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Lot Essay
"Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else." – Anonymous
It's rare to find a human face in one of David Chan's bright, whimsical paintings; instead, his works are populated with animals and animal-headed figures that resemble ancient Egyptian deities reimagined for the modern day. In You Are So Special, Just Like Everyone Else, we see a cheetah wearing a leather jacket, a yawning lioness clutching a tumbler, and a manicured koala smoking a cigarette. Every animal is unique, yet somehow, they are all alike in their individuality, blending together into a sea of figures and faces that embodies the paradoxical title of this piece.
A graduate of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Chan has stated that he uses animals as a metaphor for the hidden aspects of human personality that are otherwise difficult to capture or describe, intentionally filling his canvases with animals both wild and familiar that serve as symbolic references. In an interview with Southeast Asia Globe, Chan recalled that "During the early years of art college [he] had an epiphany: use animals to replace humans in narratives that were rather dicey or subjective. This third-party approach had several merits, [including the fact that] it brought the viewer closer and lowered their defenses. As a result, the visuals would somehow become more palatable and open for discussion." By lowering his audience's guard in this way, Chan comments on the importance of appearances, and the societal assumptions and prejudices that we even impose onto non-human creatures when placed into human contexts.
You Are So Special, Just Like Everyone Else represents the culmination and final work of Chan's Hybrid Society Series, which explored the artist's "cynical take on condescending relationships and dubious personas." As one of the most complex and densely packed works from the entire series, You Are So Special features over 40 figures standing in a crowd, pressed up against each other in a multihued mass. What would have appeared as a mass of humanity is instead a menagerie – dogs pressed up against donkeys and a parakeet next to a pig. There is a wonderful diversity in species, clothing, and expression, but although the animals all stand in close proximity to one another there is almost no direct interaction or even eye-contact taking place between the figures, as if each individual exists in a bubble of isolation. Selected areas and details painted with the same stylized blue monochromatic colour scheme further emphasize the subtle homogeneity between these seemingly different figures. When everyone is special, nobody is, and Chan's work comments on the culture of individualism that can in turn lead to isolation and artifice.
Human cultures around the world have long ascribed different personality traits and powers to different animal species, and many of us feel an automatic affinity with animals. "Spirit animals" and "Patronuses" have become embraced as a part of popular culture, yet we give little thought to the deep-rooted assumptions that lie behind these symbols and metaphors. Playful yet deeply cynical, Chan's work ultimately gets at the heart of human culture, prompting reflection on the importance of appearances and how we might visualize the more hidden aspects of human personality.
It's rare to find a human face in one of David Chan's bright, whimsical paintings; instead, his works are populated with animals and animal-headed figures that resemble ancient Egyptian deities reimagined for the modern day. In You Are So Special, Just Like Everyone Else, we see a cheetah wearing a leather jacket, a yawning lioness clutching a tumbler, and a manicured koala smoking a cigarette. Every animal is unique, yet somehow, they are all alike in their individuality, blending together into a sea of figures and faces that embodies the paradoxical title of this piece.
A graduate of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Chan has stated that he uses animals as a metaphor for the hidden aspects of human personality that are otherwise difficult to capture or describe, intentionally filling his canvases with animals both wild and familiar that serve as symbolic references. In an interview with Southeast Asia Globe, Chan recalled that "During the early years of art college [he] had an epiphany: use animals to replace humans in narratives that were rather dicey or subjective. This third-party approach had several merits, [including the fact that] it brought the viewer closer and lowered their defenses. As a result, the visuals would somehow become more palatable and open for discussion." By lowering his audience's guard in this way, Chan comments on the importance of appearances, and the societal assumptions and prejudices that we even impose onto non-human creatures when placed into human contexts.
You Are So Special, Just Like Everyone Else represents the culmination and final work of Chan's Hybrid Society Series, which explored the artist's "cynical take on condescending relationships and dubious personas." As one of the most complex and densely packed works from the entire series, You Are So Special features over 40 figures standing in a crowd, pressed up against each other in a multihued mass. What would have appeared as a mass of humanity is instead a menagerie – dogs pressed up against donkeys and a parakeet next to a pig. There is a wonderful diversity in species, clothing, and expression, but although the animals all stand in close proximity to one another there is almost no direct interaction or even eye-contact taking place between the figures, as if each individual exists in a bubble of isolation. Selected areas and details painted with the same stylized blue monochromatic colour scheme further emphasize the subtle homogeneity between these seemingly different figures. When everyone is special, nobody is, and Chan's work comments on the culture of individualism that can in turn lead to isolation and artifice.
Human cultures around the world have long ascribed different personality traits and powers to different animal species, and many of us feel an automatic affinity with animals. "Spirit animals" and "Patronuses" have become embraced as a part of popular culture, yet we give little thought to the deep-rooted assumptions that lie behind these symbols and metaphors. Playful yet deeply cynical, Chan's work ultimately gets at the heart of human culture, prompting reflection on the importance of appearances and how we might visualize the more hidden aspects of human personality.