Artist Angel Chen’s “Prima Materia” exhibition: A dialogue with the earth
Artist Angel Chen explores the profound impact of landscape on human psychology in her new exhibition, “Prima Materia.” Inspired by the unique geology of the Yucatán Peninsula – a 66 million-year-old crater – Chen’s work invites viewers to connect with their environment physically and emotionally.
Through photographs, paintings, ceramics, and installations, “Prima Materia” highlights the interconnectedness of all things, from stones to stars, and reminds us that we are an integral part of nature. Chen’s artistic journey, which has taken her from the California desert to the jungles of Costa Rica and Thailand, infuses the work with a global perspective.
Using raw materials and drawing on ecosophy and environmental ethics principles, Chen’s land art reflects her deep engagement with the natural world. Her work embodies the idea that energy constantly transforms and every action has a corresponding reaction.
Chen’s exhibition at the cavernous Galería Secreta is a powerful exploration of our relationship with the planet Earth.
About the Artist
Born in Taiwan and raised in the United States, Angel Chen’s artistic practice combines instinct and intellect.
She has lived and worked in Los Angeles, New York, and Hollywood, developing a diverse skillset that allows her to create immersive installations and large-scale projects. Chen’s work has been featured in exhibitions across the globe.
After many years working in Los Angeles, Chen’s artistic practice took her “back to the land.” She moved to Joshua Tree, where she rehabilitated a geodesic dome on five acres of wild land. From the California desert to the Costa Rican jungle to a remote tropical island in Thailand, Angel’s earth science inquiries led her to Yucatan’s selva baja to further research earth and sky. Multiple locations give the project a larger scope encompassing a constellation of various climates and geographies, imbuing the artwork with multiple voices.
Physical engagement with landscape led to a harmonic natural aesthetic. Working with raw materials, and developing a hyper awareness towards ecosophy — a philosophy that emphasizes the importance of ecological balance and the interconnectedness of all things — and environmental ethics, the art work refers back to lived experiences that foster interdependence with the natural world.
Photographs, paintings, ceramics and installations all correlate with highlighting the importance of developing symbiotic relationships and, by extension, the dual relationships between all forms of energy: That energy can neither be created nor destroyed, only altered in form, affecting all material expressions. And for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction: “When making a hole, we are making a mountain,” as quoted from the making of “Excavation / Displacement.”
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