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Liang-Jung Chen, based in London, is an artist and researcher working across drawing, object, installation, and performance. Her practice is informed by material culture in anthropological study, leading her to investigate the usage, consumption, creation, and trade of artifacts, as well as the behaviors, norms, and rituals associated with these. Intrigued by tensions embedded in everyday scenarios, each series of her work scrutinizes a specific interaction between a daily object and its user. She holds the position of an associate lecturer at Chelsea College of Arts.
“As a material nerd, I delved into wax experimentation, captivated by its remarkable versatility. Wax transforms like water when hot, feels pliable as clay when warm, hardens like a rock when cooled, and turns as brittle as glass when thin. When crafted into a candle, it vanishes into the air, leaving no trace.”
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Ephemeral Installation at CASA VASTO
'Hoc Est Corpus Meum'
23.11.23Chen crafted an ephemeral installation for an exhibition by sculptor Berta Blanca T.Ivanow, curated by and held in VASTO.
Liang-Jung Chen’s bespoke light installation: EBBISTOFLOWWHATWAXISTOWANE, existed only for the duration of the night of the exhibit. It embodied the artist’s time and energy spent on refining the technique of making candle strips tangled in a hoop of 2 meters in diameter over a non-stop week, here in Barcelona. It marked the artist’s intrigue into her continued venture into creating work that won’t be retained, providing a sense of immense liberation. Chen invited the audience to celebrate the collective effort invested in everyday life and to embrace the transience of existence.
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AVAILABLE WORKS
Natural beeswax and cotton string. 21 one of a kind handmade candles statues. -
Installations
Previous works. As a researcher and artist, Chen is intrigued by tensions embedded in everyday scenarios, each series of her work scrutinises a specific interaction between a daily object and its user.The Spout and Its Churn Rate
A performance piece based on a set of six milk churns of the same volume. Through the intensive act of repetitively pouring 1.5 litre of milk from one churn to another, the artist visualises the inevitable loss during the ongoing process of transferal.
The realisation of the equal volume of each churn, despite their variety of form, offers a tantalising satisfaction, yet ultimately this hoped-for notion that the milk will perfectly flow from each to the next cannot be realised. meanwhile the subtle differences in each spout causes the milk to pour in unpredictable manners. -
The Egg Rack Made a Disclaimer
"An alternative name for this project could be finding a balance. Balance being the new position of the egg after interacting with it and before it falling off and breaking. This balance doesn’t describe the initial position, but a new position unique to the visitor who has interacted with it, almost a negotiation between their touch and the egg holder. This narrative describes balance in terms of stability and integrity; qualities that may be more immediate to the eye. However, balance also means making two
elements equal or proportionate to each other. Perhaps this definition is most interesting when thinking about the egg and the egg holder or when thinking about contemplation and action." Review by Graham Baldwin.
