Who

Chan is a critically acclaimed video artist known for his political activism and hard-core lefty viewpoints.

Backstory

Chan was born in Hong Kong, but when he was eight he moved to Nebraska with his parents who hoped, he says, that the climate would relieve his chronic asthma. A sickly child, Chan doodled to pass the time and initially considered a career in photojournalism before enrolling at the Art Institute of Chicago. A year after graduating, Chan was featured in the 1997 San Francisco International Film and Video Festival, which earned him his first exhibition a year later at a small gallery in Chicago. Chan later returned to school—he earned an MFA from Bard in 2002—and has since gained attention for his psychedelic video animation art, which features characters both real (Samuel Beckett, Biggie Smalls) and imaginary. Represented by the Greene Naftali gallery in Chelsea, his work is collected by Dakis Joannou and the Rubell family.

Of note

Although his art has earned him notice, Chan may be just as well known for his political activism. In December 2002, shortly before the war began, Chan traveled to Iraq as part of the anti-war group Voices in the Wilderness, in the hopes of preventing a U.S. attack. He later chronicled his trip in an "ambient documentary" called Baghdad in No Particular Order. A staunch opponent of the Bush administration and all things Republican, Chan helped create The People's Guide to the Republican National Convention, an illustrated map to assist protesters during the 2004 convention in the city, and was arrested for taking part in an overeager demonstration during the event. In 2006, Chan produced a documentary with the suitably arty title Untitled Video on Lynne Stewart and Her Conviction, the Law and Poetry, about controversial civil rights lawyer Stewart, who was convicted of aiding terrorists in 2005. In 2007, Chan brought the Classical Theater of Harlem's production of Waiting for Godot to two Katrina-ravaged neighborhoods in New Orleans. These days he operates the website nationalphilistine.com, a "political think tank" featuring "lite rock and liberal talk" and a collection of his "audio essays" which feature Chan reading other authors' literary works.

Personal

Chan lives in Chelsea. Shy about publicity (particularly because of his political activism), he rarely allows himself to be photographed. "For the work to survive, I have to disappear," he's said.