Past Resident
Chen Wang
Chen Wang was born in China and is a multimedia artist currently living and working in NYC. The installations that Chen creates begin with physical drawings. She make costumes and props for her videos and builds unimaginable spaces using virtual reality. Chen received her BFA in Painting from Virginia Commonwealth University and an MFA in Photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Her work has been exhibited/screened internationally in China, UK, US, Sweden, Venezuela, and Greece. Chen has participated in several residencies including The Studios at MASS MoCA and the NYFA Immigrant Mentoring Program.
“By layering different media into one digital composition, I create an overwhelming fantasy world of multiple, moveable layers & elements that together become unstoppable and continuously transforming as a way of considering the possibilities of imagined worlds.”
Q&A with Wang Chen (from Crosstown Arts newsletter, August 20, 2020)
In August 2019, Crosstown Arts residency alumnus Wang Chen exhibited her video art installation, The Sin Park, in Crosstown Arts’ Screening Room.
In The Sin Park, the artist — wearing hand-sewn, full-body costumes — is featured against a backdrop of electric city-space, neon landscapes, and nightmarish amusement parks. The juxtaposition and melting of these dark-yet-fantastical scenes act as a playful reflection of Chen’s complicated response to and rejection of societal norms while constructing a new vision of gender and sexuality in our world.
Wang Chen was born in China and is a multimedia artist who lives and works in New York City. Chen makes costumes and props for her videos and builds unimaginable spaces using virtual reality. Chen received a BFA in Painting from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2014 and an MFA in Photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2018. Her work has been exhibited/screened nationally and internationally. Chen has participated in several residencies including The Studios at MASS MoCA and the NYFA Immigrant Mentoring Program. She is a recipient of the 2018 Vermont Studio Center Fellowship and of the 2020 Roswell Artist-in-Residence Fellowship.
Crosstown Arts registrar Jesse Butcher caught up with Wang Chen to discuss The Sin Park, her studio practice, and her new work.
Jesse Butcher: I was able to see your work, The Sin Park, at your solo exhibition at Crosstown Arts. It’s an immersive experience of both digital constructs and sculptures. How did this project materialize?
Wang Chen: In 2017, I did a project called The Rabbit Hole, which is a four-channel video installation that combines drawings, sculpture, and performance. Digital coalesces within the physical space, which allows the viewer to take in the artwork fully with all of their senses.
By adapting a similar structure, The Sin Park pushed my practice further. It introduced more characters so there was some complicated physical labor, and it was my first time to use 3-D game engine combined with 2-D drawings to create multiple layered imagery.
You are currently moving your studio from New York City to Roswell, New Mexico. How do you navigate moving into new studios? Do you have certain tools that are essential to each studio? Do you move into each residency with a planned project in mind, or do you adapt to the stimulus of the new surroundings?
I’m going into a year-long residency in Roswell, New Mexico. I usually come with my project plans. I like to divide my time into different sessions when I’m in residencies.
Essential tools to my practice would be my computer and drawing supplies.
I’ve seen some of the new drawings you are working on. Is this new series an extension of The Sin Park or part of a new project?
I think both. Some of the new drawings came directly from The Sin Park. I have had some ideas for a new project, but I also like to look back to my earlier practice to browse ideas or inspirations that may have not been able to think though during that time.
Thank you for sharing your work during your exhibition at Crosstown Arts. We wish you all the best for your artist residency in Roswell, New Mexico.
