Derek Chan is an artist based in Santa Fe, NM, where he has lived since 2014. His work draws on symbols, color and light, metaphysical inquiry, cultural mythology, hybridity, and spiritual practice. Working primarily in painting, drawing, and collage, he uses these media to foreground overlooked stories and question conventional ways of seeing. Having begun as an abstract painter, his projects over the last decade have also included a book of ink drawings, collaborations, and elements of performance, installation, and moving image.
Derek was born in Berkeley, CA, in 1981 and raised in San Francisco, CA. He is a second-generation Chinese American. He received a BA from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2004, and an MFA from the University of Illinois, Chicago, in 2007. Participating as a Monastic-monk, Derek collaborated with Chicago artist and urban planner Theaster Gates on Gates’ contribution to the 2010 Whitney Biennial. His work has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago; the Roswell Museum and Art Center; and the Center for Contemporary Arts in Santa Fe, among others. In 2013, Derek participated in the Roswell Artist-in-Residence Program. Derek has taught as an adjunct instructor of painting and drawing at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, NM, and Santa Fe Community College.
contact: derekchan1@gmail.com