What do we see? I think that in normal circumstances, we do see what we are looking for, or what is in the image bio-database of our brain. What is not mental is invisible to us. Human perception of the space around it is a bit by bit construction since humans leave their mother’s womb. It is a perceptual and a linguistic (that is social) construct archived as memory. In this sense, it is a discovery and creative challenge. As an inductive process, it is also a belief system. We believe in red which, as any other colour, cannot be adequately described. Either we show a red thing, or we believe in it. Illusions and misunderstandings prove the unstable nature of perception as a natural and social activity. Prove that we scan the world with some ideological pre-condition. Feng Chen, in line with pioneering artists such as Dan Graham, develops a typical phenomenological approach to art-making. As such, the scope of Chen’s art is a broad one.

Antonio C Pinto

Feng Chen website