This weekend, Shoebox Projects is hosting a closing reception for Chenhung Chen’s I Ching in America, Hexagram #32 installation.
Like much of this artist’s fascinating work, Chen has woven a web of shapes and forms that are suggestive and fluid, using repurposed and discarded materials such as copper wire and cables.
With her use of this material, wire and cable become abstract figures, sinuous shapes. She conveys new directions for lines and space, and she infuses a very real sense of life and energy into the medium in which she works. Energy is, of course, an interesting concept here, as the original use for some of these objects was to transport and transform energy. What was once perhaps a reined-in power, to harness electricity and utilize it, now seems to have blossomed into something both more chaotic, wild, and beautiful in the gallery space.
Chen is fascinated by the ideas of chaos and order, with technology as both a tool and weapon. There is a very spiritual quality to her work, one which even in the most chaotic of forms and shapes reaches for a sense of peace and balance. During Chen’s residency at Shoebox Projects, she has worked to create an installation that is a part of a new series, I Ching in America. The I Ching’s hexagrams each represent the human condition, and offer insight and understanding into behavior, actions, and consequences.
Her work here with Hexagram #32 includes a sculptural skeleton created from a computer desk and an expansive piece of crocheted electronic fabric of wires and electrical components. It is a technological grid transformed into a new shape; it is energy reborn, vital, and yet at least momentarily stilled. The installation is a kind of touchstone for both change and continuity, destruction and creation; Chen weaves a quilt here, something delicate and fine arising from the harshness of her chosen materials.
According to Chen, “My work is like writing a thesis. I can’t really say any particular thing inspired it rather it is another expansion of my fundamental process to make the invisible, visible. But not just any ‘invisible,’ that which reflects the human condition and with an intention to show the magnificence of Man’s journey.”
There is both an intimacy and a vastness in Chen’s work; the swirls, coils, and lines she weaves both draw the viewer in and then reveal the grandness of the universe itself. Chen is a world traveler, a native of Taiwan now rooted in Los Angeles, and it is perhaps that global perspective which helps to infuse her art with a sense of the “larger picture.” Her work is an amalgam of both spirituality and the detritus and of man, created while struggling to come to terms with the world through technology.
If those technological forms, now being repurposed, are fluid enough to emerge from the tangles and turns Chen weaves, who knows where they might lead us. Harmony, dissonance, inner power, and the transitional nature of the human condition have long fascinated the artist, and she wants these ideas to fascinate the viewer, too.
“I want the viewer to think about this existence, perhaps in a way they haven’t before,” Chen attests.
And surely, this viewer will. The last day to see the installation is during the reception this Saturday December 2nd, from 3-6 at Shoebox Projects at the Brewery Arts Complex in DTLA, 660 South Avenue 21 #3 LA Ca 90031.
December 1, 2017 in art and cake. Tags: abstract, art, art and cake, Art and Cake LA, Art and Culture, art exhibition, art gallery, art magazine, art opening, art review, artist, artist in residence, artists, arts, assemblage, Brewery Arts complex, Chenhung Chen, collage, contemporary art, dtla, electrical chords, environment, exhibit, exhibition, fine art, found objects, gallery, Hexagram #32, i ching, I Ching in America, iching, los angeles, los angeles art, los angeles artist, mixed media, museum, painting, recycled, repurposed, sculpture, shoebox projects, solo show, southern california
In January 2016, renowned author Peter Kageyama who wrote Love of Cities and Love Where You Live challenged a group of individuals to come up with a project for our City. Ideas were submitted and our project was chosen to receive a $500 grant.
Under the umbrella of Cocoa Main Street, some of the original group and a few new faces, all active in the Cocoa Village community, came aboard. We worked diligently to bring the first benches to life. With the help of friends, artists and sponsors, we presented Phase I (Taylor Park) of the bench project on Memorial Day, 2016. The morning was energized and the turnout was high...this vision became a reality with the unveiling of 10 incredible works of art!
In September 2016, things changed. Our partners at Cocoa Main Street were transitioning and so were we. Our group down-sized and we took on a new look, new attitude and a new vision. With the help of our team, we are moving onward and upward. We are ready for the challenges and rewards that lie ahead.
The art of Kasia Lilja reflect the passion for drawing and the experiences from everyday life, often with a twist of humor. Experiences, tabus and everyday dilemmas are reflected in miscellaneous ballpoint illustrations and minimalistic graphic posters. Every piece has its own story and is often explained via honest and personal blog-entries.
Museum piece, one of a kind, hand painted, art case with Queen Anne legs, decorative music desk and pedal lyre with trim around case. Pastoral scenes, each one different. Well made hand crafted American Weber Baby Grand Piano made in the heyday of piano manufacturing in USA (1927) recently rebuilt with new hammers, shanks, knuckles, strings, pins, and seems like new pin block and sound board. Perfect for museum, restaurant, concert stage or beautiful living room piece or just as a great playing instrument. Warranty and free delivery anywhere continental USA. Questions call Sonny. 631 475-8046
Museum piece, one of a kind, hand painted, art case with Queen Anne legs, decorative music desk and pedal lyre with trim around case. Pastoral scenes, each one different. Well made hand crafted American Weber Baby Grand Piano made in the heyday of piano manufacturing in USA (1927) recently rebuilt with new hammers, shanks, knuckles, strings, pins, and seems like new pin block and sound board. Perfect for museum, restaurant, concert stage or beautiful living room piece or just as a great playing instrument. Warranty and free delivery anywhere continetal USA. Questions call Sonny. 631 475-8046
Pretty walnut Sohmer 5’1″ baby grand 1965 in excellent condition inside and out. Sohmer is known as the “Poor Man’s Steinway”. Great tone and action response. Warranty. Free move anywhere continental USA. Questions? Contact Sonny 631.475.8046
Mint condition white gloss baby grand piano, Kohler & Campbell made by Samick Piano Company, 1991. Served as furniture piece, maintained but rarely played. Paid $9000 new. Only $4900. for piano, matching bench and delivery anywhere continental USA. Warranty. Questions Call Sonny Direct at 631 475-8046.
Baldwin Baby Grand Piano, Model M 5’4″ 1942, Hammers & shanks were replaced and appears that it has new strings and pins, work probably done about 15-20 years ago.
Very robust, rich sound, action is well regulated. Classic well made, hand crafted Baldwin piano. Sound board, pin block and bridges excellent condition. Free LI/NYC delivery. All else continental USA only $475. Warranty. Questions? Call Sonny Direct at 631 475-8046.