The short film Studio Visit with Lihi Chen is available to watch at the top of the page.
Lihi Chen, a multidisciplinary artist with a diverse portfolio in sculpture, installation, digital drawing, and video art, crafts a unique world where art and life converge. Her work conjures both a comforting sense of home and an anticipatory sense of disaster.
Upon encountering Chen’s artwork, one feels an immersion into her personal space – her family home. This fusion of art and life becomes a core theme in her work. Chen’s exploration of domesticity, paired with her captivating artwork, does not aim to fabricate an illusion of reality but rather intricately interweaves with reality itself.
Chen’s work uniquely translates family narratives through a mystical and mythical lens. Encapsulated by everyday objects, her narratives evolve into thought-provoking artworks. These creations touch upon femininity and domesticity, intertwining these themes with elements of protective power, enchantment, and destiny.
In one of her installations, a television set – a familiar household item – takes on an organic role by sprouting flowers akin to domestic plants, even suspending from the ceiling. Staircases, traditionally a symbol of movement and progression, are artistically repurposed to cultivate plant life, rendering them aesthetically potent yet functionally redundant. Birds – symbols of freedom – are seen affixed to their cages, both inside and out, as if some unseen magnetic force restricts their natural instinct to fly free. Each element in Chen’s work contributes to the profound layers of her artistic narrative.
Chen’s installations have a dual effect on viewers. First, they captivate with their aesthetic charm, drawing the viewer into the piece. Then, they induce a sense of disquiet, challenging the viewer to decipher the underlying meaning for themselves, encouraging an active engagement rather than passive consumption of art.
In the attached video, Chen delves into her predilection for using ready-made objects, elucidating how she infuses surprise into her installations through the strategic selection of these items.
The featured video Studio Visit with Lihi Chen is part of the web series Yotsrim by Shachaf Dekel. Yotsrim includes five seasons and 73 episodes. The series won the Best Documentary award at the NYC Web Fest in 2019.
