We are delighted to invite you to the Artist Talk on Saturday, January 18, 2025, from 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM. Join us for the afternoon where Chen Duxi will offer a glimpse into his creative journey, sharing personal stories about his artistic process and studio practice. Liu Yifu, a Ph.D. candidate in Art History at Princeton University and Curatorial Fellow at The Frick Collection, will moderate the conversation. Come celebrate the upcoming Snake year with us and enjoy this unique opportunity to engage with the artist and his work!
This conversation invites the audience to learn about the creative process behind the Contemplate (Chiyi) series and the wealth of inspirations that the artist Chen Duxi draws from his study of philosophy and poetry, his encounters with the art of other cultures, and his background in music. The talk will examine Chen’s use of traditional gold-paper (Jinjian), silk (juanben) and mineral pigments, as well as his reinvention of the Gongbi technique. The artist will discuss a number of contradictions that define his oeuvre: the tension between the macro and the micro, between the subjective observation of fleeting moments and the eternal truth, and between the celebration of the external world and the exploration of one’s inner thoughts and emotions. Such dynamic juxtapositions are exemplified by the artist’s years-long obsession with water as a subject. He attempts to capture its essence with dense lines that flow across the painting’s surface. These lines simultaneously embody the passage of time and the construction of pictorial space. The artist will go into detail the philosophical significance of water, and the role of line drawing in his artistic expression.
The event is free and open to the public, with both onsite and online participation options available, and please note that this program includes interpretation from Mandarin Chinese into English.
