ILLUSTRATED:
George Chann, Lin & Keng Gallery, Taipei, 2005, color illustrated, p. 154

Chann's abstract paintings are rich in oriental atmosphere, which is indeed related to his background. In 1952 he ran a store Farmer's Market Art Gallery in Los Angeles, in which he did not sell his own works but Chinese artifacts such as jewelries and antiques just to earn a living. Running a business as an antique dealers, he still managed to paint for 7 hours a day. His later works were hardly seen owing to his unwillingness to work with art dealers. He refused to work on market-oriented paintings: pure abstract art was the only objective he had. Until he passed away in 1995, he has been exploring abstract art while running the small business for over 40 years.

Chann's abstract art development is divided into several stages. First is the black-and-white collection during the 1950s in which he employed Chinese characters, marks and inscriptions; colors were not used until later. Up to the 1960s characters and symbols remained, adding on material varieties such as shattered, mix-and-match, collage, paper-pasting effects. The expression during this period of time was substantial and sturdy, implying some tract of humanism decline. Later in the 1970s, Chann created colorful tapestry-like paintings that not only embodied modern cityscapes but combined the old civilization and modernism. Using techniques of action painting such as dripping and splashing, he fully illustrated the flamboyant mixture of the old and new.