10 Questions with Vinitte Chen
Vinitte Chen is a young artist whose main works break away from common art forms such as painting and installation art. Instead, she opts to create unique interactive and multidimensional pieces as to generate an impactful experience for the viewer. In her youth, Vinitte Chen spent her eight years in Canada. After that, she returned to China, choosing to base herself in Shanghai. As a result of her experiences in different environments, she has been exposed to various natural landscapes, cultural products, and artistic edification. This has inspired her to express our multifaceted world in her own way, from painting to experimental art. Vinitte eventually became fixated on her own way. In her process, she uses various materials such as clay and different types of glue to present different visual effects in various environments of natural light, UV light, and no light. Additionally, through controlling the interactions between the light and her pieces through viewer involvement, those who interact with her art are able to perceive her works in their own unique way, allowing them to break through the artist's intended interpretation and find their own meaning.
Vinitte Chen - Portrait
ARTIST STATEMENT
From the times of old to the present, in eastern culture, weddings of matrimony have been referred to as "red weddings"; conversely, however, death has been historically referred to as a "white wedding". In the case of white weddings, mourners partake in a grand ceremony as to celebrate the excess of life. In such ceremonies, there are songs and musical instruments paired along with tears and mourning. The complex emotions associated with death are exemplified through such a ceremony.
As to express this grand ceremony, I have combined the concept of "qi" (器) or vessel that is present within traditional Chinese culture. The Chinese character "qi" is not solely representative of the word vessel, but can also be understood pictographically as the character for "cry" (ku 哭) while also having two characters for "mouth" (kou 口), which are representative of the emotions that are brought out through funerary services.
The main body of the work is a container for a dead life, while the transparent part of the piece is an abstract expression of the human face. The face is made of translucent material as in my opinion, it seems that after death, people no longer have any privacy to speak of their personal belongings, life experiences, and all of the words and deeds they said and performed throughout their life. Within this grand ceremony of nostalgia, the exchanging and discussion amongst friends and family dig a hole into the transparent face, scraping away some if not all of the privacy once enjoyed by the deceased, all of which is done with the intent of revealing a side of that person that may not have been known to others.
The appearance of the work changes under different types of light. Colorization will be altered based on the use of white light, violet light, and night light, which allows for different interpretations of the multi-faceted emotions during the "last rites"; celebrating and mourning. Additionally, these shifts in color allow for interpretation of the multi-faceted nature of human beings, good and evil, sorrowful and jubilant, resulting in the composition of a symphony for the shortness of life.
This work, through oriental cultural symbols, hopes to provoke people to think about their lost lives while also honoring the souls of the eternally departed while maintaining respect for life.
Last Rites, Clay, 27x24x18 cm, 2022 © Vinitte Chen
INTERVIEW
First of all, when did you first realize you wanted to be an artist? And how did you come to that realization?
Actually, there was no exact time when I realized that I wanted to be an artist because I had not taken any professional art courses in the relevant field. However, I had a strong interest in new things and techniques, so I would think about blending different materials and creating my own unique style, and only in the process of creating did I find myself slowly becoming an artist.
What about your background? You work with interactive and multidimensional pieces; how did you learn to create such artworks?
I majored in environmental design in Canada. I was exposed to various types of handicrafts in college. Later, I was quite interested in painting and hand-carving, so I mastered the characteristics of different materials through self-study. In the past, when I watched artworks, I could only take a hurried look in a crowd and couldn't explore it closely. Now I want to break the tradition and start creating interactive multidimensional works.
You lived in Canada for a few years before relocating back to China, and you are currently based in Shanghai. What inspired you to follow this path? And how has it impacted your career?
Shanghai is a metropolis where East meets West, and it is undoubtedly the best place for someone like me who has both Eastern and Western educational backgrounds. It has a strong tolerance and freedom, and I can enjoy the collision and intermingling of Eastern and Western cultures, and the city is also rich in the artistic atmosphere, both in art exhibitions and art workers, who can discuss and exchange ideas together.
Last Rites 02, Clay, 19x23x25 cm, 2022 © Vinitte Chen
In your work, you mix traditional concepts derived from eastern cultures. What do you aim to say to the viewers? What are the key messages you would like to tackle with your work?
I feel that the Eastern culture that some Westerners know is not comprehensive and real, so I want to convey a richer Eastern culture through my artworks and seek the integration and sublimation of Eastern and Western cultures, and then always uphold the core ideas of tolerance, equality, and respect in my artworks.
What about your technique? How do you choose the mediums and materials to work with?
I will integrate a lot of common materials, such as zircon, iron mesh, simulation materials, resin, twine, silicone, etc. All of them may become an essential part of the work, and I will also rub phosphor into the materials to give them a different visual appearance under the violet light. The work is created by hand step by step, so I will never do duplicate works; each piece is unique.
Where do you find inspiration for your artworks, both visually and conceptually?
I rarely find inspiration through art exhibitions or other artworks, my inspiration comes from ordinary daily life, it may be a natural material or color scheme in nature, or it may be a handicraft from a flea market.
My conceptual inspiration is mainly drawn from eastern and western cultures, through my own life experiences/watching movies/reading books/traveling, all of which feed me to think about the spiritual core of what the artwork expresses.
Last Rites 02, Clay, 19x23x25 cm, 2022 © Vinitte Chen
Last Rites, Clay, 27x24x18 cm, 2022 © Vinitte Chen
Is there any other theme or technique you would like to experiment with?
Since my studio is quite small, I am very limited in what I can do. So I hope to have enough funds to support a larger studio in the future so that I can have more opportunities to experiment with larger size works. In addition, I am more interested in 3D printing technology, and I also hope to have the chance to try this technology in the future to give more possibilities to shape the works.
What do you think of the art community and market? How do you find opportunities to show your work? And what is your relationship with collectors?
I believe that many of the works in the Eastern art world come from daily life, but the Eastern art market is only involved a small number of people and has not formed a wide awareness and dissemination. I hope that, in the future, more people will have access to the extensive art market.
I mainly rely on online submissions to art exhibitions and international art competitions to seek opportunities and show my works.
I am not in contact with any collectors at the moment, but I have been tackling the technical difficulties of how to preserve my works perfectly for a long time, hoping to further enhance the value of my works for collection.
Last Rites, Clay, 27x24x18 cm, 2022 © Vinitte Chen
Do you think that the online market and exhibitions are helping you in promoting your work? And what would you like to implement in your promotion strategy?
With the advent of the post-epidemic era, online communication will become more frequent and deeper in the future, so online exhibition is undoubtedly a good way to promote my work, but since my work is highly interactive and has a multidimensional three-dimensional shape, the visual effect of the naked eye is still the best.
In terms of promotion strategy, I hope to amplify the uniqueness of my interactive works to attract viewers. For example, in online exhibitions, we can use naked eye 3D or VR technology to create an immersive viewing experience, and set purple lights above the works, so that viewers can move the angle and distance of the light source on the screen to get a different viewing experience. Offline exhibitions no longer use fences to separate artworks and viewers but will give each viewer a purple light, and they can freely control the light in their hands to interpret and discuss the artworks at will.
And lastly, what are you working on right now? Anything exciting you would like to tell our readers?
Now I am trying to create a series of works with new themes. Recently, I received an invitation to the offline Exhibition "nature 2023" from the CICA Art Museum in South Korea. I hope it can be held smoothly and more people will pay attention to my multidimensional interactive art works.
