Gan Chin Lee Malaysian, b. 1977

Gan Chin Lee (b. 1977, Kuala Lumpur) is a Malaysian artist best known for his realist paintings that document the ethnic religious complexities of Malaysia. The compositions of his works often employ an amplified spatial perspective in which he depicts multiracial and multicultural urban scenes in shared social spaces, such as street food stalls and coffee shops that are densely populated by characters indifferent to each other. His family’s lineage as Chinese immigrants, and migratory waves of South Asian Muslim diaspora have been recurring subjects in the artist’s work. He is now in search of a new visual vocabulary: one that delves into the history of Chinese settlement community from which he was raised, whilst combining his earlier training in the styles of Renaissance masters with a Malaysian sensibility. Gan’s work has been displayed in shows across Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Bangladesh, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, and Canada.