, bar one, have their eyes closed. The exception has opened one eye to look at a tiny space ship flying through a perfect blue sky, although he seems more nervous than interested, as if he may be criticised for being different.
Such works, which Chen has been painting since 2000, have earned him a reputation as one of the mainland's top 'cynical realists', a group of artists who have made their names by mocking the uniformity of mainland politics and culture. But Chen, wearing blue oval glasses and a black leather jacket, says his art is more a personal expression than a comment on modern Chinese society. 'My paintings are about me,' he says. 'There are a lot of questions that I haven't been able to answer.'
Chen, who graduated from Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1993, has shown works in Taiwan, Germany, Italy and Spain. The striking pieces are some of the most prominently displayed at the two Schoeni art galleries in SoHo. Until February 2, he'll be holding his second Hong Kong solo show at the Old Bailey Street location.
For An Eye for An Eye, Nicole Schoeni collected Chen's most recent works. In Untitled 2004 No 7, a row of office workers stand against a monochrome background, 'like some copies of a master model that has been moulded through advertising', Chen writes in the catalogue.
In Untitled 2004 No8, one of several black-and-white images in the collection, a series of blank-faced men tilt their heads back. Because their eyes are closed, they look as if they're waiting for divine inspiration. The only man with his eyes open stares with a look of mute terror.
