Chen Chieh-Jen
15-08-2006 / 17-10-2006
Chen Chieh-Jen
The work of Chen Chieh-Jen (Taiwán, 1960) focuses on the political and historical dimensions of the image, as well as on the effects of the process of economic globalisation. He has developed his work using photography and video, while using the new technologies to produce and edit images.
In what is his first solo exhibition in Spain, Chieh-Jen presents two recent videos Bade Area (2005) and Factory (2003), which deal with the political and economic situation of his country faced by the global economy and, in particular, the disastrous process of the dismantling of the textile industry, which has gradually been transferred to others countries like China.
One of the most relevant aspects of Chieh-Jen’s work is the way he configures an analytical and critical approach to history and its images, in close connection to a reflection on the very nature of devices used to analogically create visual representations. Hence the reason for his artistic rhetoric –in his technical, aesthetic and conceptual preciseness- being accentuated by a pronounced metaphoric nature, that evokes a critical speculation on different problems related to modern and contemporary history: image and power, history and local and global identity, body and performance, etc.
Chen Chieh-jen has been chosen to participate in prominent collective exhibitions such as Venice Biennale (1999 Taiwan Pavillion, 2005), Bienal de Sao Paulo (1998), Biennale de Lyon (2000), Taipei Biennial (1998, 2002, 2004), Shangai Biennial (2004) and Fukuoka Triennial (2005).
