Excerpt from Simplicity in Life—Shiyi Yang, 2005

Shen Chen’s several acrylic paintings on view narrate the development of his recent style and its conceptual foundations. In the series of the paintings entitled Diary, the artist uses his own particular brush strokes, based on Chinese ink painting techniques. He “simply” lays down layers and layers of color, vertically juxtaposing them, and adds more layers over this background. In these works, the canvases show the natural mixture of the colors and the opaque quality where they overlap. Since the layers are flat, his colors make the textural feeling of the canvas vivid for the viewers. Such natural mixtures result in a visual effect reminiscent of the Chinese ink painting technique called ink wash. Simplicity in Shen’s works appears as an unexpected and beautiful accent emerging from the colorful patterns among the layers.