Today we’d like to introduce you to Zhongxu Chen.
Hi Zhongxu, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I started building my career as an artist about three years ago when I just began my graduate study in photography and fine arts at the California Institute of the Arts. My interests in photography are simple. I just love the action of keeping a moment in an imperishable way. Nothing fancy was involved, and it was almost just for a fling. If everything had gone as planned, I should have worked in mathematics or science, or any STEM field other than art. Nevertheless, what you wish does not always happen as it is. COVID-19 hit when I was about to graduate from my undergrad study in math. To get back home as soon as possible, I applied for early graduation and did not go to graduate school as I should, but I went back to China for a year. During this very year when reality became a myth as no one could ever predict, I started to think about the world and what it means to me for real for the first time, and vice versa, what my existence could possibly mean for the world. Looking becomes observing, the memory becomes a documentary, and life becomes a journey. I seek a solution to all this confusion and chaos in art. I realized that photography would be the best medium to communicate my artistic values for the current stage I was in and I would need more input and to be put in the environment to advance in art. Thus, I chose to apply for graduate school in fine arts, and Los Angeles is where I eventually settled.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I guess it seemed quite smooth. I changed my major. I started photography. I applied. I got in. I am an artist now. But I sometimes feel like I am walking on an endless surface with no indication of which way might be a road regardless of where it leads to. From the enormous contemporary art world, I need to find that one certain route to go along.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
With an MFA in Photography and Media, I would say I am more of a multidisciplinary artist or trying to be one. Moving images, sounds, videos, and anything that is sensual could possibly be a vent of art. My preferred form of manifestation is photography as it contains the incomparable precision and timelessness. I like to start my thinking process inspired from a real-life event, but the artmaking and interpretation could be as cosmic as possible.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
Los Angeles is inclusive, vibrant, and welcoming. You could be new, you could be traditional, you could work 24/7, you could sleep all day long. Nothing stops you from being creative in this city unless you are stuck in traffic.
Pricing:
- Photographic work $800 – $1500
Contact Info:
- Website: zcreplica.com
- Instagram: @callerdoesnotexist
