Yi Chen was born and grew up in Chengdu, China.  After her graduation from the Faculty of Law at Tianjin University of Commerce in 1994, she met Mr. Conglin Cheng, a famous Chinese painter [1]. He saw her graffiti and believed that she was very gifted in painting. He encouraged her to go to Europe to study art.

Yi Chen studied for a BA in Fine Art at Geneva University of Art and Design (HEAD) in Switzerland from 1997 to 2002. During the last year before her graduation, she found her own painting language in lines and colours. She created Lovers series which includes watercolour works, engraving works and acrylic paintings. “The engraving works at this stage were so mature.” [2] “Whether the representations are abstract or figurative, it does not really matter. Because the lines and colours that compose them reflect Yi Chen’s whole inner world where freshness, pain, tenderness, passion and loneliness are intimately mixed. ”[3]

After her graduation from HEAD, Yi Chen gave up her postgraduate qualification for Tokyo University of the Arts. Instead, she worked successively as teacher, program manager and consultant for foreign enterprises in China. Since 2010, she worked as a senior French translator for Swiss government’s departments and Swiss companies. She was so fully occupied that she could not spare time to concentrate on painting, but never forgot her dream to be a professional artist.

In 2014, Yi Chen was attracted by works of Cy Twombly at an exhibition in Munich for his free and personal brushwork. “I was deeply moved and shocked by the eloquence of the artistic expression of his consciousness.” She said. At the end of the same year, she followed her inner calling and gave up her translation career.

Toward the end of the year, Yi Chen returned to Chengdu from Switzerland. She spent three years behind closed doors in a secluded studio in the city center, devoting herself to artistic creation.

In 2018, Blue Roof Museum of Chengdu held Yi Chen’s solo exhibition, ‘Beyond the Boundary’, which presented her art works from 2014 to 2018. “…These works with traces of graffiti, mixed materials, Pop art and even Chinese Shui-mo (ink and water) repeated appearing in her works. If we were to use three keywords, such as Expressionism, Abstraction, Xieyi [4] freehand style – the existing artistic styles – to categorize or define the work of the artist, then it would be a rather difficult task…This reminds me of David Hockney, Martin Kippenberger, Francis Picabia…for their varied styles and prolific creativity…Yi Chen’s rich professional experience enables her to possess more macro perspectives in viewing various social issues encountered today, including global issues.”[5] The series created during this period includes: Existence series, Refugee series, Migration series, No! series, Baby series and Delivery series. 

“ I need to express. I am eager to express. To express my feelings and individual consciousness about today’s world. According to different themes, I will choose different painting languages or visual arts languages. The works of different series will finally integrate into my career of artistic creation, as rivers will finally flow into ocean, they will eventually form a general style,” she said.

In Autumn 2018, Yi Chen moved to Crans-Montana in Switzerland. Facing the ecological crisis, she had to interrupt Baby series and Delivery series and painted Disappearance series to appeal to the public to protect our planet. “In Disappearance series, I made an exception and used realistic painting language which I have never used after my graduation from HEAD. While depicting these endangered animals, I felt like painting their future portraits of the deceased. I felt very sad in the process of painting. To express this sense of crisis while commemorating them, realism is the most suitable painting language. I think it’s worth doing this to protect our planet,” she said.  

“A cry of alarm, but poetic, delicate, elegant and committed.”[6] A solo exhibition about her works of  Disappearance series scheduled to be held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva in April 2020 was cancelled due to Covid-19.

In parallel, since 2019, Yi Chen began to paint a new series Desire which expresses her concern for women’s identity and social status. 

Moreover, from this year, Yi Chen continues Delivery series and Baby series.  “Doll figures who say ‘No!’ or ‘More!’. ” [7] “In front of desire, we are all like babies,” Yi Chen said. “ For me, art is creation.”  

Yi Chen lives and works between China and Switzerland.

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[1] Conglin Cheng, a famous Chinese oil painter, one of the principal representatives of Art of Scars. 

[2] Cited Meng Tian, art director of Luxehills Museum, Chengdu, “ An Interview on Yi Chen’s Works“, 2018.

[3] “ Yi Chen ”, Preface of solo exhibition Prelude of the Spring, text written by Weijun Cao, curator of Shanghai Gallery of Art, 2009.

[4] Xieyi is an important form of traditional Chinese painting. It is a freehand style with spontaneity.

[5] “ ‘Beyond the Boundary’- Yi Chen solo exhibition”, text written by Fenqi Ding, curator and deputy director of Blue Roof Museum of Chengdu, 2018.

[6] “Yi Chen Paints the Disappearance”, text written by Jean-François Albelda, published in the Swiss newspaper Le Nouvelliste, 2019.

[7] “A Meteor over the Alps-Yi Chen”, text written by Christophe Flubacher, art historien, former artistic director of Fondation Pierre Arnaud in Switzerland, 2018.