Chan doesn’t require us to study the research behind his imagery. These ink and oil paintings address us as viewers of pictures rather than as readers of stories. They are visual first and foremost, and the means they employ – figuration, shades of blackness and colour, the juxtaposition of details and sweeping lines – are meant to strengthen them as images. The exhibition does, however, have a title, and it gives us access to the intellectual, emotional and spiritual processes that brought this particular body of work to life. 

For ‘Two Kinds of Protection’ each technique has been connected to a distinct set of figures, doubling as characters from Eastern (Buddhist) and Western (Abrahamic) religious traditions. Maybe we should just take a moment to consider that ‘figure’ and ‘character’ are not the same. Ultimately, the former is a formal category (an appearance) while the latter is a moral one (an appraisal). 

Opening: Saturday, 17 October, 2 - 6 pm
Gallery address: 13/F, 25 Hing Wo Street, Tin Wan, Aberdeen