Chi Xun: A visual artist bridging Chinese and Western thought

Born into a family of science fiction writers, Chi Xun developed a fascination with exploring the unknown from a young age. His initial training in medicine nurtured a lifelong interest in humanity. Today, as professor in the Department of Arts and Design in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University of Macau (UM), Prof Chi is at the forefront of developing a new, scientifically informed language of visual expression. What may seem like two opposing paths—medicine and ars—have merged to form the foundation for his creative journey. It is at the intersection of science, philosophy, and aesthetics that his artistic vision takes shape, producing work that is award-winning, intellectually probing, and deeply original. In this interview, Prof Chi shares the experiences and ideas that have shaped his artistic path.

Creation anchored in philosophical exploration

Prof Chi is a visual artist whose work is deeply rooted in philosophical exploration, constantly seeking the essence of life through the lens of a camera and the flow of ink.

As our conversation begins, Prof Chi’s eyes light up at the sight of the Leica camera in our reporter’s hands. With a warm smile, he shares how the brand’s name inspired his son’s. He recounts the story of Ernst Leitz II, the second‑generation head of Leica, who during the Nazi era turned his company into an ‘ark’, secretly helping Jewish employees escape by sending them overseas. ‘That was a sense of responsibility that went far beyond commercial interests,’ Prof Chi says. ‘It transformed the camera from a cold optical instrument into a vessel of humanitarian spirit.’ Moved by this legacy of courage and compassion shining through a dark time, Prof Chi named his son ‘LeiKa’, hoping that same light would guide him through life.

An avid reader, Prof Chi has filled his home with books—from Chinese classics to Western philosophy. This lifelong passion forms the intellectual foundation of his creative practice. His depth of thought was vividly expressed in ‘A Tree of Knowledge: Creation Based on Greatness’, an exhibition presented by the Department of Arts and Design at the UM Museum of Art. The work draws inspiration from Einstein’s theory of general relativity—particularly the idea that light does not always travel in a straight line but bends and curves under the pull of gravity. Guided by this insight, Prof Chi sought to make the invisible visible, turning abstract scientific theory into vivid artistic expression.

The UM Department of Arts and Design organises the exhibition ‘A Tree of Knowledge: Creation based on Greatness’, featuring works by faculty members

Prof Chi’s works on display at the UM Museum of Art

Prof Chi joined UM in 2025 after teaching for more than two decades in the US. He worked at the Laguna College of Art and Design in California and Purdue University in the Indiana, where he mainly taught graphic design, photography, and 3D animation, and nurtured countless young artists. His distinctive creative voice is grounded in one central belief: philosophy is the soul of artistic creation. This guiding principle has earned him international recognition, including two Best 2D Awards at the prestigious IDEAS Festival. His photography has also been featured in major publications such as Juxtapoz, Vogue, and Elle. Above all, Prof Chi holds fast to one conviction: ‘Great creation cannot exist without the foundation of great thought’.

From a storytelling family to a life in art

Prof Chi’s artistic journey began in a family steeped in science fiction writing. ‘My grandfather started writing science fiction in the 1950s, and my father followed in his footsteps,’ he recalls. ‘When I was in secondary school, I won several sci-fi awards—one of them even presented by the scientist Qian Sanqiang at the Great Hall of the People.’ It seemed only natural that he would continue his family’s creative legacy. Instead, Prof Chi took an unexpected turn: he chose to study medicine.

While in secondary school, Prof Chi won a national science fiction award, presented to him by Qian Sanqiang at the Great Hall of the People

‘At that time, my father thought studying science would lead to a more practical career,’ Prof Chi explains. Yet his own motivation ran deeper: ‘I believed that whatever you study should ultimately help you understand what it means to be human.’ For Prof Chi, medicine became an early education in life and human nature—an exploration that would later shape the foundation of his art.

