Artists
Photo Credit: NIU Chun-Chiang
CHEN Yen-Yi
CHEN Yen-Yi
| Location | USA / Colorado |
|---|---|
| Residency | Anderson Ranch Arts Center |
| Year of the Grant | 2009 |
| Work | Construction of Civilization (solo exhibition) |
Artist Statement:
Greek philosopher Euripides once said, ‘The first requisite to happiness is that a man be born in a famous city.’ What is this city? Is it a great city or just an overall concept? Is it an unsuitable, yet wanted concept for humans? Is there another version and life to this city? And how does one find the meaning of his or her own existence in a city filled with different spatial, economical, social, and cultural values?
This uncertainty with civilization inspired me to build a brand new city using laws of nature. Bees are similar to people; they are social creatures that live in communities. Each community has its own tight structures with assigned roles, securing its members’ way of living and mode of reproduction. Composed of hexagons, a beehive is a perfect cityscape. It provides the safest and spacious rooms for its residents, allowing each resident to live in peace. That is why I see bees as my teachers. I invited them to participate in my artwork, creating new values that harbored the harmony between human and nature.
One of my exhibited works, Search for A Secret Region explores human settlement, the development of the city, and the establishment of civilization. A city is not only a symbol of a stable way of living, but also a sign of civilization. A space that nurtures many people somehow becomes unbalanced in our world. Does civilization create liveliness or does it actually kill it? Shouldn’t people stop for a second and think about the ecology of a city? I used artificial beeswax to build a model of Taipei 101. I then left it to the bees. Together the bees and I made a unique form of living that resembled a city.
I traveled and visited various local places during my residency. A creator values the feelings and thoughts that are formed under different artistic and cultural situations, as well as the way one learns to reflect on and come to understand oneself. Artist-in-Residency is a sort of ‘disruption and collaboration’ in a foreign place. I combined and recombined materials, transforming them and creating a sense of strangeness, thus bringing a different viewing experience to the audience. Poetic, warm, and even eerie languages were established by the presence of a variety of senses, exploring the possibility of space and presentation.
Anderson Ranch Arts Center lives in harmony with its surrounding natural environment. It fully utilizes its local materials. All studios and structures in its buildings were built with wood and metal, preserving a sense of primitivity. There were 18 studios with state-of-the-art facilities for almost all media. Each studio had its own manager and assigned assistant. It was an established environment that was suitable for work.
My residency experience with the center was different from the past. Artists and students exchanged ideas on forms and techniques through month-long workshops that were held 5 days per week. Everyone developed different thoughts on working conceptually, technically, and artistically. Facing an environment so far away from the mundanity of life, I was able to sharpen all of my senses, attentively experiencing and observing everything. I let my mind slow down and reflected. It was a great opportunity for me to experience nature, hug some trees, and enjoy life.
After my residency at Anderson Ranch Arts Center, I revisited New York City. A city is the center for culture and civilization; it is a symbol for living a good life. I was awed by the thriving and highly developed arts and culture scene in this city, but the excitement that struck me the last time I was here was missing. The same forests of Manhattan buildings and the same rushing crowd on the streets confused me this time. Is a great city just a concept? Is it an unsuitable, yet wanted concept for humans? Is there another version and life to this city? And how does one find the meaning of his or her own existence in a city filled with different spatial, economical, social, and cultural values? This city houses many dreams and lures people into wanting to relentlessly grasp onto something.