我在San Antonio的個展於宣傳方面可謂大獲成功。除了作品登上週報封面－順便說明一下，San Antonio Current 是偏重生活娛樂消息的免費報紙，行蹤遍佈各個公共場所的報架，因此在那一週（6/25-7/1）我到每個餐廳酒吧都看得到自己的作品－開幕當天參觀的人非常多，大家都很喜歡我的作品，甚至有些人感謝我到那兒展覽～有點受寵若驚，呵呵。本週當地兩大報紙又陸續有我展覽的評論報導出來－週三出刊的San Antonio Current，以及將於週日刊出但文章已先貼在網上的San Antonio Express-News（當地最大的日報，相當於台灣的聯合報）。美國報紙的藝術報導/評論和中國不一樣，不是給錢人家就會報的，而要作者認為展覽本身有值得報導之處。換言之，作為一個對當地人來說籍籍無名的國外藝術家，我憑著實力－而非金錢與關係－贏得眾人的認可。我一貫堅持“讓作品說話“；如今我作品的聲音，已響遍San Antonio。
兩篇報導裡關於我展覽的文字錄於後。
***San Antonio Current***
THE ART CAPADES
CAM 2008: ‘Equivocal Topographies,’ ‘Story’, and ‘Binocular Rivalry’ --by Emily Seale
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The fanciful, mysterious nature of Penn’s and Lowe’s work is echoed in Min-Tse Chen’s Story at Joan Grona Gallery. Curator Kimberly Aubuchon met the artist, who was born in Taiwan and currently works in Beijing, when they both attended The Art Institute of Chicago. The influence of Asian calligraphy and narrative art is evident in Chen’s technically impressive drawings, though imaginative imagery propels the work beyond the realm of illustration.
“Exquisite Corpse 1-20” is particularly compelling: Twenty sheets of paper, alternating brown and white, are arranged in a grid under Plexiglas. A large drawing covers them all, though they are offered as 20 separate objects. The imagery is not abstract, but a dreamlike quality makes interpretation virtually impossible. While Chen depicts identifiable subjects, such as a girl morphing into an elephant which she holds up by its ears, they are surreal and incoherent. The bizarreness of each configuration renders the Dadaist title absolutely relevant to this work, and applicable to the rest of the show.
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***San Antonio Express-News***
Art Beat
Review: Min-Tse Chen/Bill Amundson at Joan Grona --by Dan Goddard
Min-Tse Chen/Bill Amundson
Joan Grona Gallery
112 Blue Star, (210) 225-6334
Through Aug. 16
Curator Kimberly Aubuchon featured the lyrical drawings of Min-Tse Chen in "Goin' Mobile" at the Blue Star Contemporary Art Center, but this solo show titled "Story" features a lot more of the Chinese artist's fantastical creatures and dreamlike journeys.
With a bachelor of fine arts from the School of Art Institute of Chicago, Chen actually works as an engineer in Beijing (NOTE: This is a mistake. I worked as an engineer for several years in the past, but not anymore after moving to Beijing --Mintse), but her drawings are flights of fancy that adhere to few rules of reality. In "Exquisite Corpse," 20 individual drawings coalesce to form a grid featuring the image of a beautiful woman with blue hair and wearing a flowing kimono. Chen's languid, flowing lines are probably derived from Chinese calligraphy, which is apparent in a series of small drawings called "Poetic."
Almost filling an entire wall of the gallery, "Suite Journey" is the centerpiece, with a long, continuous drawing that seems to follow a man who turns into a flying fish among other adventures. The scroll-like drawing is bounded on the top and bottom by small watercolors, featuring palm trees, masks and nesting dolls.
Inspired by Chinese children's stories and maybe science-fiction movies, Chen's drawings merge the mythology of the East with the postmodern conceptualism of the West. Her work invites and rewards close examination.
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