Navigating Identity and Healing: The Art Journey of Moxin Chen
Initiated and organized by The Bridge Arts Foundation, the 'Seeking Light' Global Young Artist Open-Call Exhibition is currently being held at Scholart Selection Gallery in San Gabriel, California, and will run until May 18th, 2024.
Bridge Arts Foundation's Art Director, Tia Xu, engaged in a conversation about the exhibition and art with several artists participating in this exhibition. In this interview, we have the pleasure of speaking with artist Moxin Chen.
—— Q&A ——
Tia Xu: Could you please share your background and what inspired you to pursue a career in art?
Moxin Chen: I started to love art as a young kid. I would draw and cut off magazine images and paste them on paper or my bedroom wall. My mother (does not work in the art but) has a passion for it and taught herself painting during her free time. I would always watch her painting at home. I never seriously considered pursuing a career in art until high school. My high school has an art conservatory and various wonderful art classes. I would always come back after school to continue working on my artwork. That was the time I realized that I could not live without art, — It excites, accompanies, and heals me; and it would be my lifelong pursuit.
I got my BFA in Painting and Studio for Interrelated Media from Massachusetts College of Art & Design, and my MFA in painting from Boston University.
Moxin Chen. Photo courtesy of artist.
Tia Xu: What does "Seeking Light" mean to you, and how does your artwork explore this theme? Can you tell us the story behind your artwork from the exhibition?
Moxin Chen: The work in the “Seeking Light” exhibition “Silent Bloom of Winter——When Our Souls Rise from the Body ∞ ” was the first painting I finished this year. I just moved to New York last year, and just like a lot of New Yorkers, have been having this love-hate relationship with the city. Since winter, both my physical and emotional health went into a dark zone. I kept getting sick from different viruses five times in a row. I created this painting during this dark period. This new work explored the space between control and looseness, creating imagined spaces between the material and the mental.
Bridge Arts Foundation's "Seeking Light" Open Call Exhibition Installation View, Photo: © The Scholart Selection / Luna Hao
Moxin Chen_Silent Bloom of Winter——When Our Souls Rise from the Body. Photo courtesy of artist.
Tia Xu: How does your cultural background influence your art?
Moxin Chen: My art serves as a cartography of personal and collective narratives, intertwining physical and imagined realms to explore the complexities of home, intimate relationships, and spiritual presence within physical spaces. Drawing from my multicultural background as a Moscow-born Chinese who migrated to the U.S. in high school, I navigate the complexities of identity through mixed media paintings. Colors, forms, and materials serve as symbolic vessels for personal histories and cultural nomadism. In a world marked by perpetual flux, my works seek to instill a profound sense of existence, belonging, and identity, engaging viewers on a personal level while prompting introspection.
Moxin Chen’s Artwork. Photo courtesy of artist.
Tia Xu: What materials and techniques do you prefer to use in your art, and could you explain your choices?
Moxin Chen: I use both dry & wet, water-based & oil-based medium in my work. Most of the time, my works are mixed-media based. I started drawing with Chinese ink and then layering with acrylic paint. My sculptural works are made of home-construction materials from the Home Depot: joint compound/spackle, wood, insulation board, etc. the colors and forms create disturbing senses of inconsistency and difference, and collaborate with diverse materials rather than using single media. Abstraction is a space to combine these fragments. Fragaments are not broken parts of total languages, they are part of the process of describing the world.
Moxin Chen’s Artwork. Photo courtesy of artist.
Tia Xu: What emotions or ideas do you hope viewers will take away from experiencing your artwork?
Moxin Chen: The notion of "be-ing" and "be-longing" serves as a guiding philosophy, as I delve into the fluidity of selfhood and the process of reconciling disparate aspects of identity. Biomorphic shapes emanate from my art, offering reflections that can be interpreted as self-portraits or vessels for viewers to define themselves. These shapes embody disturbing senses of inconsistency and difference, collaborating with diverse materials to illustrate the ongoing search for the essence of being and belonging.
Through the construction of biomorphic forms and fragmented landscapes, I invite viewers to confront their own sense of self and connection to the world around them. My work is a personal journey, echoing a collective struggle to rebuild conceptions of self through environmental and experiential influences while dismantling and rebuilding the boundaries that define us. Ultimately, it is a reflection of the ongoing journey toward self-discovery and reconciliation, offering a space for contemplation, introspection, and collective healing.
Moxin Chen’s Artwork. Photo courtesy of artist.
ABOUT OPEN CALL EXHIBITION PROGRAM
Bridge Arts Foundation's "Seeking Light" Open Call Exhibition Installation View, Photo: © The Scholart Selection / Luna Hao
Bridge Arts Foundation's Open Call Exhibition Program is designed to provide support for early-career artists. The "Seeking Light" Open Call Exhibition has thoughtfully selected 18 talented artists from a pool of over 500 submissions, employing a selection process that involves art professionals. "Seeking Light" opens from April 20th to May 18th, 2024.
