Chen Tan’s practice spans painting, design, and sculpture. Centering on themes of Technological Intervention and Memory Reconstruction, she investigates the fusion of design language and painterly expression within a contemporary context.
Her work is grounded in the concept of memory reconstruction. When recalling past events, memory—by nature both malleable and fragile—is subject to rewriting, augmentation, or even invention. Existing knowledge, emotions, and newly acquired information all intervene, shaping recollections into new forms. As such, memory is not a fixed archive of images or recordings, but a dynamic process that is re-created with each act of remembrance, often marked by distortions, external influences, and subjective interpretation.
Drawing on her own memories, Chen constructs subjects and scenes with the aid of 3D modelling software and translates them onto canvas using acrylics. In her paintings, she emphasises the interplay of light and shadow, seeking to evoke the unstable, layered nature of recollection itself.
Through this interplay of tradition and technology, Chen explores how processes of digitisation reshape both memory and artistic expression.