The Order of Body: Chen Duxi

“How does one really perceive an object?” This is the question that prompted Chen Duxi to produce the latest works in his ongoing series Er Gong. The term “er gong” is adapted from an archaic Chinese expression that can be translated as “your body.” But in this case, “your body” transcends the limiting notion of human form to include references to plants, animals, and even minerals. Which body is yours, and which body is theirs? From the perspective of Chen’s vibrant and meticulously rendered brushwork, we are reduced to simple phenomenological extensions of the natural world we inhabit. 

But, unlike those ancient texts, Chen Duxi’s Er Gong does not seek to control the “bodies” that fall under his gaze. No classes are formed, hierarchies promoted, or judgments framed. Instead, these expressive explorations of form and color are a simple bid to rediscover a harmonious relationship with the other bodily objects that share our environment. While countless paths may lead us to transcend the limitations of cognition, Chen’s quest to reveal his subjects’ fundamental forms through lyrically vibrant pictorial depiction may be among the most pleasurable. As Chen states, “the nature of things is their essence, and the essence’s responses to external conditions constitute phenomena. Although the essence is invisible, one can arrive at it through phenomena.” And it is reasonable to suppose that the more vibrant and intense the phenomena, the simpler it is to reach the core, which might account for the fact that all his subjects are so vivid and full of life, basking in the glow of nature’s creation.