Chen Gao

Lives and works in Cleveland, OH

Artist statement

I am a Chinese interdisciplinary artist, designer, and educator based in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, and currently teach as an Assistant Professor at the Cleveland Institute of Art. My practice spans installation, textiles, drawing, photography, creative writing, experimental graphic design, land art, and occasional performance. Recently, I have been working a lot with fabrics and cyanotype with mixed materials. In my practice, I always begin with intuition, exploring different places, materials, and lived experiences that engage me, and letting them guide the next direction of my work. I think my intuition is more sincere than I am, so I like to start with something that feels random and interesting without thinking too much. I believe every material has their personality. I often work with reclaimed materials connected to the places where I live—collected objects, handpicked cotton, weathered textiles, and everyday traces that carry memory. Through this material-based experimentation, I find quiet dialogues between myself and my surroundings as a way to understand the self and the world around us. Ultimately, my work often explores the emotional experience of being. I like to find unnoticed traces, then connect them together. That’s why threads often become a recurring motif in my work. I am interested in reimagining experiences where emotion, memory, and belonging come together. I hope my work stops people. Inviting them to notice the overlooked and discover their own...

Artwork