CHEN Sung-Chih｜Cité Internationale des Arts - Arts Residency Network Taiwan 藝術進駐網

Location	France / Paris
Residency	Cité Internationale des Arts
Year of the Grant	2007
Work	Once Upon a Time Sung-Chih Chen (solo exhibition)
Personal Website	CHEN Sung-Chih's Personal Website

CHEN Sung-Chih, born 1978 in Nantou Taiwan, graduated from Graduate Institute of Plastic Arts, Tainan National University of the Arts, with emphasis in mixed media installation. Previous works include mixed creations using ready-made objects. These ready-made life materials are randomly assembled, combined, and transformed in order to present something different from the original rough and cold material quality with a delicately blended complex psychological element. These art creations, therefore, are given warmth and poetic meanings. In the past years, there were several participations in artist-in-residence in international studio and exchange programs in Britain, Egypt, France and Taiwan. For instance, he was the resident artist in Stock 20 in Taichung, Taiwan (2004), The Townhouse Gallery in Cairo, Egypt (2005), Cité International des Arts in Paris, France (2007) and Goyang Art Studio, Goyang Korea (2013).

Artist Statement:

I often use found objects in my mixed media installations. These pre-existing everyday materials transcend from their raw, cold physicality and develop into something with a strong and complex psyche. Therefore, these works possess a certain touch of warmth and poetry.

My past works were based on the idea of using the language of the material to present sensitive segments often ignored in daily life. These works were mainly spatial installations staged in everyday settings. I incorporated time-sensitive social events to uncover destructive and fractured forces drawn from one’s experiences and subtle recollections. I attempt to locate the remnants of beauty that are camouflaged by the ugliness of human nature and objecthood in mundane everyday life. This beauty may come from broken pieces of natural law, remains of human consumption, or traces of violence. I abstracted fragments from the memories of day-to-day life. Under the push-and-pull of form and meaning, this abstraction reveals the contradicting relationship between individual and the individual’s absurd reality.

As a contemporary international artist, experiences from different times or spaces present the best opportunities for gaining inspiration and knowledge. Encounters and exchanges with unfamiliar people, things, and locations generate ways of thinking that are unlike the past. I have participated in a variety of international exchange projects during the past few years, and the experiences I have had are reflected in my work. My residency with Cité International des Arts changed the way that I perceive art, as well as the way that I perceive the process of creating art. It allowed me to discover the qualitative beauty of materiality and spirituality through the act of daily collection. This experience has opened up my eyes to multifaceted ways of working and will continue to benefit me as an artist.

Artists

CHEN Sung-Chih

CHEN Sung-Chih