RAIR | 2020-21

WANG Chen | NYC

WANG Chen was born in China and is a multimedia artist currently living and working in NYC. Chen makes costumes and props for her videos and builds unimaginable spaces using virtual reality. Chen received her 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 the fellowship recipient of Roswell Artist in Residency and Vermont Studio Center.

www.wangchenstudio.com

Saying that Chen Wang is a digital artist is hugely understating the amount of physical effort and thought that goes into their work. In this immersive video installation, every blade of grass, every stone, and every character has been meticulously made in the real world before being transferred into the computer and becoming a layer in an intricate scene. Through hundreds of hand-drawn and filmed layers, viewers can recede deeply into the virtual space, encountering animated characters with distinct personalities. This juxtaposition of reality and imagination is exactly the point; even our escapist fantasies cannot escape what is happening in the real world.

In the Woods was largely created during the lockdown period of the COVID-19 global pandemic. It reveals the artist’s concerns about the post-pandemic future in a world where the truth seems more tied to faith than fact. Here, the dark woods become a metaphor for the chaos of contemporary politics and its violent factions as well as an exploration into either utopia or dystopia, depending on one’s point of view.

The addition of ceramic work to the digital world of Wang’s creation poses further questions about the nature of reality. Video art is inherently light; it is a weightless image projected on a wall. However, clay becomes the perfect contrast. It is heavy, but retains its fluidity and ease of transformation. When these elements are paired, the video becomes weightier and more grounded, and its fantasies become a little more inescapable. Merging the virtual with the physical, reality with fantasy, and anxiety with beauty, Wang’s work reflects and clarifies the challenges we collectively face in the 2020s.

— Aubrey Hobart, RMAC Curator of Collections and Exhibitions

Roswell Museum and Art Center

Rair exhibition • WANG CHen “In the woods” • June 25 - August 22, 2021