Biography
Ying Chen was born in China. She earned her doctoral degree in liberal studies from SMU. She also obtained two MFAs: one in Visual Communication Design from Jiang-Nan University in Wuxi, China, and another in painting from SCAD, Savannah, GA. Her art explores found objects, including printed and painted silk, paper, and mechanical products, aiming to make communication available not only between artist and material, but also among people, place, and space. Community-oriented arts activities become her focal point in her liberal studies and art practices.
Education
2017-2022 Doctor of Liberal arts (public art) at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX
2014-2017 MFA (Painting ) at Savannah College of Art and Design, School of Fine Art, Savannah, GA
1998-01 MFA (Visual Communication Design), Jiangnan University, School Of Design, Wuxi
1997-98 Jiangnan University, School Of Design (Graphic Design), Wuxi, China
1993-96 Jiangsu University, Industrial Design Department (Graphic Design), Zhenjiang, China
Artist Statement
March 2015
In My Abstract Paintings, Combining Collage With Paints, I Am Fascinated By How Materials Can Be Reused, Adapted And Transformed To Be Interactive, Not Only Between The Visual Elements Within The Frames, But Also Between The Pieces And The Audience.
My Artworks Demonstrate How Communication Extends Beyond Our Human Limits And Also Involves The Mediation Of Cultural And Spiritual Interaction Throughout The universe. Lines, Color, Texture, And Space In My Work Represent My Consideration Of The Theme “Communication” by using printed and painted Paper, Silk Or Other Found Materials. Each of them Is Unique And Irreplaceable Through Their Natures.
My Practice Also Encompasses Drawings And Sculptural Installations. I Intend To reconstruct Spaces Via Diversified Materials To Fulfill My Exploring The Tension Between Chaos And Order, Abstraction And Representation, and Movement And Stasis.
Artist Statement
Ying Chen
Fall 2016
Our world is full of increasingly dynamic complexity, richness, and absurdity. This causes individuals to carry different meanings for their everyday lives based on various experiences, but we often appear on the verge of madness if we lose formerly held confidences about personal positions, roles in life, and identities.
I have been confronting the multiple struggles of the digressive and unanticipated impact of different cultures on my daily life after moved to American. What fascinates me is the diverse patterns of communication I see in response to these conflicts, which brings an idiosyncratic urge to my work: I set up a communicative space by using consumable throw-away materials in my art. This has become an imperative, and has been embodied by the time-based process of my art making, including immersion, entanglement, separation, and reunion. In light of the fragility of the human experience, my abstractions open themselves up to an ambiguity and uncertainty by playing games with these fragile materials. The materials I choose are ephemeral, building upon frailty and lightness, although our consciousness perceives it as strong and durable, because an intrinsic part of it is its annotation of inexpensive and seemingly perpetual reproduction. In one sense, my work bears the weight of our lives. This process of penetration and diffusion, endurance and repetition of my working methods and materials is just like the repetition of our everyday existence, through which the human species lives on.
I intend to build up communicative spaces that explore my interest in the subtle tension between so-called freedom and choice, privacy and exposure, tranquility and turbulence. My work also represents my wish to investigate why so many female artists have turned to the materials of domesticity for their art, how people unite their selves with absurdity, in order to achieve the possibility of overcoming the absurd, and how humans resist our doomed end through coping methods. By incorporating these thoughts into my work, I seek to find the connection between identity, gender, social standing and their effects on our daily experiences.
Artist Statement
Sophie Chen
Fall 2019
I use soft materials, like silk, paper, and fabric to tell stories about the community by dying, painting, stitching, washing, and hardening them. These materials will be transformed and reassigned for multidimensional visualizations. Gathering people together and facilitating conversations about their arts activities in daily routines as community-centered experiences makes connections within the public, whom my work serves.
Artist Statement
Ying Chen
Fall 2022
As a conceptual artist, my artwork uses found materials, including but not limited
to silk, paper, and other elements that embody multicultural values embedded in a
community. I want to learn about the inhabitants from different backgrounds by
inquiring about their thoughts, feelings, and experiences in a community.
Gathering people together and facilitating conversations about their arts activities
in daily routines as community-centered experiences make connections within the
public, whom my work serves. The nurturing of relationships among individuals and
communities at a place play a vital role in my art because I assume the place as home for
all of them. I am committed to establishing cultural bridges between different community entities via artworks and arts activities. The metaphor of home is at the heart of
my creation, representing not only familiarity, intimacy, inclusion, and relaxation but also
tensions and conflicts regarding home in the form of paintings, drawings, sculptural
objects, videos, and art practices.
I often use soft materials, like silk, paper, and fabric to tell stories about the
community by dying, painting, stitching, washing, and hardening them. These materials
will be transformed and reassigned for multidimensional visualizations. I collect these
materials from local second-hand stores, art shops, online sellers, and personal
collections.
My art is an audience-focused, resident-participatory process, binding dwellers
together to celebrate their daily regiments in the public sphere. I feel that home will give
voice to ideas that touch us daily: a search for safety, diversity, inclusion, and
community building. It is my hope that art can reach a large and diverse audience and
challenge people’s notions of what it means to be at home.
Resume
Personal information
Name: Ying (Sophie) Chen
Website: www.yingchen.squarespace.com
E-mail: yingchenart@gmail.com
Phone: 469-318-1306
Solo Shows
2017 Non-Existent Blossom Non-Fiction Gallery, Savannah GA
2017 Whispers Alexander Hall Gallery, Savannah GA
Group Exhibitions
2017 West on the Left, East on the Right Shanghai Tower, Shanghai, China
2016 Paper works Alexander Gallery, Savannah GA
2016 Student Showcase Exhibition Alexander Hall, Savannah GA
2016 deFine Art Gallery Show Alexander Hall, Savannah GA
2015 Perception of Savannah Kennedy Pharmacy, Savannah GA
2015 Small Works Exhibition Gutstein Gallery, Savannah GA
2015 Student Open-studio Exhibition Alexander Hall, Savannah GA
2016 deFine Art Student Showcase Alexander Hall, Savannah GA
2015 Salvage: Stolen Expression Sulfur Studios, Savannah GA
2014 Student Showcase Exhibition Alexander Hall, Savannah GA
2014 deFine Art Gallery Show Alexander Hall, Savannah GA
Publications
2021 Four pieces of paintings
Title: 1. The Flower Myth,
2. The Unbearable Lightness of Being,
3. The Meaning of the Trivial, and 4. The Mode of Memory.
in SMU Pony Express(ions) 2021 Edition,
Southern Methodist University, Dallas TX
2020 Five pieces of paintings and printmaking on copper
Title: 1. Dreaming of Memories,
2. In Full Blossom,
3. Connotations and Denotations of Emptiness,
4. Just A Second, and
5. Memory Oblivion.
in SMU Pony Express(ions) 2020 Edition,
Southern Methodist University, Dallas TX
2019 Five pieces of paintings and printmaking on copper
Title: 1. Bewilderment,
2. Wandering the Edge of the World VI,
3. Southern France Impression I,
4. Southern France Impression II, and
5. Southern France Impression III.
in SMU Pony Express(ions), 2019 Edition
Southern Methodist University, Dallas TX
2018 Five pieces of paintings
Titles: 1. Subtlety-connection I,
2. Subtlety-connection II,
3. Vitality-community,
4. Fragmentation, and
5. Silence
in SMU Pony Express(ions), 2018 Edition
Southern Methodist University, Dallas TX
2016-2019 Complete Works Of Design On Chinese Ethnic Minority, China Fine Arts Publishing House, Associate Managing Editor Of Volume Bai Nationality.
2016 Complete Works Of China Contemporary Design,
The Commercial Press, Associate Managing Editor Of Volume Advertisement. The third writer.
ISBN：978-7-100-09039-1
2013 Creative Design And Strategy Of Advertisement,
Liaoning Fine Arts Publishing House, ISBN 978-7-5314-53833
By Ying Chen.
2012 On The Visual Communication Characteristics Of Sign Language, Journal: The 4th International Conference
on Information, Engineering And Computer Science (ICIECS2012), by ying chen.
2012 A Study On The Teaching Idea Of Graphic Creativity, Journal: The First Chinese Academy Art And Design, Education Forum Proceedings, ISBN 978-988-97680-1-4, P112, By Ying Chen.
2009 A Study On National Characteristics In Animation Design, Journal: Art Observation, ISSN 1006-8899, P117
by ying chen.
2008 The Study Of Multiple Digital Watermarking Based On Row Spacing Coding, Journal: Microcomputer Applications, ISSN 1007-757x, P13-14, by liping xu, ying chen, jian zhang.
2007 Conduction Of Universal Design For Modern Product Concept, Journal: Packaging Engineering, ISSN 1001- 3563, P155-157, by han ni, liangrong song, ying chen.
2003 The Relationship Between Advertisement And Product Life Cycle, Journal: Publishing And Printing, ISSN
1007-1938, P106-109, by ying chen.
2003 Poster Design (2 Works), Journal: The Prize Collections Of The 2nd', International Chinese Graphic Design Competition, ISBN 7-5074-1541-4, P56-57, by ying chen
2001 Discussion About Originally Creative Thinking Of Graphics Design On One Theme, Journal Of Zhengzhou Institute Of Light Industry, ISSN 1009-3728, P67-69, by ying chen.
2000 Graphics Design (22 Works), Journal: Developing Ideas, ISSN 7-5318-0738-6/J.739, P73-77, by ying chen.
Projects
2014 Chinese Design Philosophy And Theoretical Innovation
(Key Research Project Of Jiangsu Province, China)
2013 Chinese Film Festival Of Clemson University, South Carolina
(Poster And Flyer Design For Center Of China Studies,
Clemson University)
2012-14 Studies Of China Design Works-Ancient Luminaire
(Project Of Research On Humanity And Sociology Science Of
China Education Department)
2012 UPS Packaging Design
(Project Of Institute Of Packaging Design & Graphic,
Clemson University, South Carolina)