Chih-Chien Wang
May 14 to June 19, 2010
A recent immigrant to Canada from Taiwan, Wang presents two new installations: Watered Plant and February. Watered Plant is a series of photographic objects that resonate the personal vision of seeing stars; February combines video, photography, text and music to generate a narrative out of stars.
Essay
This project contains two approaches to stars: Watered Plant and February. “Watered Plant” is a series of photographic objects that resonate the personal vision of seeing stars; “February” uses a combination of video, photography, text and music to generate a narrative out of stars.
Illustrating stars is in part an attempt to recognize nature in an urban environment. It is a starting point to examine personal experience with nature and also challenges the notion of photography, exploring the relationship between narrative and perception. As an experience of “seeing” something that cannot be accessed directly, the visualization of stars comes from illusion and appearance of light, the light which travels through the universe and which is twisted by the air. The seeing of star somehow presents a recognition of light itself, even though such a recognition might be detached from the object of the star itself and lead to a more personal projection of seeing and knowing.
The project is not to define what a star or seeing is but to use this recognition of illusion as a subject to create a personal narrative based on stars. It may simply be another form of storytelling about stars.
My art practice involves the presentation of found objects and the process of collecting or recreating them. This process builds up my understanding of the living space and the cultural diversity of the city where I live. These concerns also resemble my understanding of people, reflect the place I live in, and reveal my doubts about the self.
- Chih-Chien Wang, 2010
Biography
Born in Taiwan, Chih-Chien Wang has been living in Montréal since 2002. He obtained a BFA in Theatre and Cinema from the Chinese Culture University in Taipei in 1994, and worked for several television companies producing documentaries before moving to Canada. Wang holds an MFA in Studio Arts from Concordia University (2006).
Wang’s works, mainly in photography or video, frequently contain subtle traces which might refer to personal, cultural or social concerns while dealing primarily with his everyday experience.
Wang has participated in residency programs at Prim (Montreal, 2005), El Basilisco (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2007) and Sagamie (Alma, 2008). Since 2004, Wang’s work has been seen in exhibitions in Montréal, Lausanne, Milan, New York, Ping Yao, Peterborough, Toronto, Boston, Miami and Beijing. Recent solo and group exhibitions include, in Toronto, Gallery 44 and Nuit Blanche (2009); in Beijing, Zenith Gallery (2008); in Montréal, Optica, Artefact, Dare-Dare (Mois de la photo à Montréal 2007), Leonard and Bina Ellen Gallery, PFOAC, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, FOFA Gallery and Les Territoires.
www.chihchienwang.com
