Offshore Stardust by Chao-Tung Chen

Offshore Stardust by Chao-Tung Chen

Date｜2021/12/1 (Wed.) -2022/1/9 (Sun.) Opening｜2021/12/4 (Sat.) 15:00 Forum｜2021/12/4 (Sat.) 15:30-17:30 Guest｜Pin-Hua Wang

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In this exhibition, I seek to understand the relationship between an image and itsmargin. An image within the margin is like a glimpse of the mountain afar out of the open window. Far away in the distance, the shapes and shades of the mountain accentuate the beaming crestline beneath the pale blue sky. And yet, what you see is framed by the margin; therefore, you will find the air to be somewhat stagnant between the scene and its viewer due to the margin that postpones the visual experience from zooming in.

“Sometimes, mirroring adds value to an object; however, it can also be the other way around. Not every reflection maintains an object’s original intensity in the mirror.”

Through mirroring and replicating objects, I am trying to repeat and segment the visual images seen by the viewers. With constant interventions of visions, images are no longer the “parallel inputs” of objects; instead, the viewers will have to move to reconstruct the original images. I’m particularly interested in the gap created during this rearrangement. In between the actual object and the rearranged image lies a subtle connection, which resembles the relationship between a subject and its mirroring image. In the room, the viewers will reconstruct the time and space concerning the objects. As their bodies become part of the images through the mirroring effect, this shall highlight the margin between images and objects. Through looking into the mirroring reflection, the viewers shall be able to stand their ground and prove: “I am right here, not in there.”

The boundary between the land and the sea is marked by the white spindrifts and the fine golden sand. There lies neither the currents down in the deep blue sea, nor the coal-black ores from the earth; instead, the weather and the tides lead the overlapping and blending of white and gold, creating a constant shift, emergence, and fall of margins.

【About Chao-Tung Chen】

Born in 1991,Tainan, Taiwan In response to the ultra-high speed of networks and the absoluteness of advanced technological development today, I have been experimenting with a slow creation mode in my recent artworks through translation. This does not mean I create at a slow speed, but rather I have been incorporating an additional step of translation into my creation process. Accordingly, the original linear line of thought has transformed into a tortuous, non-linear model, which renders the conventional visual experience ineffective. During leisurely-paced translation, a divergent path, a misinterpretation of meaning or an absurd state of futileness arises instead. I have been searching for a possibility of opening a dialogue with the decisiveness and swiftness of modern times through such zigzagging, unhurried translation processes.