Peter Chan
Peter Hong-Tsun Chan 陳康俊 (b.1985, Hong Kong, China) studied art at Sheridan College, Toronto, ON Canada. He received his Bachelor of Applied Arts (BAA) in 2008. Chan’s work has been featured in numerous publications and newspapers including Yahoo News HK, Prestige HK, Tatler, China Daily, Ming Pao Daily, Mochi Magazine, BOOOOOOOM, and The Globe and Mail. His work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions worldwide, including Hong Kong, New York, Los Angeles, Montreal, and Toronto. He has also been included in the Art with Heart Collection for Casey House in Toronto and auctioned off at the Art Gallery of Toronto, Canada. He currently lives and works in Toronto, Canada.
Interview with Peter Chan
1. Hi Peter, tell us about your background. How and when did you first start to paint?
Hello! I was born in Hong Kong and spent my first 8 years there. Since then, I’ve been in Canada and am currently working out of my Toronto studio. I first started painting in high school, but I started taking and treating painting as a career about 10 years ago when I decided to make my first body of work after deciding that I want to take this practice seriously.
2. How do you begin to work? What is your process like?
In my process, I like to first start with sketching and writing in my sketchbook. I like to do thumbnail compositional sketches, writing out ideas and concepts that fascinates me to allow me to begin the formation of a potential new painting. I like to over prepare in this early phase to give me the best shot at making a good piece. I then move into looking for reference images but mostly shooting my own reference. I have the most control this way of how I want things to look. It’s very much like directing a film when directing a photoshoot session. I may do a little photoshopping and digital collaging afterwards to get my reference material and research to work for me in terms of lightning and atmosphere. Then I can begin to paint on canvas or panel when I have everything I need, I try to trust my intuition about this.
3. Your paintings incorporate themes of East Asia, including superstition, identity, popular culture, traditions, and gender ideologies. How do you select which themes to explore in each work?
Every work requires a different thing that may draw from any of those themes. There are many variables such as scale, conceptual idea, technical execution approach, and compositional concept. Every piece needs to ‘click’ in some way for me to get excited and make the piece meaningful in some way. Sometimes, when creating a body of work, I need to think through the conceptual process and include the themes that fit the body of work most. This can be my sheer interest of a topic I want to address at a given time.
4. How do contemporary figures play a role in your work, and what is your process for distorting and recomposing imagery?
I really like to draw on art history. With what we know that has been explored in the past, I see there being so much potential with contemporary figures. I think it is important to make the most of what is current. To ask questions about what it’s important today and what is important to the me through my lens of the potential of the current time. Distorting and recomposing can reference history, a particular way in compositional theory but also the potential navigation of a piece in terms of storytelling. To direct the eye to areas I want a viewer that looks at the work in terms of a narrative.
5. In your current series, you dissect the concept of chance in social and visual culture. Can you elaborate on how you incorporate elements of accident and luck into your artistic process?
Absolutely in love with these themes at this moment, I’ve been particularly drawn to many elements relating to chance and luck. It is embodied in life itself but there is also something psychologically that we are drawn to. There is a dopamine with trying to win and trying to have a dream outcome in many areas of life. I like to place these different scenarios in my paintings that I have been drawn to. The moment of winning, or the thought of potentially winning by ‘betting’ on chance and wishing for the best outcome.
6. Surrealism is a significant influence in your latest series. How do you connect this artistic movement with the broader framework of socioculturalism?
When thinking about surrealism, one of the things that particularly inspired me was how Magritte introduced the ideal of displacement within his work. I find that this simple concept of ‘displacement’ is a stepping stone to tilting something that can be seemingly
real to ‘surreal’. Within the broader framework of socioculturalism, I am inspired by the changes in
behavior dependent on the situations they are in with culture and traditions that are past on from earlier generations that influences their living mindset today. I believe these influential changes that causes a distortion of behaviour can be reflected in the imagery presented in paintings whether they are surreal juxtapositions of realities or surreal placement of elements in compositions and giving life and power to items that are normally inanimate objects.
7. Reflecting on the cultural history of Hong Kong emigration, how do you use the tension between chance and determinism to study social identities?
Often chance and determinism is only a small difference in a decision made. A result can change so significantly based on the decision of making a move. I find the idea of taking a chance based on a belief of a potential better situation extremely interesting as it is often something we make in our daily lives.
8. Your work often features digital screens as symbols of prosperity. How do these images reflect the reality of migration and the aspirations tied to media representations?
Many of the digital screens in my work actually reflects memory, whether that is of a past personal experience or an experience through media and film. Often they are memorable ‘personal memory captures’ or ‘film moment captures’. For example, in the painting ‘Finding Gold Mountain’ from 2023, I painted a pixelated screen that depicts the historic California gold mountain that was part of the historic gold rush. I wanted it to be pixelated because not only are we familiar with such a familiar type of mountain-like screensaver on our computers, but it is a representation of a blurry image of history. The initial audience might not know it is the gold mountain from the California gold rush. We tend to want to see and put focus on an image even more when we question its legibility.
9. Hong Kong's film industry is a recurring reference in your paintings. What specific scenes or films inspire you, and how do they shape your visual narratives?
I grew up and spent most of my childhood experiencing films and TV series daily. There is a particular mentality and atmosphere I believe is embedded and part of Hong Kong film. I am drawn to many films and TV series but particular I am currently drawn to the atmosphere, mood, and color of most Wong Kar Wai films. Particularly one that comes to mind is ‘Chungking Express’ and ‘Fallen Angels’ I am also drawn to the visual narratives of many other films, such as ‘God of Gambler’ in their theme and narrative of chance and determinism within gambling moments.
10. Popular culture is central to your exploration of urban living and social identity. How do you believe it influences our perceptions and experiences of these themes?
I think that our formation of memory and the perception of culture is lead by personal experiences but also experiences through our participation in watching ‘characters’ in popular media. I think by watching media they become part of our minds in some ways. The more we participate in these ‘virtual worlds’ the more we become it.
11. Can you describe your technical execution process? How do you achieve the intricate details and familiar visual narratives in your paintings?
I start with thumbnails sketches in my sketchbook journal. I write down ideas I have for a potential composition and sketch out loose representations of how these compositions might look. I let these thumbnail sketches and writings sit in my sketchbook for a while
until I am ready to work them into more elaborate paintings. When I’m ready, I will often begin my research to find the items or work with real people to shoot reference to my understanding how they would look, I may even end up playing with a little photoshop to test moods ands atmospheres to see what options I like best before finally beginning the painting on canvas process. When painting I like to build up several layers of paint, which allows me to form some depth within the painting and allows of at atmospheric application while continue to push things back and bring things forward in terms of executing my subjects and space.
12. What message or reflection do you hope viewers take away from your work regarding the interplay between media, migration, and identity?
I hope viewers can relate to the time, the mood and atmosphere as they experience the paintings. I wish for them to reflect upon their own personal history and stories of their past to potentially allow self reflection to happen and manifest in their own ways. I wish for the paintings to serve as a mirror in a sense.
13. Describe a real-life experience that influence your work.
Some years ago I made this painting in which the subject was a side view mirror of a car. I was going to my friend’s cottage in Montreal and while he was driving us in the truck I saw such a beautiful sunset in this empty field of rural Montreal. Not only was the sunset beautiful in the winter, I felt the sunset’s warmth juxtaposed the icy winter landscape of Montreal nicely at the time. I also was reminded of a dream where I associated childhood with late days of playing outdoors in the sunset. Needless to say I had an urgency to make this painting afterwards.
