Mel Chin
Zoom Talk with Artist Mel Chin
Monday, November 2
1 pm EST
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In this Zoom talk Mel Chin, whose work with flag imagery and the state of U.S. politics spans three decades, is joined by curator Natasha Becker for a discussion concerning the American flag, patriotism, and the increased polarization of our society. Mel Chin is a category-defying artist whose practice calls attention to complex social and environmental issues. His “Unite This Flag” billboard was commissioned by Ministry of Truth: 1984/2020, an outdoor art exhibition organized by Art at a Time Like This and Save Art Space, located at Jackson Avenue and the Pulaski Bridge in Long Island City.
Image above: Mel Chin, Unite This Flag, 2020, Photo courtesy of the artist.
Mel Chin conveys complex ideas and themes through a mutative strategy, working alone or employing different disciplines and people, compelled by researched concepts. From such critical means, actions, films, to objects are realized as necessary. His Revival Field (1991), pioneered “green remediation”, using plants to remove toxic metals from the soil. From 1995-1998 he formed the collective the GALA Committee that produced In the Name of the Place a public art project conducted on American prime-time television. His actions for the Fundred Project (2008-2019) to end childhood lead-poisoning, activated mass public engagement as a means for policy-maker education. He has produced original films such as 9-11/9-11 (2007), to decenter preoccupations that engender nationalism and L’Arctique est Paris (2015), to deliver the poignant warnings of a Greenlandic subsistence hunter to an international audience. In 2018 he filled New York’s Times Square with, Wake, on the ground, and Unmoored, in the air, creating an experiential portal into a past maritime industry and a future of rising waters. All Over the Place, a 40-year survey, was named by Hyperallergic as the best NYC exhibition of 2018. He is the recipient of many awards, grants, and honorary degrees including a MacArthur Fellowship in 2019.
Image above: Mel Chin, Dispense & Distribute, 1992. Photo courtesy of the artist.