◦ ebb is to flow as wax is to wane, 2024
in the studio, poplar, london
ebb is to flow as wax is to wane (3rd edition, 2024) is a time-sensitive beeswax installation built inside chen's own studio in london — the space where she both lives and works — over the course of several weeks. rather than being made and installed separately, the piece was built directly into the rhythm of daily life there: dripping, solidifying, and burning candle strips became a routine folded into the ordinary business of living in the space, so that making the work and inhabiting the studio were, for those weeks, the same activity.
developed as the second work in chen's ongoing in-situ studio installation series, the piece continues the labour-intensive, repetitive process explored in its earlier iterations — the 1st edition, made during chen's residency at xenia creative retreat in north hampshire, and the 2nd, made at vasto gallery in barcelona — and is by far the largest in scale to date. visitors were invited to light the candles themselves as they walked around the room, activating an installation that had, by that point, already absorbed weeks of the artist's everyday time.