Description
Artist/Maker: Alex Chien (b. 1994)
Object/Materials and Techniques: Acrylics / Sprays / Oil pastels on Canvas
Date: Painted in 2020
Dimensions: H.110 cm. x W. 80 cm.
Art style: Illustration / Graffiti art / Cartoon art / Reflections of Surrealism / Pop Surrealism
Current Location: Artist’s collection
Curator’s note: Making a more or less disguised use of the ‘subversive’ and the ‘transcendental’ which vaguely specify Pop Surrealism’s philosophy, Alex Chien invites the viewers to a hypothetic state of Escaping From The Feds, introducing a utopian version of ‘running away’ from an unpleasant situation, through diversion and fantasy.
With strong auto-sarcastic attitude and an inspiring sense of eerie, he slips the audience into the perspective of an alternate reality, poking fun, while, at the same time, draws attention upon extinguishing illusions.
Cartoon tainted forms and animatedly-arranged figures, thrusting upwards across the canvas, wrapping the one around the other, picked out in rich vibrant colours are going on a lush interplay and provoke such an intense vibe to the viewer that captivate the eye at once. As a result, all together on the whole are synthesized into a visual pyrotechnics display.
Escaping From The Feds leads the audience into a hallucinogenic head-trip whereas may fantasize the story behind in a different way, or still question and, why not, change the narrative at any moment. Even the title of the work enhances the superficial embedded in the artist’s making process. It certainly offers thought-provoking starting points, and creates reflective connotations for the viewer who inevitably inserts himself in an uncertain cognitive state, becomes involved with the emotional tense of the heroes, and shares their strong agony.
Capitalizing on a vibrant compound, the portrayed illustration carries a graffiti expressive power that defines Alex Chien’s personal signature artistic vernacular. Apart from an overall charismatic sense of animation and a remarkable emphasis on many sided detailed complexes, all lines and figures convey such strength and power that communicate simultaneously thought and humour, plus grouped together, reinforce the contentious cartooning act of moving away that takes place in front of the viewer.
Through exceptional technical ability and flawless execution, falling, on one hand, under the influence of Surrealism while, on the other, becoming intrigued by the aesthetics of cartoons and comics, Alex Chien succeeds in marking out the uniqueness and the dynamism of a fairly Pop Surrealist oeuvre.
