CHIAO-HAN CHUEH: INTIMATE PLAY

CHIAO-HAN CHUEH: INTIMATE PLAY 

Exhibition

Nunu Fine Art New York is pleased to present INTIMATE PLAY, a solo exhibition and the first presentation in the United States of new work by Hamburg-based Taiwanese artist Chiao-Han Chueh. The artist is known for her vibrant compositions of nude female figures engaging in unbridled behavior within fantastical spaces to contest normative gender constraints of women’s bodies and sexuality.  

In INTIMATE PLAY, the notion of the unrestrained female body constitutes the core of the exhibition and of Chueh’s art. Her deliberately naïve painterly style, emphatic use of color, and animalistic imagery imbue a sense of innocence and freedom to the female figures liberated from patriarchal restrictions. In these narratives flows the undercurrent of desire with the characters acting according to their primal impulses.  

Chueh’s practice reflects both her Taiwanese upbringing and heritage and the profound influence of Western art history. Chueh’s work also expresses her experience living and working in Europe, particularly her perspective as an Asian woman in the West. Her style is evocative of European avant-garde movements, such as Fauvism, with Chueh’s use of arbitrary colors like bubblegum pink, lavender, and sky blue to depict human skin. Chueh also breaks free from the confines of traditional figurative painting and furthers the sense of liberation by applying the visual language of Chinese calligraphy and ink paintings to provide contour and texture to the characters’ bodies.  

In Chueh’s work, imagined narratives emerge from her subconscious through rapid painterly gestures that convey visceral emotions and corporeal sensations. She deliberately preserves the traces of painting and the feeling of the speed of brushstrokes, using flat brushes to form fluid brushstrokes to enhance the figures’ sense of swiftness and their tense relationship with the landscape. Chueh depicts bodily forms unconfined by sharp linearity, using coarse brushstrokes to form dynamic yet often blurry figures in loose lines and color fields that at times blend into the background. As she grapples with the rapid pace of change in the world around her, each canvas in INTIMATE PLAY captures a distinct moment in time. Her paintings serve as a poignant commentary on the transient nature of our existence, where the origins and traces of things are swiftly fading into obscurity. 

Chueh creates a visual dialogue between different forms of life, often set within the primal intensity of wild or extreme environments. This interaction is not merely aesthetic; it serves as a critical lens through which Chueh interrogates the foundational structures of life itself. Each brushstroke, each choice of color, transcends mere physicality. They transform into philosophical conduits that bridge the seen with the unseen, the remembered with the forgotten. Chueh depicts figures with hands, arms, and legs that extend beyond human physiognomy and twist and intertwine with each other. The imagery is simultaneously playful and suspenseful, highlighting the tenuous dynamic between sexual freedom and physical danger. According to Chueh, the crisis and pressure of survival as well as the state of madness driven by instincts become a direct and powerful expression in her paintings.  

Beyond the canvas, Chueh's work challenges and questions the norms of her generation, the nature of our coexistence, and the deep-seated shame often associated with femininity. The titles of Chueh's paintings are simple, yet they encapsulate the scene, her curiosities, and her vision, offering viewers an imagery that is both transgressive and innocent. Through her work, Chueh invites us to engage with these complexities, offering a unique lens through which to view our shared human experience. 

Artist