Kevin Chin’s paintings piece together distant lands, to examine global connection in divisive times. Fluid oils allow cultural references to meld, advocating for more fluid social structures. There’s a sense of wandering across continents, a search for a safe space when things feel upside down. An immediate warmth is evoked by the way translucent colours are layered in surprising variations. This slow, considered process also lends the paintings their meditative presence. Chin tests painting conventions to channel inner states, with the aim of transcending worldly borders altogether.
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. Institutional collections include Australian Parliament House, Artbank, RACV, City of Albany, Bayside City, Nillumbik Shire, and La Trobe Uni Museum of Art.
Chin has held 20 solo exhibitions around 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. Chin has spoken at various forums including for the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, ABC radio, and multiple podcasts.
Chin has featured in both the 50 Things issue and the cover of Art Collector. His work is also extensively reviewed in Artist Profile, The Age, Art Guide, Time Out, The Design Files, Art + Aust, as well as international publications Creative Boom UK, JH News USA, and Blouin Artinfo. He has been awarded multiple grants from Creative Australia, Creative Victoria, City of Melbourne, and NAVA.
Video for the 2024 solo exhibition, The Long Way, courtesy of Julian Filer and Town Hall Gallery
Video for the 2024 studio residency in Madrid (Spain), courtesy of Simona Latorre and #Ey! Studio