Interview
Karen Chacim Ché
Karen Ché is a royal oil painting and sculptural artist. She specializes in classical and surrealistic style. She also does commissions for high quality art. She is also a mega size mural painting artist. Karen is interested in fashion design and has honed her machine sewing skills. She has been an instructor for 8 years.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“I am an artist from Macau, South China who started out my apprenticeship of oil paintings at the Maritime Museum of Macau. This year, I became a royal artist presenting a statue to the Prince and Princess of Chimay in Belgium. As a Dame myself from the house of the Chacims from Portugal, my ties to the aristocratics means thriving in my own circle. My artistic criteria includes mainly sculpturing or oil painting. For 8 years, I taught fashion design and machine sewing as a secondary school teacher in Macau.”
What inspires you?
“I often dream of beautiful visionaries which I used to paint as a beginner artist. In total silence, I ponder over what I want to paint. But in a city when it's mostly a more rushing at pace I paint or sculpt realistically or surrealistically which is more about techniques but less about imagination. In this way I produce more art no matter how the environment is.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“At the beginning of my own artistic career more than 23 years ago, I used to paint in a surrealistic style to paint onto canvas my dreams, which are quite out of this world. At the latter stage, my own painting style became more realistic as I could not imagine or fantasize while tackling tasks as a teacher teaching languages and fashion design and machine sewing skills. There is no underlying message upon my own artistic production but just to convey my dreams or vision onto canvas. Producing art in a realistic style does not stop me from completing all the tasks at hand or minimize the quality or quantity even when I'm disturbed by all the noise bombarding me. Painting or sculpting in a classical way is more relevant to the aristocratic circle which I intend to commission for. As an apprentice I learnt to paint mega mural size or miniatures, which is very rare for artists to have their hands trained to master this. I also learnt how to sculpt all the rococo style in preparation for this career path which I choose particularly for art among other pathways such as writing for research for publication, as an entrepreneur or continue to teach. I haven't thought of any topics to paint in particular yet. I can't imagine any for now. But as a royal artist producing art relevant in this area is an honor for me.”
How would you describe your work?
“Realist, surrealistic, in the first part of my own artistic career my paintings are full of imagination and dreams, while in recent years I shift to a more realistic, classical style in order to continue to produce high quality art in a speedy way even when I feel distracted by the environment. For now, I'm very glad as a royal artist as there is a lot of rich history one can learn from. But for the future I don't know yet - perhaps I'll tend to produce more sculptures than paintings of high quality.”
Which artists influence you most?
“Kandinsky, René Magritte, Van Gogh, Giuseppe Ambrosini and Antonio Gaudi inspire me.”
What is your creative process like?
“I visionalize or have a dream, then I observe the realistic part of it, I study the components to paint or sculpt in a high speed, then draft it out on canvas or paper, then carry out by painting or sculpting.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“When I studied about aesthetic philosophy there seems to be no purpose in art, as in ‘What's the function of art?’ Aside from that art can be beautiful or sublime, it conveys the soul or the spirit of a person - or both - as in the pure essence of the artist. Art can be therapeutical in a rushing society when one does not have any inspiration at all not retaining the altruistic spirit of that whcih we are or we are not. Then art can represent you as the purity you want to convey at a higher level rather than the mundane. Art inspires, of course. Whether it is a surrealistic representation which triggers you imagine at a higher level of this world or as a means of classical production rich in history to learn art gives a person the opportunity to be inspired out of the mundane. I'm not in the criteria of pop art so I don't know anything to say about this but I suppose however the society evolves art still inspires. In the Southeastern part of the world, art is becoming as an affordable commodity, whether it is selling illustrations for brands or turning cartoon characters into commodities such as labubbu. This boosts economy and it's not bad for any artists to establish themselves in an artistic world.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“I'm very thankful for all the institutions which invited me to present my own art for the past years this honor or glory I really owe them. Most of the time, I'm invited by the Educational Bureau of Macau or the Cultural Centre which supports local artists by providing venues. Higher institutions from the city also invited me for a solo display of paintings to commemorate their 20th anniversary of establishment. It's an honor for me when the university asked me to donate my own paintings for them to put in the hallway but I refused as I did not have many paintings at hand. Both ways are not bad as I got a display tour around the city for the first collection I painted. Recently, I presented a statue to the Prince and Princess of Chimay in Belgium. They are not ruling the country but are in charge of the county's administration. Another victory for me is to be featured as one of the most representative artists in Europe of which a book is published.”
