[Review] Robert C. Morgan：Shen Chen at Cynthia-Reevs（2010）

Shen Chen presents an exhibition of abstract paintings at CYNTHIA-REEVES, his first solo show at the gallery.  Born in Shanghai, Chen currently divides his time between New York City and Beijing.  Chen's work pays homage to historical Chinese ink paintings and classical Chinese landscapes; yet visually, his works also evoke minimalist concerns from the 1960s American artistic movement.  Chen's newest body of work is a natural extension of his earlier exploration of traditional ink drawings, a legacy evident in the careful paint application, quiet tonalities and meticulous brushwork in his works on canvas.  Two of the early ink drawings are included in this show. 

Chen is fascinated by the permanence of brushwork within the ink-painting vernacular; every time the brush touches the paper, its mark is permanently recorded. Chen's current paintings continue his study of the disciplined mark-making process and, in the most recent work, he continues to favor acrylic paint on unfinished canvas.  "He discovered that acrylic could give him an even richer expression than Chinese ink without compromising the essence of ink.  The painting surface is covered in carefully arranged layers upon layers, sometimes in color, sometimes in black and white," writes Zhenning Fang, independent Beijing-based curator and critic.  The first works of this series have been exhibited at the Today Art Museum in Beijing and throughout Asia, to wonderful acclaim.

Chen achieves a significant depth of field, despite his non-representational imagery and the medium's inherently 'flat' finish. His interest in imbuing his paintings with volume originated from his early interest in traditional Chinese landscapes.  Unlike Chen's vertical lines, landscape painting, of course, offers recognizable imagery-mountains, trees, mist, etc... However, through a similar use of repetitive semi-opaque layers, traditional landscapes and Chen's works have a tremendous expanse, inviting viewers to enter - and linger - in their serene, albeit different, worlds. 《Asian Art News》Mar/Apr 2010

Robert C. Morgan international art critic, writer, artist, curator, and art historian. He holds a doctoral degree from New York University, and currently teaches at Pratt Institute and the School of Visual  Arts in New York City. In 2005, he was a Fulbright senior scholar in the Republic of Korea. In 2007, he served a juror for the first International Sculpture Symposium in Tehran. A contributor to many international journals and magazines, he is the author of The End of the Art World (1998).