His work, mostly realised in the form of painting, drawing and sculpture/installation, is centred around ideas of the natural world, landscape and its representation, architecture and design. In 2006 he also began an on-going collaboration on a body of printed work with the American-born, Paris based publisher and master printer, Michael Woolworth.

He has had numerous exhibitions in galleries around the world and a number of museum shows dedicated to his work, including the Kunstmuseen Krefeld, Germany in 2009 and Musée de l’Abbaye Sainte-Croix, France in 2006. Recent projects include a collaboration with Louis Vuitton on the artist book, The Arctic and the public art commission, A New Path to the Waterfall, for the Children’s Hospital at the Royal London, UK. His work is held in numerous museum, public and private collections around the world.

He lives in the middle of rural Ireland in Tang, County Westmeath where he tends his garden with his wife, Síabhra Durcan and four children, Sonny, Bea, Arthur and Søren.

The couple, introduced by friends in 2004, married a year later. In 2006, they moved to Stockholm, where Chen pursued a master’s in design at Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design. Despite initially not planning to stay in Stockholm, they founded Afteroom there in 2011 and now consider the Swedish capital home. The name Afteroom was chosen to represent their fascination with the transformation of a space over time – more specifically, what happens to someone’s experience of a room after a beautifully designed object is introduced to it.