Chen Tianyi

Chen Tianyi was born in 1996, and lives and works in Tokyo, Japan. He graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts as an undergraduate in 2018, and received his MFA from Tama Art University and Tokyo University of the Arts in 2022 and 2024 respectively. Chen Tianyi’s creations are rooted in the overlapping realm of dreams and reality. In this enclave he created, space is not an objective vessel, but a field of possibilities for physical action. Time, rather than a physical uniformity of passage, becomes a “retention-protention”structure in the bodily experience. The artist connects familiar anchors in old and new memories with the continuity of bizarre dreams remnant of the real world, and continuously reflects on individual identities from the“nostalgia of unexperienced landscape.”Rather than reconstructing the original place, the artist invites the viewer to enter the dynamic memory ecosystem, where individual and collective memories are combined, autobiographical narratives acquire significance through dictation and other structures, and ultimately weave a collective dream in the mechanism of memory sharing.

1996 Born in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province

2018 BFA, China Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing

2022 MFA, Tama Art University, Tokyo

2024 MFA, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo

Currently lives and works in Tokyo

Solo Exhibition

2025 As I walked out one Evening, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China

2023 Structure of the Landscape, Gallery Binosha, Tokyo, Japan

Group Exhibition

2025 Will+s Vol. 9, SOGO Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan

2024 Chinese Students in Tokyo University of the Arts, The University Art Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan

The 28th SOGA-kai Japanese Painting Association Summer Exhibition, Art Space Rashimban, Tokyo, Japan

Challenge to New Waves of Japanese Painting, Tobu Funabashi Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

The 72nd Tokyo University of the Arts Graduation Works Exhibitions, The University Art Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan

2023 漸 -zén- Tokyo Geidai Japan Art Week, Blue Gallery, New York, USA

Song of the Brush Vol. 2, Yoh Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

Ryuryu Exhibition, Joshibi University of Art and Design, Tokyo, Japan

The Exhibition of Tokyo University of the Arts Japanese Painting Department, Masaki Memorial Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

Beyond, Unpel Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

The 49th SOGA-kai Japanese Painting Association Exhibition, SEIBU IKEBUKURO, Tokyo, Japan

Challenge To New Waves of Japanese Painting, Isetan Urawa Store, Tokyo, Japan

Will+s Vol. 8, Seibu Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan

2022 Spiritual center of the land Vol. 5, Yoh Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

Joint Graduation Exhibition of 5 Art Universities in Tokyo, The National Art Center, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

The 37th Ueno Royal Museum Grand Prize Exhibition, The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, Japan

Scene of life, Osettai Gallery Tanaka, Shodoshima, Japan

The Exhibition of Tokyo University of the Arts Japanese Painting Department, Masaki Memorial Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

The 7th Sekisho Japanese Painting Grand Prize Exhibition, Sekisho Art Museum, Shimane, Japan

Refreshing breeze and the bright moon, Sato Museum, Tokyo, Japan

The 47th SOGA-kai Japanese Painting Association Exhibition, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan