Chen Gao 개인전
M Gallery, CICA Museum
December 11 – 15, 2024
2024.12.11 – 15
Ongoing
Making work is the way of finding myself. I couldn’t stop making it because I couldn’t live without it.
My work is all about the emotional life of being. I like to work with my intuition first and then discover the hidden traces behind it. Instincts never hide what they did or think, which is more sincere than mine.
Each material has their personalities. I tend to feel the material first, become familiar with them, and finally work together to make the work. I am always wondering about the reason each thing happened. Unknowns give me fear, so I want to uncover things behind them. The world of life has different sides, like a free kingdom or somewhere that feels constrained… Are constraints can accelerate the pursuit of freedom? Whether wandering people get lost in independence?
Where is the boundary? Where is the destination I should move forward? I feel like I’m standing on the edge of the boundary; they are infinite. There are so many unknowns waiting for me to explore. They contain and aspire me to move forward but also increase my fear. I am not creating a form but finding a sense of belonging in these v o i d s.
Chen Gao is an interdisciplinary artist and designer based in Detroit, MI, and Hartsville, SC, USA. She received her MFA degree in 2D Design at Cranbrook Academy of Art, USA. Currently, Gao serves as the assistant professor of art at Coker University, SC, USA. She used to teach graphic design at the School of Art + Design at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA. Her work has taken many shapes, including film photography, experimental graphic design,free drawing, sound, poetic writing, installation, and performance. She tends to work with local materials to build relationships between herself and the outside environment through different times and spaces. Even though she is not performing the work, the work is performed themselves. This is all about her emotional life of being. She is not creating a form but finding a sense of belonging in the voids to connect the self to the outside world. She believes that personal expression connects to human society. Standing up for who she is is empowering others. When the audience is ready, they ’re ready to join in at any time.
Gao’s work has been celebrated in exhibitions and projects nationally and internationally, including the Library Mural Project at Toledo Museum of Art Reference Library and An Inspired Age at Toledo Museum of Art. She was selected to exhibit work at the Van GOGH Art Gallery in Madrid, Spain, Holy Art Gallery in London, :iidrr gallery in NYC, and Jackson Junge Gallery in Chicago. Gao had received the artist residency in ecoSuites, Greece. She had interviewed with Blurb, Cultivate Arts & Education, Insight of an Eco Artist, and Artist Talks Magazine. Gao has an upcoming solo show at the CICA Museum in South Korea in 2024. She is interested in continuing her professional studio practice in association with art education.
