As a Taiwanese-born Canadian who has recently studied in the United States, Wan Yu Wendy Chien has decided to explore her own position cultural hybridity in her art.  Her intention is to create works that portray cross-cultural experiences and perspectives.  Not only does her use of materials and presentation of them highlight their cultural significance, the integration of Asian elements and American icons also suggests the possible marriage of cultures.  

Technique plays an important role in both Chien’s miniatures and paper cutouts.  By juxtaposing traditional Chinese craft with Western popular imagery, she attempts to question cultural clichés.  Her meticulously crafted food miniatures fuse signature American and Chinese dishes (such as Hot dog and Hamburger), suggesting the possibility of replacing the dated impressions with a new presentation. In some of Chien’s paper cut outs, she incorporates American pop cultural iconography with traditional Chinese folk art, resulting in work that reflects the new grammar of the increasingly globalized world.  In both bodies of work, through the integration of Chinese and North American imagery, viewers are asked to re-examine the value of traditional art as well as to discover a new merging of North American and Chinese cultures.

Selected Exhibition

2008    Canadian Red Cross Art Exhibition for China Earthquake Relief. Canada Export Center, Vancouver, BC Canada

            Summit Gallery Juried Exhibition. Summit Gallery, Durham, NC

            Heroes. Lump Gallery, Raleigh, NC

            Emerging Artists Exhibition. SlowArt Productions/Limner Gallery, Hudson, NY

            Currents: 2008 National Juried Exhibition. Studio Montclair Professional Visual Arts Organization, Montclair, NJ.

2007     16 x 16 Small Works Juried Show. Limestone Art Gallery, Fayetteville, NY.

            Works on Paper Show. Fort Worth Community Arts Center, Fort Worth, Texas.

            Chapel Hill Public Arts Commission, 2007 Exhibitions Series. Chapel Hill Town Hall, NC.

            The 13th Annual  International Women's Exhibition. Soho20 Gallery, New York, NY.

            Heroes, mixed-media paper-based work, group exhibition. Bryce’s Barbershop, Olympia, WA.

            Re-Search, Mixed-media solo exhibition, Taiwanese Canadian Cultural Society Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC.

2006     New Currents in Contemporary Art, Master of Fine Arts Exhibition 2006, April 15-May 14. Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, NC.
    
2005    The Big Mask, solo exhibition.  June and John Allcott Gallery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC.      

            Marginalia, Exhibition for National Juried Graduate Student Exchange Portfolio, Rueff Galleries, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN.

            Beijing International Art Camp, group exhibition.  Beijing, China.

2004    New MFA, first year MFA show.  June and John Allcott Gallery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC.

2002    Line Up, undergraduate graduation exhibition. Fine Arts Gallery and Asian Center Auditorium, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

            Boundary, digital art group show. Fine Arts Gallery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC. Canada

2001    Spatial Oddity, sculpture group show. Fine Arts Gallery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC. Canada

2000    The Key Holders, photography and digital art group show. Design Arts Gallery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC. Canada

            Lost Numbers, sculpture and printmaking group show. Design Arts Gallery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC. Canada