Incubation

When Ho heard the topic Incubation, she began to develop her thoughts, “I wonder what is incubated or if the characters are waiting for something to appear. I noticed many stairs in the picture, but I am unsure where the stairs will lead to. The another set of stairs upside down—is that waiting to catch what is bred?  So, what will be bred in such an intricate geometric space, and what will be caught? Also, where is the exit? I am so curious about it. The intersection of the stairs is filled with black—what does it mean? What would happen if we walk into the black areas?” In the complicated structured space, Ho noted the “gloominess” of the picture, evoking feelings of both expectation and fear of being hurt. There is a worry about “not knowing what will be bred and not knowing if it will land safely.” In addition, she mentioned her perspective on the two different worlds depicted in the painting: the lower world in the painting was inhabited by fish that were "grown up with care," while the plants in the upper world represented "self-reliance and self-improvement." As she noted, “The different life backgrounds and ways of growing up were relative, and that some people were raised with care while others were more independent. However, they are all placed in this world, and everyone has to face the challenge to find their way out of it.”

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In Chen's statement about the piece, she did explain that her inspiration for it came from wanting to express the difference between ways of raising offspring. She explained, "As you get to know someone better, you begin to notice the differences between yourself and that person. When you develop a closer relationship, you also come to understand how that person was raised, which ultimately shapes who they become. I have both positive and negative views on different parenting styles, and that's why I created this piece. However, the artwork itself does not contain any praise or criticism. Instead, it is meant just to depict the situation—of how the environment and education can impact the final outcome." While the inspiration was drawn from everyday life, she has tried to be conscious and make efforts not to infuse her personal emotions into her artwork. Instead, she hoped to create a more "objective" image that would resonate with viewers. She took the figure of a plant in this piece as an example. Although the figure is captured from life, in fact, this plant should not be interpreted as raising their children in this manner. It was simply a hypothetical scenario used to convey symbolic meaning.

 

In addition, Chen explains the process of constructing the space in the painting to be “like stacking blocks.” She further elaborated on the scene by saying, "One space is set to be raining, so there is water. The other space should be where the fish live, which needs to have water, but the fish got caught and placed in a world with only air. In that area, the water pipe with downward water flow implies the lack of water in the space. Besides, I added a pattern of the water surface, which looks like a net. This should be considered as the third space. Finally, the world with trees, which is an element that reappears in my works, is the fourth space. To sum up, there should be four spaces, but I forgot to draw the rain on the side of the plant. Ha.” Chen also explained the so-called dark areas with trees mentioned by Ho. She named them as "reminders of another dimension." The appearance of the tree serves as a coherent visual language, suggesting that the expression of this picture is part of a larger structure. All the worlds depicted by Chen are interconnected, and all the portrayals of moods were finally loaded into her “museum."

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Tortuous

Regarding the other piece Tortuous, Ho described, "I see many stairs again in the picture. Also, I see a black tree that looks like thorns with twisted branches. The stairs and geometric elements in the frame trigger my feeling of ‘searching for something, not being able to find what one is looking for, and feeling anxious.’ I wonder if the title ‘tortuous’ is expressing Chen's creative process or her current state of mind?" Additionally, Ho also compared it with Incubation. She thought that the latter's expression is more "positive": "The expression of the staircase in this piece forms a sense of adventure. Although it is also tightly stacked, it feels like one can look up and see a beautiful light coming in, unlike the first one that leads nowhere."

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Ho also noticed that Chen often divides space into many parts in her works. She views it as similar to the "Penrose stairs," which is a geometric paradox that creates a space that seems to rise and fall but is infinitely recursive. Ho elaborated, "It seems to be at a stage where there is no up and down. There seems to be a rise, but it is not actually going up. Perhaps this expresses Chen's current situation—her state of mind in the creative process." In fact, this not only embodies Ho's attentive observations of Chen, but it also refers to Chen's motivation of incorporating spaces into her art and forming a series.

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On the other hand, Chen's focus is on expressing how the tortuous plant in the middle "forces" itself to blend into the space. She stated that the bends and geometric style of the plant are similar to the space settings, even though it is actually an organic creature that should grow naturally and should not have such an "artificial" form. In fact, the space setting is taken from another work, Daily Walk II, as she considers Tortuous a repaint of this work to a certain extent. She mentioned her adjustment of making the black-colored areas—the entrance and exits—more obscure: "In the original piece, it focused on how the outside world seems to be shining. An illusion is drawn to attract you to the other space. But this time in my depiction, I still retained the exits, but they are not so obvious. You need to look carefully, and you will finally realize that there are actually some hidden passages to get to the outside world." In other words, the repainted work highlights Chen's "change of mindset." Originally, various symbolic elements that appear when spacing out were illustrated. It showed a sense of relaxation and evasion. Nonetheless, in Tortuous, it highlights the "obedience" and "assimilation" of the object. This clue can be seen in contrast to the white plant in the lower left corner. As she said, "Those fake trees that are more rigid in shape and closer to artificial are also part of the set. It is a deliberate comparison with the tortuous figure, that has been bent and crooked. It shows the weirdness of the artificial ones abnormally appearing more natural." This no longer demonstrates as a mere happy place for escape.