A digital archive of Asian/Asian American contemporary art history

Pien, Edward

Other Names: Ed

Artist Website

Edward Pien creates drawings and drawing installations, exploring the concept of fear and vulnerabilities. In his early exhibitions, images of ghosts from different cultures were utilized as metaphor for his themes. Influenced by Freud, Foucault and Lacan, however, Pien has expanded the meaning of his themes to include his recent explorations of power and control. Using images of human/animal hybrids, cannibalism and many other self-inflicted or externally imposed penetrations into flesh, the artist intends not only to refer to his personal fears but also to denote public fears held in the collective memory of a society. "Pien often renders his drawings on the verso side of the translucent Chinese paper to let it appear as ghost-like shadows behind the sharper, darker drawings on the recto side. The underlying drawings lend depth and ethereal dimension beyond the flat plane where the primary drawing exists. To similar effect, the artist uses tonal variations to push certain drawings either forward or backward in space." (Cited from the catalog of Edward Pien's solo exhibition)

Review by Young Park

Gallery of Selected Works