Fields of Gold: Jun Chen

Between the sculptural carving of oil paint and the confident rendering of flora that is synonymous with his work, Jun Chen has a remarkable command of the Australian landscape. While previously he was concerned with the rugged physicality of Australia's central desert, Fields Of Gold turns towards an environment softened by light.

His new landscapes are filled with Australian subjects we all recognise—sunflower fields, quiet rockpools, vases of natives on a kitchen bench, rolling countryside punctuated by bursts of flowering colour—but they linger somewhere between observation and recollection. It is an experience guided by sensation: the warmth of afternoon sun reflected against the twisted arms of a gum tree, the shimmer of light across a body of water, the fleeting presence of birds and bathers folded softly into the environment.

This succession of luminous encounters carries an unmistakably impressionistic sensibility. Here, the experience of seeing becomes more important than the certainty of detail. What they lack in precision, they gain in the richness of colour and feeling.

This shift is significant. Chen has always embraced the physicality of paint, but his brushwork now feels more liberated. His application of dense impasto is a performance, with sweeping gestures creating a sense of movement. Thick passages catch and scatter light. Colours vibrate against one another, allowing the landscape to feel animated rather than observed. The paintings seem to pulse with life.