After graduating from Tianjin Medical University, Prof Chi found himself at a crossroads. He soon realised that medicine was not his true calling. During this period of uncertainty, he found unexpected inspiration in the story of the Italian piano virtuoso Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, who, like Prof Chi, had studied medicine before discovering his artistic genius. That story helped Prof Chi see that the logic of science and the sensibility of art are not opposites, but complementary forces that can enrich one another.

In 2001, Chi began a new chapter, moving to the US to pursue a master’s degree in visual communication at Purdue University—marking the formal beginning of his artistic career. Looking back, Prof Chi reflects, ‘My medical studies were never a waste. Those years gave me a profound understanding of life.’ Although he entered the art world as a beginner, Chi brought the rigour and discipline of his medical training. He immersed himself in his new field, often staying up late studying design textbooks—some as thick as a phone book—and mastering in months what many students spend years trying to learn.

In 2024, a French PhD student completed his doctoral dissertation on the science fiction writing of three generations of the Chi family

Distinctive artistic vision

Years of rigorous training, shaped by a philosophical upbringing and a lifelong love of reading, have given Prof Chi a distinctive way of approaching creative challenges. Where others might struggle with abstract artistic concepts, he tackles them with the analytical precision of a physician: taking inspiration’s pulse, dissecting its layers, and uncovering the essence beneath. This blend of medical logic and humanistic insight lies at the heart of his art and teaching, giving him a singular lens through which to see and create.

During his master’s studies, Prof Chi noticed an opening for a teaching assistant position at his university. His portfolio, however, contained only 12 works—three short of the required 15. Even so, he earned an interview. The trial lecture required him to critique student work on the spot. In a moment of inspiration, he began weaving philosophical reflections from Tao Te Ching into his critique. Though his English was still imperfect, his unique fusion of Eastern philosophy and design analysis immediately captured the professors’ attention. ‘In design education,’ Prof Chi recalls, ‘what matters most isn’t having a flawlessly finished piece, but showing creative potential and new ways of thinking.’ That distinctive cross‑cultural perspective not only earned him the position—an exception to the usual regulations—but also marked the beginning of a lifelong passion for teaching.

Prof Chi with his students during his teaching years in the US

A physician’s eye for art

Alongside his teaching, Prof Chi has continued to develop his own creative practice. A multi‑award‑winning artist in the US, his photography has appeared in magazines, books, and galleries around the world — from China and the US to Germany, the UK, and Australia. Among his many projects, the Neuron and Universe series stands out as his signature work—a refined fusion of science and art. The series draws inspiration from two powerful sources: the ‘microscopic eye’ sharpened by his medical training and the vast cosmic vision inspired by Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Together, they reveal a remarkable connection: the intricate network of billions of neurons in the human brain mirrors the immense web of galaxies that fill the universe.

When the COVID‑19 pandemic brought the world to a standstill in 2020, Prof Chi used that time for quiet reflection and study. During this period, he revisited Einstein’s observation that light bends in a gravitational field—a theory famously confirmed during the solar eclipse of 1919. Captivated by this idea, he sought to express it not with equations but through imagery. Drawing visual inspiration from NASA’s space photography, he used techniques such as light painting and projection mapping—deliberately avoiding any digital post‑processing. Through this pure, hands‑on approach, the Neuron and Universe series came to life—a poetic meditation on the bending of light and the hidden order of the cosmos. Today, the works are on display at the UM Museum of Art.

Works from the Neuron and Universe series

Reimagining the language of colour

Having spent more than two decades living and working on both sides of the Pacific —in China and the US — Prof Chi Xun’s life trajectory has bridged cultures and ideas. Even after establishing himself in the US, where he served as professor and associate chair at the Laguna College of Art and Design, his curiosity continued to push beyond borders. In 2025, Prof Chi and his family relocated to Macao, marking the beginning of a new academic chapter at UM.

