Virtual Artist Talk with Wei-Yin Chen

Tune into the Baltimore Clayworks Artist Talk series to learn more about our artists and the work they create!

Ceramic artists are at the heart of Baltimore Clayworks. Artists are at the center of the mission of Baltimore Clayworks, and provide the organization with talent and innovation to inspire our community and to enliven the artistic impact of ceramics in our region. Their professional and personal networks provide a kaleidoscope of interactions with peers, galleries, and academic institutions, which keep the organization at the forefront of contemporary ceramic art.

Artist Bio

Wei-Yin Chen’s ceramic practice centers on the hollow eyes of her clay figurines and the viewing relationships constructed through their gazes. By arranging linear sightlines, she guides the viewer into a mode of looking that hovers between participation and exclusion. As a medium that shifts narrative perspectives, the figurines mirror the artist’s inner states of escape and vulnerability. Their empty eyes not only respond to her sculptural training and considerations of ocular form, but also translate the viewpoint of the weak under conditions of power imbalance.

Motifs of girls and tears often transform “showing weakness” into an act of “resistance,” while the cute, cartoon-like visual language reveals the tragedy concealed beneath a sweet appearance. The technique of inflated modeling heightens emotional tension, allowing cuteness to become a vessel for social alienation and rebellious energy. In addition, the work actively explores cross-dimensional relationships between the two- and three-dimensional. Through the improvisational and fractured qualities of imagery, it reconsiders the intertwined possibilities of image and space.