Ed Chan is a Duncan based artist. Typical of his work, the paintings are done with tempera on illustration board.
The paintings feature mostly strong colours and sharply delineated forms. The paint is cleanly laid out, with colours side-by-side, rather than layered or textured, so the viewer mixes them with the eye, seeing the image as the viewer wants to see it at any given time and place, instead of seeing a prescribed image. This colour-block style explains why the paintings are sometimes mistaken for prints.
The deeply personal works are often whimsical and satirical, juxtaposing seemingly contradictory images and colours such as a fantastic purple landscape lit by a rising or setting sun formed of an open fan, or a cityscape with a pair of kissing flamingos perched atop a cluster of night-lit high-rise buildings.
Ed Chan has been painting for more than two decades. He has described his style as "distilling the essence from the superfluity, condensing the convoluted into simple tales; a person of few words, striving to say a lot by saying very little ".
Among his influences are vintage British humour - Always look on the bright side of life, "Life of Brian" has to be the greatest film ever made! But not to overlook Puccini, Hendrix, Marley and Skid Row. Referring to the narratives that are often imbedded in the paintings: "there are at least four sides to a story: yours, mine, what could and should happen, and the ever elusive what actually happened"
Ed's work has been shown and purchased in the Thompson, Okanagan, East Kootenay, Victoria, Cowichan Valley and Nanaimo.
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