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Can ex-Mediacorp actor Chen Xi get any cooler?
On Wednesday (Oct 2), the 33-year-old, who has been studying arts management at King’s College London since last year, shared on Instagram that he had set up his first pop-up art shop in the UK.
Chen Xi is the son of local stars Xiang Yun and Edmund Chen.
In the Reel he posted, Chen Xi was setting up shop with his Japanese fiancée Mimi, in the middle of Angel, a bustling shopping and entertainment hub in London.
The video also captured Chen Xi painting on site while crowds gathered to watch him.
“It hit me again today: Art is all about connecting with people. What I’m really leaving with? New vibes, fresh faces, and that spark for my craft reignited,” wrote Chen Xi.
When 8days.sg reached out to Chen Xi, he tells us that the idea of starting a pop-up happened after he was accidentally captured in a viral IG reel by popular UK artist Luke Adam Hawker.
In Luke’s video, Chen Xi was walking past the former, who was painting in public. Intrigued by what he saw, Chen Xi is seen stopping to admire Luke’s work.
Chen Xi connected with Luke after the encounter, and they went on to meet with other artists in the UK.
“We just vibed and we were talking about putting ourselves out there and that connecting with people is the beauty of art, so I thought of actually doing that,” he says.
Inspired, Chen Xi decided to do a pop-up, which he says is his way of “forcing [himself] to commit to being out there”.
We initially thought Chen Xi’s fiancée Mimi was just there to help with the set up and for moral support. As it turns out, she’s equally talented and some of her art were up for sale at the pop-up too.
“My fiancée was super helpful. She helped carry the chunk of stock down which was super heavy, and helped out with the sales and the filming too,” gushes Chen Xi.
“She also draws very well, so actually it’s a combined pop-up. All the cute coloured watercolour work was done by her. The kids love her work!” he adds.
Chen Xi says he didn’t expect to make much sales, so he was pleasantly surprised by the outcome.
His works are priced at around 38£ (S$65). He also does commissioned art pieces and the price varies depending on the complexity of the designs.
“We actually broke even and there were profits in the end!” he tells us, adding that he hasn’t done a tally yet.
“I crashed the next day with a bad backache,” he laughs.