Peizhong Chen is a Kelowna-based artist who merges western and traditional Chinese techniques and materials to create paintings which transport the viewer to another place and time. In the artist’s own words he has: married the western watercolour technique with the traditional Chinese techniques which I feel are harmonious. After acquiring skills of both techniques I then combine Chinese ink drawing with western watercolours on Chinese rice paper keeping some of the character of both Chinese and western painting. The results of this mix exactly suit my artistic intent to create a picture that expresses simplicity, warmth and deep emotions with a greater view to portraying human life within the larger natural world.  

Ancient Memories includes watercolour and ink paintings produced by Peizhong Chen since the mid 1990s. The paintings depict the ancient architecture of the Chinese towns of Suzhou and Anhui. The scenes of old dwellings and villages, enveloped by an ethereal quality of light, emit an aura of tranquility and serenity that encourages a viewer to slow his or her pace and enter a reflective, almost meditative, realm. While the focus in these works appears to be on architecture, it is really the lives of the absent human inhabitants who have walked, worked and lived amongst these buildings that the artist seeks to capture. For Peizhong Chen, who refers to his paintings as “records of human being life,” these buildings hold the memories of the lives lived amongst them if only we would take the time to look and “catch an echo” from them.

Peizhong Chen was born in Yantai City, Shandong, China in 1956. He studied printmaking at the China Academy of Fine Arts, Hangzhou City, from which he graduated in 1982, and taught at Shandong Art and Design College prior to immigrating to Canada. Peizhong Chen settled in Kelowna in 2000 and continues to be active as an artist and art instructor.

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