Kexin Wen’s BFA thesis exhibition was originally scheduled from March 30–April 3 in the Oliver Art Center on CCA’s Oakland campus. Due to the Bay Area’s COVID-19 shelter-in-place order, we are sharing work by Kexin and other graduating students on CCA’s website and social media channels from April 20–May 1. 

Artwork by Kexin Wen will be featured on CCA's official social media channels, including Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, starting April 21 at 5pm PDT. 

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work is created to instill a feeling of calm and relaxation. The sculptures I made have clean and smooth outlines, which creates a feeling of comfort and relaxation to my audience and myself. Everything started with doing research, I asked people what comfort means to them. I collect the data and applied the information, creating the combination of fluent lines and soft colors in my work. The use of shapes and lines as abstract elements allows viewers think about natural calming elements, such as the shape of lake or the texture of wood. 

The world is spinning too fast and there is always concerns on people’s mind. The sense of calmness I experienced from building these pieces enabled me to focus on being in a different place blocking out the outside. I hope I can share these feelings of calm and peace of mind with others. So I put my feelings into the seeds and planted them in cobblestones. And saw they were growing and finally became the reflections of my world.

BIO

Kexin Wen is a Chinese metal artist who is working with both metal sculptures and jewelries. She enjoys using metal to create little scenes and telling stories. She is known for dividing the scenes into different layers to create different distances, or combining two dimensional patterns and three dimensional elements to improved the visual diversity of her works.

Right: Kexin Wen, Cobblestone, 2020. Copper, sterling silver, 6 x 5.5 x 2 inches.

To view more work by Kexin Wen, visit her website or follow @kenxin_wen on Instagram.