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Max Chen

Max Chen, a Brooklyn-based ceramic artist, intricately weaves narratives that mirror his experience as a queer, first-generation Asian American. Born in Ohio, raised in New Jersey, and having lived in China as an American, Chen's artistic journey is deeply intertwined with his exploration of identity and belonging. Embracing his status as an outsider, Chen reimagines traditional ceramic forms with subtle yet profound subversive elements drawn from ancient mythology, architectural motifs, and the vast expanse of internet culture. Through ceramics, a medium rich with variables and unexpected outcomes, he finds a canvas for expressing the allure of imperfection. With each creation, Chen strikes a delicate balance between precision and rawness, transforming clay into a medium for exploring the complexities of gender and sexuality. Like clay, these aspects of identity are malleable, capable of being shaped and reshaped until finding resonance with one's true self.