Gavin Chai

Chai’s hauntingly vivid works with their humble subject matter – set within waiting rooms and unassuming domestic environments – turn our attention to the intimacy of the ordinary and sometimes ethereal quality of the ‘every day’. With his use of shallow space, high contrast lighting and the theatrical arrangements of objects – Chai infuses his ‘seemingly’ mundane subject matter with sense of growing intensity or subdued drama. His awareness of traditional painting techniques and employment of figurative realism, provides an understated elegance to his empty rooms which command our careful attention as they grapple with timeless themes.

The worlds Chai constructs in his paintings display a striking sense of the surreal with an eerie sense of anticipation or even unease(?). Within these ambiguous paintings there is always something with their arrangement or narrative content to make connection to: an open door, the light through window or the unusual worlds depicted through windows. Gavin’s work is never about arriving at a point, but rather, the anticipation of a future prospect while being on the way.

Gavin graduated with Bachelor of Visual Arts from AUT in 2020 and has been a regular finalist and recipient of art awards since 2014, most recently making history by winning all three categories (New Youth Award, The Excellence Award, Overall Supreme Award) at the Otago Art Awards in 2021.