Each painting I create begins as a reflection of something I’m grappling with or growing through: a shift, a longing, a moment of clarity. I often don’t fully understand what a piece is about until it’s finished, but the process of creating it becomes my way of asking questions, feeling my way through, and discovering meaning as I go.

Though rooted in my own experience, I believe these emotions are profoundly human. By translating them into layers of color, texture, and form, I hope to create a mirror for the viewer, inviting them to recognize parts of their own journey and feel less alone in it. The women, animals, and dreamlike forms in my work become symbols for the parts of us we often overlook: tender, brave, and beautifully complex.

In the end, my work is a celebration of becoming. It is a reminder that even in the midst of struggle, there is beauty, resilience, and something extraordinary waiting to be uncovered."

- Karen Chang

Karen Chang is a contemporary painter whose expressive, multi-layered works blend realism with surreal abstraction to explore themes of transformation, resilience, and inner awakening.

Early beginnings

Born and raised in San Jose, California to immigrant Chinese parents, Karen’s passion for art emerged early and instinctively. As a child, she was constantly sketching imaginative worlds instead of doing homework, finding joy and solace in the simple act of creating. Recognizing her gift, her mother enrolled her in oil painting lessons at age eight—a lifeline as home life became increasingly turbulent. Art became her refuge, a way to process pain and reimagine her world through color and possibility. These formative experiences instilled in her a deep belief that art can transform hardship into beauty and restore hope.

Still, like many children of immigrants, Karen felt pressure to follow a more conventional path. She set art aside to pursue academic achievement, earning a Ph.D. in Social Psychology and immersing herself in the study of emotion and identity. But the further she advanced, the more disconnected she felt from her spirit. Achievement had replaced authenticity, and eventually, that disconnection became unbearable. In the depths of depression and emotional numbness, she remembered the aliveness painting once brought her. That spark led her to pick her brush up again, and she hasn't put it down since. For her, painting wasn’t just healing. It was the only thing that made her feel truly alive.

The professional artist

Karen went on to refine her technique at the Milan Art Institute, where she developed a layered process that blends intuition with intention. Working in mixed media, she begins with expressive underpaintings—using acrylics, spray paint, and gestural mark-making—then slowly refines each piece with luminous layers of oil. Her background in psychology informs not just the emotion behind her work, but the way she constructs it: balancing freedom with structure, rawness with refinement. The result is a visual language that captures the quiet tension between chaos and calm, vulnerability and strength. “I’m drawn to the space where opposites meet—where strength feels soft, and stillness holds power," she explains.

Now based in Snoqualmie, Washington, a tranquil mountain town outside Seattle, Karen draws daily inspiration from nature’s shifting moods and quiet beauty. For her, art is more than creation: it’s a lifeline and calling to help others look inward and reconnect with their own wonder. Her paintings have found homes in private collections around the world, resonating with those who see their own stories reflected in her work. As she prepares for upcoming exhibitions and commissions, she continues to explore new ways to create art that is not only visually striking but deeply personal and alive with meaning.