Artists

Photo Credit: NIU Chun-Chiang

Hsian Jung Chen

Group photo of EKWC staff and the resident artists.
Dinners are made by artists in turns.
Workpieces have been glazed fired and waiting to be glazed fired in the studio.
Advisor Tjalling Mulder helped put works into the kiln with a folklift.
I gave a tour of my studio and progressing work to group visitors.
Kiln Hall
Advisors Froukje, Mieke, and Tjalling helped molds together.
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Hsian Jung Chen

Location Netherlands / Oisterwijk
Residency Sunday Morning, European Ceramic Work Centre (EKWC)
Year of the Grant 2020
Hsian Jung Chen is a ceramic artist who acquires art inspirations from daily life, such as markets or food. Through the deconstruction and transformation of his creative forms, he tries to represent people's everyday life experiences and arouse the audience's sympathy. Chen also combines ceramic with other materials or the ready-mades. He uses everyday objects made from mass manufacturing to reveal the modern life people now have. The contrast between ceramics and other objects sets off each other, and Hsian Jung Chen attempts to capture the harmony between these conflicts.

In 2014 Chen started his exhibitions in Asia, Europe, and the States. It includes group exhibitions "Food Pose Book Launch," New York Art Book Fair, MoMA PS1, NY, US (2016), "Moving Mountain," Wonder/Liebert, Paris, France (2017), and solo exhibition "The Coconut Show, " (2016) and "Factory,"(2020) both in Pon Ding, Taipei, Taiwan.

Artist Statement:

[Art Project]
Folk culture and food have always been the subject and inspiration for me. In 2021, I went to the artist in residence at European Ceramic Work Centre (EKWC) in the Netherland. I chose four representative local food in the Netherland to be my work prototype: Goudse kaas, Rookworst, Stroopwafel, and Kroket. These are the whole-time national delicacies to the Dutch. When they see these gourmets, they can instantly connect their own life experiences, memories, and even national identity. But as a foreigner, I see these foods and cultures from a distance. I depicted and reinterpreted them from an objective (unemotional) and shallow (superficial) perspective. But during creating, I realized that I often waver between objective depiction and subjective interpretation, as if I was slowly adapting to life in this foreign land.

[Art Statement]
Even though I have been working on ceramic for several years, there are still skills I don't fully understand because I am self-learning. Gratefully, I learned new skills and methods in EKWC, such as 3D drawing, CNC (Computer Numerical Control) processing, plaster mold making, clay mixing, glaze preparation, etc. I was able to use various machines and equipment and tried to make pieces that I couldn't do in my tiny studio in Taiwan. Thus, I have enhanced a lot of ceramic knowledge and practical experience from the residency. Besides the skills, I also learned a lot from other resident artists after seeing their experimental wild works. It definitely opened my eyes and pushed me to break my comfort zone. What I learned is not necessary to predict whether the new creation will be successful or not. Instead, it is more important to keep experimenting and breaking the rules. Eventually, I hope to create more impressive and unexpected works in the future.



Author: Hsian Jung Chen
Edited: Brix
About Sunday Morning, European Ceramic Work Centre (EKWC)