COLLECTION NAME:
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
mediaCollectionId
ArtArtHiAAH~7~7
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
Collection
true
Image Record ID:
aahi0005688
image_record_id
aahi0005688
Image Record ID
false
Work Title (display):
See/Saw: Operation Drawing
Image Title:
full view
Work Dates (display):
unknown
Image Date (display):
2010-02-24
Work Creator (display):
Mel Chin (American, born 1951)
Work Creator gender:
male
work_creator_or_agent_gender
male
Work Creator gender
false
Work Creator notes (display):
Mel Chin was born in Houston to Chinese parents in 1951, the first of his family born in the United States, and was reared in a predominantly African-American and Latino neighborhood. He worked in his family's grocery store, and began making art at an early age. Though he is classically trained, Chin's art, which is both analytical and poetic, evades easy classification. Alchemy, botany, and ecology are but a few of the disciplines that intersect in his work. He insinuates art into unlikely places, including destroyed homes, toxic landfills, and even popular television, investigating how art can provoke greater social awareness and responsibility. Unconventional and politically engaged, his projects also challenge the idea of the artist as the exclusive creative force behind an artwork. "The survival of my own ideas may not be as important as a condition I might create for others' ideas to be realized," says Chin, who often enlists entire neighborhoods or groups of students in creative partnerships. In "KNOWMAD," Chin worked with software engineers to create a video game based on rug patterns of nomadic peoples facing persecution. Chin also promotes "works of art" that have the ultimate effect of benefiting science or rejuvenating the economies of inner-city neighborhoods. In "Revival Field," Chin worked with scientists to create sculpted gardens of hyperaccumulatorsplants that can draw heavy metals from contaminated areasin some of the most polluted sites in the world. Chin received a BA from Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1975, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1988 and 1990. He lives in North Carolina. (PBS Art21 Accessed 2008-02-06)
Work Creator UCB affiliation (display):
visiting artist, Visiting Artist Program, 2000
Work Style Period:
Contemporary
work_styleperiod
Contemporary
Work Style Period
false
Work Style Period:
20th century
work_styleperiod
20th century
Work Style Period
false
Work Subject:
hydraulics
subject
hydraulics
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
conceptual
subject
conceptual
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
surfaces (object portions)
subject
surfaces (object portions)
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
earthworks (sculpture)
subject
earthworks (sculpture)
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
minimalism
subject
minimalism
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
parks (recreation areas)
subject
parks (recreation areas)
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
landscapes (representations)
subject
landscapes (representations)
Work Subject
false
Work Worktype:
drawings
work_type
drawings
Work Worktype
false
Work Category (VRC classification):
drawings
work_category__ucbaahvrc_classification_
drawings
Work Category (VRC classification)
false
Image Source Reproduction refid:
053615
Image Source Reproduction refid type:
UCBAAHVRCSlideAccessionNumber
Image Rights (display):
unknown
Work Rights (display):
© Mel Chin
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Holding Institution:
University of Colorado at Boulder
Collection:
Art and Art History Visual Resources Collection
Collection info and contact:
For information about this collection, see