Invitation IV: Mel Chan
Studies of Clouds, Air and Uncertainty
For Invitation IV, Root Gallery presents a selection of paintings by Mel Chan, an artist based in the Netherlands whose practice moves between painting, storytelling, installation, participatory performance and video.
We have followed Chan’s work since her graduation from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and have continued to be drawn to the intelligence and visual strength of her practice. For Invitation IV, Root Gallery brings together a focused selection from her series Studies: intimate paintings of clouds and atmospheric phenomena in which beauty and unease exist side by side.
Opening: Saturday 26 September, 15:00 - 18:00
On view until 14 November 2026
Study Of Drone Attack - 18 x 24 cm, oil on linen
Paintings of clouds, mist and atmospheric Phenomena
In the series Studies, Mel Chan explores natural and man-made phenomena in the air that can appear remarkably similar while carrying entirely different meanings.
Clouds, mist, volcanic eruptions, explosions and tear gas can share the same soft edges, shifting colours and seemingly weightless forms. Visually, an explosion can resemble a cloud; drifting tear gas can take on the appearance of mist. Yet what these images represent ranges from the peaceful and familiar to the violent and threatening.
Chan uses this visual ambiguity as the starting point for her paintings.
Rather than presenting clouds simply as romantic or tranquil subjects, her cloud paintings ask us to consider what we are actually looking at. The atmosphere becomes a space in which wonder, uncertainty and danger can coexist. An image can initially appear beautiful before its possible meaning changes the way we see it.
The result is a group of atmospheric paintings that reward slow looking. Their small scale draws the viewer closer, while their subject matter opens onto much larger questions about perception, violence and the stories attached to images.
Mel Chan: Storytelling without a fixed narrative
This ambiguity connects closely to Chan’s wider artistic practice.
Born and raised in colonial Hong Kong before the 1997 handover, Chan grew up with a strong sense that something was coming to an end while the future remained beyond her control. This experience continues to inform her interest in endings, uncertainty and the cultural and political narratives through which people understand the future.
Her work questions the idea that violence, rupture or crisis are inevitable.
Across painting, participatory performance, storytelling, installation and video, Chan investigates how images and narratives shape what we believe can or cannot change. Her paintings often transform imagery connected to protest, destruction and political violence into spaces for contemplation.
She does not offer a prescribed interpretation. Instead, her work leaves room for viewers to reconsider what they see and to recognise how quickly meaning can shift.
A focused presentation for Invitation IV
For Invitation IV, Root Gallery presents five smaller paintings from Studies together with one larger work.
The smaller cloud studies have been specially framed for the exhibition, giving each painting a distinct presence while retaining the intimacy of the series. Seen together, the works form a sequence of atmospheric images in which it is not always immediately clear whether we are looking at a cloud, smoke, mist or the aftermath of an event.
The complete selection of available works by Mel Chan can also be viewed on GalleryViewer.
About Mel Chan
Mel Chan is an artist based in the Netherlands. Working across painting, participatory performance, storytelling, installation and video, her practice explores how we imagine endings, futures and the possibility of living otherwise. She is interested in the cultural and political stories that make violence, rupture and uncertainty appear inevitable.
Through her work, Chan questions this sense of inevitability. Her paintings transform images of violence, protest and destruction into spaces for contemplation, while her participatory works invite audiences to reflect, care, witness and imagine together.
Rather than proposing a fixed vision of a better future, her practice asks what becomes possible when we refuse to believe that the future has already been decided.
Chan holds an MFA with Distinction in Master of Artistic Research from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, and a BA with a double major in Philosophy and Comparative Literature from The University of Hong Kong.
Her work has been presented at Boijmans Depot, Kunstinstituut Melly, Casco Art Institute, Loods 6, V2_, 1646, Brutus, Willem Twee Kunstruimte, Platform POST and Pictura, among other art spaces and festivals in the Netherlands.
Study Of Sea Of Clouds - 150 x 120 cm, oil on linen
Visit Invitation IV at Root Gallery
Invitation IV opens at Root Gallery on Saturday 26 September from 15:00–18:00 and remains on view until 14 November 2026.
The gallery is open every Friday and Saturday from 13:00–17:00, and at other times by appointment.
The presentation offers an opportunity to discover Mel Chan’s cloud paintings and atmospheric Studies in person, including newly framed works selected especially for this exhibition.
All available works can also be viewed through GalleryViewer.
