Chen Yufan：Repeat in the Extreme

Chen Yufan's third solo exhibition at Ginkgo Space, “Repeat in the Extreme”,will open at our Shenzhen venue on September 14, 2025. The exhibition will showcase 12 recent paintings by the artist and run through November 23.

The new works in this exhibition further deepen Chen Yufan’s consistent formal language and artistic meditations—the history and roots, metamorphosis of life, and spiritual conflict with the real world. 

“Repeat in the Extreme” is not mechanical accumulation. On the contrary, in the seemingly identical burning and endless polishing, consciousness is emptied, rationality is suspended, and a state of near-total “unity of self and object" spontaneously emerges. Upon the canvas, there is no grand narrative—only an intensely microscopic universe. The artist retreats behind the paintings, leaving only the behaviour and presence of “the dot” itself. At this point, creation is no longer a subjective expression but becomes a natural “emanation”.

Gazing into Chen Yufan’s works, one discovers within the continually overlapping and incised circles the flowing, transient landscapes as seen through the artist’s eyes. They serve not only as a vivid document to urban transformation and years of migratory life, but also symbolize the repetition, renewal, and overlay of life itself.

The artist shows us that repetition is not the opposite of innovation, but rather a subtle path leading toward inner and essence of being. Chen Yufan pushes repetition to its extreme, thereby transcending repetition itself and arriving at an eternal dialogue between materiality, consciousness, and the fabric of spacetime.

Chen Yufan, was born in Putian, Fujian Province in 1973. He completed his bachelor’s degree at the College of Fine Arts at Fujian Normal University in 1997 and graduated with a master’s degree from the Integrated Art Department at China Academy of Art in 2007. Now, he lives and works in Shanghai, China.

Recent solo exhibitions include:

Repeat in the Extreme (Ginkgo Space, Shenzhen, 2025)

Chen Yufan (AYE Gallery, Beijing, 2024)

New Works (Ginkgo Space, Shanghai, 2023)

Heart of the Matter (Pearl Lam Galleries, Hong Kong, 2023).

Selected public collections include:

ARARIO Museum, Seoul, Korea

White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney, Australia

Blue Mountain Contemporary Art Foundation, Vienna, Austria

M+ Sigg Collection, Hong Kong

Tank Shanghai, China

Long Museum, Shanghai, China

UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China and so on.