“Kevin Chin’s paintings defy the proclamations, imperatives, and the flatness of the political. They open instead onto some more spacious kind of feeling.”

Artist Profile Magazine

  • Art Guide

    “Chin’s meticulously assembled compositions ask how social, cultural and economic structures shape the world in which we live.”

    Andy Butler

  • The Age

    “This is a panorama not of place, but of a wider set of personal experiences, moods and moments alone - hushed in stillness, but rambling in scope.”

    Dan Rule

  • The West Australian

    “More than a painter, Chin is a storyteller who understands the power of visual cues and strategies, deploying these devices with vividness and confidence.”

    Talitha Wolfe

  • Gippsland Art Gallery

    “Kevin’s paintings have this gentle surrealism to them. They’re not forceful, they just open up slowly.”

    Simon Gregg

  • Time Out Magazine

    “You can get lost in the topsy turvy dreamscapes of Melbourne-based artist Kevin Chin... And they are just the feast for sore eyes that art lovers need to drink in at length.”

    Stephen A Russell

  • Art Collector 50 Things Issue

    “Quietly quirky, beautiful landscapes rife with discombobulated dream-like narratives”

    Jo Higgins

  • The Design Files

    “Exploring universal themes of journey, transition and sanctuary, Chin re-assembles potent symbols.”

    Elle Murrell

  • Bayside Arts Centre

    “The phantasmagorical is unearthed. Chin unravels the nature of reality and allows magic to intervene.”

    Claire Anna Watson

  • Creative Victoria

    “Melbourne-based artist Kevin Chin turns dreams into reality - literally.”

    Sarah Haines

An endless wanderer based in Melbourne, Kevin Chin paints dream-like vistas that cross continents. With signature sensitivity, his oil paintings piece together distant lands into borderless new territories for us to inhabit.

In this age of loneliness despite unprecedented interconnectedness, Chin’s paintings resonate with a common yearning to fit in somewhere. Reflective of a queer person of colour, they advocate for a more fluid sense of place for both ourselves and others.

Chin’s painstaking technique of layering translucent oil glazes builds shimmering surfaces of intricate colour. It is this slow, contemplative method that also lends the paintings their meditative quality. In this way, these paintings offer a gateway to inner states, exploring deeper worlds that connect us all.

Kevin Chin is the winner of the Bayside Prize (Melbourne) and the Albany Prize (WA), as well as runner-up at the Redland Award (Brisbane) and a finalist in over 20 national prizes. His work is held in major institutional collections including Australian Parliament House, Artbank, RACV, City of Albany, Bayside City, Nillumbik Shire, and La Trobe Uni Museum of Art.

He has presented 20 solo exhibitions across Australia, and internationally in the USA, Japan and Singapore. Public solo exhibitions include Town Hall Gallery, Gippsland Art Gallery, Bayside Gallery, Linden New Art, and West Space. Representing multiple minorities, he has also spoken at various forums including for the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, ABC radio, and many podcasts.

In 2020, Art Collector Magazine named Chin among Australia’s 50 most collectable artists, having also featured him on the cover in 2014. His work has been widely reviewed in Artist Profile, The Age, Art Guide, Time Out, The Design Files, Art + Australia, as well as internationally in Creative Boom (UK), JH News (USA), and Blouin Artinfo.

Chin has been awarded multiple grants from Creative Australia, Creative Victoria, the Ian Potter Cultural Trust, City of Melbourne, City of Yarra, and the National Association for the Visual Arts.

Portrait: Simon Strong

2024 Survey Exhibition

Town Hall Gallery curated the largest showing of Kevin’s paintings to date across all three spaces.

This accompanying video is courtesy of Town Hall Gallery and Julian Filer.

2024 Madrid Residency

Kevin speaks about his development process and research during his month in Spain.

The video is courtesy of #Ey! Studio and Simona Latorre.

Creative Boom Interview UK

This is the first time an Australian artist has been interviewed for this UK-based publication.

In this comprehensive 2023 interview with Dom Carter, Kevin talks about his painting technique, career evolution, and why parts of the paintings are upside down.

Read

Art Collector
Interview

This 12 minute interview with Louise Martin-Chew is a deep dive into ‘Apart Together,’ one painting from the Social Distance series of 2020. Kevin speaks about a range of social issues that continue to influence his work.