ABOUT ARTIST
Sunny Moxin Chen
EDUCATION
2022 Boston University, MFA in Painting
2019 Massachusetts College of Art and Design, BFA dual major in Painting + Studio for Interrelated Media
ADDITIONAL EDUCATION
2019 MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology, Advanced Photography & Related Media
2017 Central Saint Martins-University of the Arts London, Contemporary Fine Art Practice, London, UK 2014 Rhode Island School of Design, Interior Design Summer Program
RESIDENCIES
2022 Chautauqua Visual Art Residency (full-awarded), Chautauqua, NY Soaring Gardens Art Residency (full-awarded), Laceyville, PA
2021 Hewnoaks Art Residency (full-awarded), Center Lovell, ME
2019 Haystack Mountain School of Crafts Interdisciplinary Residency, Deer Isle, ME
SOLO & TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2022 Wandering Be-Ing, Distillery Gallery, Boston, MA
2021 Synonyms For Persona + David Petrak, Boston University Commonwealth Gallery, Boston, MA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 (upcoming) Pictorial Coherence, Van Der Plas Gallery, New York (upcoming) Group Exhibition, Soil Gallery, Seatle, WA
2023 Overture, Soul Art Center @JINGART, Beijing Exhibition Center, Beijing, China Meta-Morphosis, Yiwei Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2022 Coming Home, Abigail Ogilvy Gallery, Boston, MA Chautauqua Artists in Residence 2022, Erie Art Musem, PA Resister, Disrupter, Visionary, Midway Gallery, Boston, MA Armory Park, Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York, NY Connections, Fowler-Kellogg Art Center, Chautauqua, NY Banging the Door, Piano Craft Gallery, Boston, MA
Small Works Show, Cambridge Art Association, The Speedway Gallery, Cambridge, MA Splinters In the Ongoing Normal, Project Gallery V Spring, NY (Online)
Portals and Portholes: A National Juried Exhibition, Main Street Arts, Clifton Springs, NY MFA Thesis Show, Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery, Boston, MA
Hidden HERstories, public art awarded by A.R.R.O.W.S.(Advance, Recruit, Retain, & Organize Women In STEM),
Boston University Biology Research Building, Boston, MA
2021 Dinner to Follow: Second Year MFA Painting and Sculpture, Commonwealth Gallery, Boston, MA IYKYK: Are You Ready For the Future?, Piano Craft Gallery, Boston, MA
PAINTING, Curated by Lavaughan Jenkins, Musa Collective, Online Exhibition
2020 Touching Without Touch, exhibition + performance, the Hive Art Community, Brooklyn, NY All SHE Makes, Online Exhibition
2019 Haystack 2019, Student Life Gallery, Boston, MA
Perseverance, Artist talk & showcase with Museum at Home, Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, MA Regardless of Outcomes, Godine Family Gallery, Boston, MA
She Says, Student Life Gallery, MassArt, Boston, MA
ON/OFF: Conceal & Reveal the Private Movement, Student Life Gallery, MassArt, Boston, MA Traveling Water Fountains, Live performance with Graciela Cassel, WhiteBox Art Space, NY
MassArt Juried Art Auction, Design and Media Center, Boston, MA Love Your Body, MassArt Student Development, Boston, MA
The Untitled, Student Life Gallery, Boston, MA
All School Show, Frances Euphemia Thompson Gallery, Boston, MA
2018 Experimental Sound, Pozen Center, Boston, MA
The No Show, Student Life Gallery, MassArt, Boston, MA
The BIG Show, Studio for Interrelated Media Department show, Boston, MA
All School Show, Student Life Gallery, MassArt, Boston, MA
2017 The City State, Godine Family Gallery, MassArt, Boston, MA
Analogue, Parker Hill Branch Library—Boston Public Library, Boston, MA
2016 Projector Feelings, Student Life Gallery, Boston, MA
SIM BIG Show, Interactive Live Performance at Godine Gallery, Boston, MA The Away Show, Student Life Gallery, MassArt, Boston, MA
CURATORIAL EXHIBITION
2024 (upcoming) Surviving Together, A.P.E. Gallery, MA
AWARDS & HONORS
Best in Show Award, National juried exhibition, Main Street Arts, Clifton Springs, NY, 2022 Social Impact Seed Grant, Boston University, Boston, MA, 2021
Carving Studio & Sculpture Center (CSSC) Scholarship, West Rutland, VT, 2021
School of Visual Art Merit Scholarship, Boston University, Boston, MA, 2020-2022 Presidential Scholarship, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA, 2015-2019 Fine Arts 2D Auction Foundation Award, MassArt, Boston, MA, 2019
George Nick Prize, MassaArt, Boston, MA, 2019
Selected Internship Award, MassArt, Boston, MA, 2019
Visual Artist of the Year (only recipient), Valley Christian Schools, San Jose, CA, 2015
Mary Dean Reed Art Scholarship, Valley Christian Conservatory of the Arts, San Jose, CA, 2015