Gavin Chai’s paintings capture everyday contemporary experiences through carefully composed scenes and a deft treatment of colour, light and shadow. Born in Malaysia in 1997 and based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Chai is known for detailed interior, domestic and landscape paintings that often carry a distinct psychological or spiritual charge.

In Sub Specie Aeternitatis, recent works including Idlers 草地呼吸 (2026) continue Chai’s close observation of the spaces, figures and fleeting moments that make up everyday life. His paintings frequently move between the familiar and the uncanny, using shifts in light, perspective and atmosphere to give otherwise ordinary scenes a heightened sense of presence.

The exhibition takes its title from the Latin phrase sub specie aeternitatis, commonly translated as “under the aspect of eternity” or “from the perspective of eternity”. Rather than describing a particular place or moment, the phrase introduces a broader way of looking—one that sits comfortably alongside Chai’s ongoing interest in how painting can hold transient experiences and everyday encounters in suspension.