James Chen Solo Art Show

Mindless Thoughts of Conscious Matter

-James S. Chen solo art show

22.10.2011 — 16.02.2012

Opening Reception starts at 20:00 | 10月22日20点开幕

Mindless Thoughts of Conscious Matter

In this new series, ‘Mindless Thoughts of Conscious Matter’, James continues to evolve his ideas following his last series ‘The Foundation of Time’. New color combinations, subject matters, and emotional voices are presented in this series to conclude this style of series for the time being. The Culture Yard will serve as a gallery venue to present a collection of James’ latest oil paintings during the months of October to the end of the year. Visitors are free to come and view his art at any convenient hour when they are open.

James S. Chen was born and raised in Beijing during the 80’s. When he was 10 years old, he left Beijing to meet up with his parents in San Francisco after being apart from them for 5 years. Due to the change of environment from California to Beijing, James is an inarticulate debater most of the times. In contrary to language, James’ expression towards his inner world relies mostly on colors and patterns.

James’ style of art can be recognized as a synergy of abstract expressionism mixed with native tribal symbolism and a conceptual form of underground pop. The patterns and colors form different unique images depending on the viewers mind at the time, with new possibilities of discovering things that have never been seen before the next time. Each time it can be a whole new image to the mind of the viewer, depending on their feelings and new experiences. The artist attempts to find out the meaning and inner connection of different subjects and those that are left with constant remainders.

Regarding to his personal art style, James proposed a new concept of “Subconceptualism and Unconceptualism” which presents a “Viewer Defined’ way of looking at his work with an open mind. It is an idea that came opposite to conceptualism, which the viewer has to figure out what the artist is trying to say. His style of abstract pop symbolic expressions work towards representing the mind of the viewer without the artist, using simple geometric forms and colors to complete complicated viewer defined concepts subconsciously by the viewers themselves. Tricking the viewer to creativity form their own understanding without telling or showing.

This series of paintings is the continuing exploration of the subconscious symbolic– non-conceptual movement that reassembles the viewers mind with simple shapes and colors. It represents the train of thoughts that was inspired from the school of subconscious constructivism and the idea of abstract personal interpretations.

Bright colors were represented in this series in various possibilities that reflects what lives can be filled with.Sometimes they can be contrasting methods of areas of our focus in life that are pieced together in our minds to form an image of the world. These paintings represent the times when multiple concepts can be overlapping in that same moment in time. That are redefined by the artist and put back together in forms of colors and symbols, which is then interpreted by the viewer to form a new image in their minds each time it is viewed. The idea is for the viewer to discover new interpretations of these paintings that can be transformed through time with the changes in their perspective of the world through new experiences. So the viewer will be able to see a changing painting in their mind each time.

“一些事物的无意识思考”系列作品是陈实2010年“时间的根本”个人油画展风格上的延续。画家运用全新的色彩与主题继续发展其新颖的绘画风格。貌似一样的图案构成的全新画作，诠释的意义却是多样的。艺术家试图在所谓不变中寻找各个事物之间的联系与意义。此次于天井越洋展出的是陈实近一年在北京创作的油画作品。展览对参观者免费开放，将于10月底开始，持续至2011年年底。

陈实生于80年代，10岁离开出生地北京来到旧金山与分别5年的父母相聚。于加州大学圣地亚哥分校毕业后，陈实获得艺术学位。由于生活环境的迁移——从北京到旧金山，陈实从小不善言辞。相对于语言，他更依赖通过色彩和图形表达他的内心世界。

陈实的绘画风格被视为抽象表现主义，混合本土部落象征主义元素与一些地下波普艺术概念的结合。不同图形与色块组成的新颖图象视观者自身情感、视角以及个人经历等因素而产生变化。艺术家试图发掘不同事物的内部联系与其自身一成不变部分的互动意义。

关于个人风格，陈实提出的另一个概念是表现为“观者自定义”的“子概念论”与“无概念论”。这一概

念是艺术家站在“概念论”反面提出的。即艺术家在完成一幅作品之后就不再具有对作品的解释权。而观者可以通过自身的创造力与想象力把简单的图案转化成复杂的情感。抽象的波普符号及几何图形等被观者用来完成复杂的下意识感受。蹊跷之处在于观者与艺术家共同完成了绘画的创意部分。

这一系列作品也是艺术家使用简易图形与色彩对下意识符号与无概念运动的继续探索。它描绘了一连串思路被下意识构成主义与抽象概念个人阐述的共同启发。

作品中明亮的色彩代表了生命中反射出的多种多样的可能性。他们有时可以与我们头脑中形成的生命焦点形成对比进而组成世界的画面。这些作品表现了多种概念在同一时间重叠出现时的感觉。这些重叠出现的多种元素被艺术家以色彩和符号的形式重新定义，之后再由观者头脑风暴进一步解读。随着时间、空间、以及个人因素的变化，观者可以在每次欣赏作品时产生新的想法和新的解读。