Born in Shandong, China in 1979, Chen Qingshan, known professionally as Phupha, currently lives and works in Chiang Mai, Thailand, while preparing for a new chapter of artistic practice in Europe.

Unlike academically trained artists, Phupha developed his artistic language largely through self-directed exploration. After an early introduction to painting through a family member, he spent years working on portrait commissions, gaining practical experience while gradually questioning the limits of conventional painting and searching for a more personal artistic voice.

In 2005, he established a studio in Shanghai’s M50 Art District and entered the world of contemporary art. Confronted by the tension between traditional painting and contemporary artistic discourse, he experienced a prolonged period of experimentation, uncertainty, and self-questioning. This journey eventually led him away from technical concerns and toward a more intuitive and emotionally driven approach.

After relocating to Chiang Mai in 2015, the city’s multicultural environment and international communities became a turning point in his practice. Living among people from diverse cultural backgrounds encouraged him to reflect on migration, identity, belonging, and personal transformation. Using the human figure and the body as recurring motifs, his paintings explore freedom, emotion, embodied experience, and the human condition through expressive gestures and instinctive mark-making.

Often described as a self-taught and independent artist, Phupha embraces constant movement, adaptation, and reinvention as essential parts of his creative process. He believes that the artist’s state of being is more important than any single artwork, and that the desire to explore new contexts is the driving force behind artistic creation.

He has presented solo exhibitions in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, and Bangkok, and participated in major events including the Mango Art Festival. As his life and practice expand toward Europe, his work continues to evolve through new cultural encounters and environments.