Chen Shi Jin - Where Time Dwells 《古迹•村居》
Longji Rice Terraces 《龙胜梯田》
Where Time Dwells is a solo exhibition of Chinese ink paintings by Singaporean artist Chen Shi Jin, bringing together historic sites, village life and the natural landscapes that surround them.
Singapore, 8 August 2026 — Chen Shi Jin Gallery is pleased to present Where Time Dwells, an exhibition of Chinese ink paintings drawn from the artist’s immersive stays in the countryside more than a decade ago. Bringing together historic sites, rural landscapes and scenes of everyday village life, the exhibition reflects Chen’s longstanding interest in looking beyond the grandeur of a place to the human activity and ordinary details that give it character.
Historic sites form the starting point for many of these paintings, yet Chen’s gaze often wanders beyond the monuments themselves. A village marketplace comes alive with people and goods; small handicrafts reveal the character of local communities; cattle, sheep and poultry move freely through open fields. Elsewhere, fields, ponds, flowering plants and dwellings become quiet subjects in their own right.
For Chen, these details are more than additions to a landscape. They are what give a painting its sense of earthiness and human warmth. A historic site may carry centuries of memory, but it is the life around it that makes the place feel lived in.
This attention to everyday life is closely connected to the artist’s approach to composition. The arrangement of people, animals, buildings and vegetation creates contrasts of colour, rhythm and scale, while the balance between painted and unpainted space allows the eye to move through the scene. What may appear at first to be an incidental detail can therefore become an important part of the painting’s structure and atmosphere.
The works in Where Time Dwells are the fruits of a dedicated period of observation and sketching, created during Chen’s extended stays in the countryside more than a decade ago. Working directly from his surroundings, he recorded not only the appearance of the landscape but also the slower rhythms of rural life.
In one painting of terraced fields, alternating bands of heavier and lighter forms create a measured rhythm across the composition. Golden rice paddies and dwellings are set against touches of green, while a deep-green bamboo grove anchors the scene. The careful repetition of these forms gives the landscape a quiet sense of order and movement.
In Linzhou, at the foot of the Taihang Mountains, Chen turns his attention to the distinctive stone-slab houses of the region. In spring, the mountains are transformed by yellow forsythia and white pear blossoms. Against this seasonal landscape, the stone dwellings and surrounding vegetation create a scene of subtle colour and quiet rural life.
Elsewhere, at the Old Royal Palace Square beneath snow-capped mountains, the artist focuses on a young girl carrying a child while selling produce from her family’s farm. She is given a stronger touch of colour and placed at the centre of the composition, while the surrounding figures are reduced to simple lines. Through this contrast, an otherwise ordinary encounter becomes the human focal point of the painting.
The exhibition also extends beyond China. In Tangkak, Johor, Chen encountered an elderly rattan craftsman working quietly in his small shop. The artist learned that the man had first learned the craft during his early years in Singapore. In the resulting painting, earthy yellow is reserved for the principal subject while the rest remains in ink, bringing the figure and his craft into focus. The two figures depicted are, in fact, both the artist himself—a playful form of self-expression woven into an observation of a disappearing rural craft.
In Kolkata, India, Chen encountered another remnant of a changing world: rickshaw pullers and their rickshaws, once familiar on Singapore’s streets but already disappearing from view. While sketching in 2005, he came across this unexpected scene and captured it immediately. The rickshaws, market and old houses come together to form a lively street scene, preserving a moment that might otherwise have been lost.
Even quieter are the wooden cottages scattered beside a mangrove swamp. At first glance, the scene appears still, but the details tell another story: clothes hanging to dry, household chores taking place at the doorsteps, and climbing plants responding to the changing tides and the movement of the sun and moon. Life continues in small, repeated rhythms, even as the years pass.
Across these works, Where Time Dwells considers how places are remembered—not only through their monuments and historic structures, but through the people, objects, animals and everyday activities that surround them. In Chen’s paintings, the historic and the ordinary exist together, each giving meaning to the other.
The result is a body of work grounded in observation, with an earthiness and warmth that invite the viewer to slow down and look closely. Here, time is not simply something that passes. It settles into places, into the details of daily life, and into the landscapes that quietly carry them forward.
Where Time Dwells 古迹·村居 is on view at Chen Shi Jin Gallery, Bras Basah Complex.
About the Artist
Chen Shi Jin (b. 1959, Singapore) is a Singaporean Chinese ink artist and educator whose career spans more than four decades. A graduate of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), he was the first Singaporean to pursue studies at the prestigious China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, China. Chen taught Chinese painting at NAFA for 21 years and has played an important role in nurturing generations of artists in Singapore.
Known for his portrayals of tropical environments in traditional ink, Chen draws inspiration from his travels across Southeast Asia and China, capturing the spirit of local landscapes, cultures, and everyday life through a distinctive blend of traditional Chinese brushwork and contemporary sensibilities. In 1996, he won the UOB Painting of the Year Award for his acclaimed work Root. His works have been exhibited internationally and are held in various public and private collections.
Exhibition Period
Date: 8 August - 8 September 2026
Time: 12 – 6.30pm (Tues - Sun)
Venue: Chen Shi Jin Gallery, Bras Basah Complex, #02-25, Singapore 180231
Contact Information
Email: chenshijingallery@gmail.com
Artwork Selections
Longji Rice Terraces 龙胜梯田58*170
Passing Time (Village) 村居38*130
Angkor 吴哥古迹178*100
Taihang Mountain Slate 太行山石板岩 (70*73)
The Basket Weavers 藤店55*66