For Prof Chi, the move represents more than a change of place—it feels like an intellectual and cultural homecoming. ‘My artistic training took shape in the US,’ he reflects. ‘I was fortunate to receive a full scholarship, and after graduation, I spent more than twenty years teaching there. That was my way of giving back to the next generation of American artists. Now, it feels like the right time to return—to share what I’ve learned with young creators in Macao and back home in China.’

UM’s identity as a comprehensive research university resonates deeply with Prof Chi’s academic ideals. ‘My alma mater was also a research institution,’ he says. ‘I’ve always appreciated that open, exploratory spirit.’ He sees in UM’s interdisciplinary culture the perfect environment for his next creative inquiry: reimagining the language of colour.

‘The colour wheel has been a circle since Newton’s time,’ Prof Chi explains. ‘Our goal is to reinvent it from the ground up.’ From Newton’s 17th‑century model to today’s RGB and CMYK systems, most colour frameworks were designed for machines and printing—systems that fail to capture the full complexity of how humans perceive and experience colour.

Since 2017, Prof Chi and his collaborators have been working to change that, developing hundreds of experimental ‘conceptual models’. Their work spans a fascinating range—from designing colour systems for tattoo artists that respond to different skin tones, to creating tools for colour‑blind students that use scent to identify hues. Each project embodies Prof Chi’s broader vision: to rethink colour at its most fundamental level.

This research is as hands‑on as it is theoretical. Prof Chi and his team extract pigments from natural materials to mix colourful cocktails, exploring the connection between hue and its physical origins. Their study of stained glass, meanwhile, examines how light passing through matter gives colour its emotional depth. These experiments go beyond art; they represent an emerging field where physics, chemistry, and aesthetics converge.

‘A modern colour system needs at least three dimensions to describe a single hue accurately,’ says Prof Chi. Building on his research, he is developing a groundbreaking three‑dimensional colour palette at UM—a complete reimagining of the traditional, two‑dimensional colour wheel. By integrating real‑world factors such as material, texture, and illumination, his goal is to give artists and designers a new, precise language for colour—one that reflects the richness and complexity of the physical world itself.

Prof Chi begins a new academic chapter at UM

The joy of fishing in art

Prof Chi often reflects on Zhuangzi’s timeless question: ‘You are not a fish—how do you know the joy of fish?’ He imagines a fish moving freely through a three‑dimensional, weightless world. To truly understand its joy, Prof Chi believes, one must become the fish—see the world through its eyes and feel its effortless freedom. For Prof Chi, this is more than empathy; it is a transformation of being, a merging with the subject itself. In his creative practice, whenever he encounters something unfamiliar, he applies this philosophy. Through imagination, research, and even artificial intelligence, he does not simply observe a subject—he inhabits it, seeking to experience the world from within it and in doing so, expanding the boundaries of his own perception.

This idea of ‘becoming it’ also lies at the heart of his approach to art education. Prof Chi believes that teaching is not just about “showing someone how to fish,” but about exploring alongside students as they invent entirely new ways to fish. This, he says, requires courage—the willingness to break old nets, create new tools, and dive into uncharted waters to discover what a ‘catch’ can truly mean. He often quotes Einstein’s observation that ‘creativity is intelligence having fun’. For Chi, the true joy of fishing lies in that sense of playful intelligence—the thrill of exploration, the delight of discovery, and the moment when thought flows freely and new insight suddenly appears. To him, that is the essence of creativity.

When Prof Chi envisions the future of the Department of Arts and Design, the metaphor expands into a broader reflection on place and purpose. The department, he notes, sits at the confluence of Macao’s waterways—a meeting point of Chinese and Western tides. ‘If we imagine the department as a fish,’ Prof Chi says, ‘its mission is to explore the hidden currents of past and present, swimming freely between Chinese and Western traditions. Its direction does not need to be fixed, as long as it keeps its gaze on the sky, guided by the aspiration of “creation based on greatness”.’ In Prof Chi’s view, this young department, with its cross‑cultural vision and adventurous spirit, is poised to carve its own current in the global flow of art and design.