Symbolized by the pairing of her Chinese name, Si Chen (思辰), and English name, Grace, Chen is motivated by creating symbolic work that explores the complex relationships between seemingly disparate ideas and identities, hoping to create space for novel conversation and connection.
Pareidolia, a phenomenon where the mind perceives meaningful patterns or images in random stimuli, is one of the ways Chen untangles truth and molds her unconscious memories into their most authentic presentations. Her emotions manifest through dream-like abstraction and analogous palettes, contrasted with clear, real-world memorabilia and paraphernalia. In her paintings, there is a unique tension between an abstract form and a concrete object that poses as a bridge between the conscious and the unconscious–the past and the uncertain future or the present and the forgotten past. Through her surrealist imagery and imaginary planes, she seeks to spark a new understanding of memory as a vision without an end, perpetual and symbolic.
Exhibitions
2022 Grand Prix of Art, Group Exhibition, BC
2022 Midsummer Arts Dream, Group Exhibition, BC
2022 Illustration Senior Show, Woods-Gerry Gallery, RI
2020 Virtual Art Walk, Fort Langley Jazz Arts Festival, BC
2020 While We Were Away, Cultural Center of Cape Cod, MA
2020 EFS Triennial, Woods-Gerry Gallery, RI
2019 Summer, Group Exhibition, BC
Awards & Publications
London Paint Club
Society of Illustrators Los Angeles, Illustration West 60
The Community Arts Council, Richmond
VISIONS Magazine, SP2022, FA2021, FA2020, FA2019
Brown Political Review, SP2021, FA2020
