Personal Deities (how to make tomato scrambled eggs) , 2024
Medium Single channel video and found object assemblage.
A recipe for tomato scrambled eggs and a collection of Chinese kitsch objects, including pee bowls.
How to make tomato scrambled eggs. How to go home. Building upon his practice of combining assemblage, video and installation, Personal Deities (How to make tomato scrambled eggs) is Chen's homage to the Chinese tradition of Bai Tian Gong, praying to the heaven god. The artist uses the aesthetics of this event to materialise the dissonance between a mimicry of culture and childish longing towards the idea of "home". Chen playfully disrupts the traditional shrine found in every Chinese home with the mundanity of household objects, abstract soft sculptures and a recipe for a comfort dish, narrated by the artist's grandfather's narration, recounting memories from China in the 50s - 60s.
Created for News From Home, at GoodSpace gallery, curated by Lauren Maccoll, Ella Thompson and Juliette Burgess.
News from Home marks the connection of a collective of emerging multidisciplinary artists from Sydney College of the Arts, focusing on relationships of obscuring and re-evaluating experiences of the ‘home’ through artistic self-expression.