Hi there! My name is Ce Chen, I am a self-promoted artist and illustrator. My practice involves a wide range of medias, which kind of blurs the boundary between illustration and fine art. I developed an interest in Cornish landscape during my BA many years ago; I have been intrigued by how a particular landscape can be used to define an identity, as well as the symbolic power of landscapes. After one master's degree in painting, I moved to Cornwall for another one in illustration, and also to consolidate the theoretical & methodology of a research topic I proposed. I am now doing a PhD at Chelsea College of Arts about Cornish landscape and identity through the ethnographic perspective of an outsider. I consider my making of illustration/artwork a summary of concepts, which encourages the outcome to be used in symbolic interaction.

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To paint as a shit-stirrer – at least that was the encouragement. Authorial illustration introduced many feasibilities to narrative visualisation. Those conventionally tooled elements: words, themes, compositions, a different manner of utilisation could decisively alter the outcome. As Gary Powell once said, “back to basic”, I sank to fundamental elements to depict or invent questions. I mess around with linearity, definition, materiality, and time-space as I maintain that art systematically challenges things in a specific context – even if this context is too idealised or needs to be fabricated. This is, perhaps the approach I adopt to settle the never-ending self-debate about my identity as an artist, an illustrator or a researcher.