Joy Rong Chen

Galerie Shibumi is proud to present Bobbietopia 宝贝, a new series by Joy Rong Chen.

Joy Rong Chen is a (struggling) actor who lives in New York City. Her paintings and stone carvings depict an alternate universe, Bobbietopia, and its inhabitants, fluffy baby clowns called The Bobbies. The Bobbie specimen is a cross between the tragic fool, Pierrot, and the vigorous, red-blooded children of 20th century Chinese propaganda posters.

Both Pierrot and the poster children contain Inherent Contradictions: the clown who brings joy is also the long-suffering loner; the vibrant depictions of a world coexist with its sinister reality structure.

The Bobbies are rendered always mid-spectacle. They are tangled in stage curtains, engaged in gladiatorial combat, hung limp like marionettes. Even at rest, the threat of spectators, though desolate yet, looms overhead. The Bobbies are, like denizens of the digital age, engaged in a perpetual performance of self to an empty audience.

The audience empties, the light blinds, the stage caves in from above. But! under Your viewing eye, we are vindicated. Are you entertained?

The Image can and will distort the truth, destroy the word, and deceive the viewer.

Bobbietopia Welcomes You! Population: 0

Bobbietopia is accompanied by a performance piece, Not A Peep Show, performed by artist Joy Chen during the opening reception.

In this piece, Chen inverts the idea behind the Bobbies. Where the Bobbies are merely an image - exposed face coddled by fluffy costume – she is a real, delineated body whose face is forcibly obscured. The complication lays in her sightlessness. She discards the image which deceives, but without which she is lost. The perceived presence of an audience relies on every sense beyond vision. For the visitors and Chen, it is an exercise in expectation, paranoia, and resistance.