Matthew Liu Fine Arts is pleased to present Shen Chen, the first solo exhibition devoted to the New York-based artist Shen Chen in his hometown Shanghai. The exhibition dates from Saturday, June 9th to August 25th, 2018. The gallery hosted an opening reception for artists on June 9th at 4-7 pm. Spanning across cultural, spatial and temporal boundaries, his works provide both visual pleasure and intellectual stimulation, adding diversity to our understanding of contemporary Chinese art and the process of artistic globalization. On view at the exhibition will be his most recent acrylic works and two ink on paper.
Among the first Chinese artists to experiment with abstract ink paintings in the early 1980s, Shen relocated to United States in 1988 and has been creating meditative works that bridge the spirit of ink and wash painting and conceptual art. For almost three decades, he sought ways to explore the notion of ink, not only as a medium, form or technique but also as aesthetic choices and stylistic references that are unique to his own cultural lineage. Shen has been particularly interested in the various shades that graphite grey acrylic offers, and produced a rich body of minimalistic works that evoke the simplicity and transparency of ink paintings. Employing a long-stemmed brush that he invented and assembled himself, Shen evenly applied numerous layers of vertical brushstrokes with great concentration and brush control. The repetition of identical brushstrokes records the passage of time as well as the artist’s state of mind at various intervals. Each overlapping stroke dissolves the one before. By doing this, the artist dissolves the painting itself as he completes it. The infinite combinations of the width of the brushes, the order and directions of layers of brushstrokes, various shades of paint and chances resulted in a luminous body of work. In them space, distance, and emotions are manifested through a deceptive void of stillness.
Born in 1955 in Shanghai, Shen Chen graduated from the Stage Design Department at Shanghai Academy of Art in 1982, and completed his MFA at Boston University in 1990. He has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Matthew Liu Fine Arts, Shanghai (2018); Gallery Gowolhun, Seoul (2018); Nanhai Art Gallery, San Francisco (2017); Ginkgo Space, Beijing (2017); San Shang Museum of contemporary Art, Hangzhou (2010); Today Art Museum, Beijing (2008); Nantong Art Museum, Jiangsu (2008); and China National Museum of Art, Beijing (1988). His works can be found in the collections of ME collection, Germany; White Rabbit Museum, Sydney, Australia; Collection of Reydan Weiss, Germany; Akzo Nobel Art Foundation, the Netherland; Duke Energy Corporation, USA; Johnson and Johnson Foundation, USA; Stibbe Collection, the Netherlands; Shanghai University, China; San Shang Museum of Contemporary Art, China; Today Art Museum, China; Nantong Art Museum, China; J&J Art Foundation, USA, and Ningbo Museum of Art, China. Shen Chen currently lives and works in New York and Shanghai.
For further information, please contact youyang@mlfinearts.com or +86 21 6315 1582.