Chen Yunxiao’s fascination on the art form of the Buddha in China gave birth to his first series of "Perceiving Tranquility" 5 years ago. His accounts to the art and craft of Chinese Buddha figures then led him to several insights into the immense history of the deity whom reached the Chinese civilisation centuries years ago, and subsequently brought him upon a chronicle of imaginations of devotees and stories behind each of the scared objects and sculptures that were created.
 
As the artist perceives the art of the Buddha around him, he places the figure in his paintings appearing in places of a normal daily life, unnoticed spots and any where they might be present, in reality or one’s imagination. He contrasts the appearance of iconic Buddha figure with real and conceived backgrounds, hence conveying the tranquility that he perceived through a continuous observation of his subject. 
 
Tranquility through perceiving his subject
 
As an undivided observer, the China-Singapore artist Chen approaches his subject, the Buddha, through a visually immediate practice. He finds that there is one essence that the masters who created the art of Buddha centuries before have achieved.
 
He believes that the essence is Tranquility that can be experienced through an undivided observation of the fine elements of his subject, hence finding their context of their place in the enormous world and subsequently putting it into paints. Through this process, mental and emotive, his subject becomes one with his mind.
 
The figure of Buddha in everyday life
 
The artist finds the art of Buddha in houses, museums and temples and experiences them differently in several contexts. Whether the craft of the Buddha can be distinguished into aesthetic displays, cultural icons or spiritual representations, the focus of the series, explained by the artist, is not the path of Buddhism, but his impression of the deity that he perceived and developed into his art, hence he seeks to communicate the level of greatness and tranquillity from his mind to the viewers of his works.
 
The artist and "Perceiving Tranquility"
 
Chen Yunxiao begun as a realistic painter who trained in China 20 years ago and graduated from LASALLE College of the Arts (Singapore) during the 8 years when he was based in Singapore. In his early years in Singapore, the realist painter further developed his aptitude in symbolic and representational art and hence his concept of Perceiving Tranquility was created and is developing till today.

Part of this exhibition reveals his second series of Perceiving Tranquility titled "Paper Mortal" which ‘paper’, as a representation of human desires, growth and change, was chosen as the subject as he anticipates the subject’s similarities with human ‘life’. He plans for the full series of "Perceiving Tranquility II" to be exhibited during his next solo exhibition in the year 2010.