Qiaosi (Josh) Chen
I treat art as a sensitive instrument—filtering the chaos of reality into poetic constructions. Through object metaphors and visceral materials, I reshape meaning at the edge of logic and emotion, revealing unexpected bridges between memory, myth, and matter. Grounded in my background in design and engineering, my work resists binary definitions—blurring the natural and the synthetic, the personal and the collective, the imagined and the real.
Chen holds a Master of Science in Integrated Design and Media from New York University (2024). Recent exhibitions include Focus Art Fair, New York, NY (2025); Everything Was True For A Moment, a solo exhibition at A Space Gallery, New York, NY (2025); Unbound Variable, Notyet Art & Underground Art and Design, US (2024); Faces & Features 3rd Art Contest Exhibition, Gallery 4%, US (2024); and February Salon-Pin-up Exhibition, :iidrr Gallery, New York, NY (2023). His work has been recognized in publications including 121Clicks (2025) CanvasRebel (2024), and he has contributed to public-facing art events such as UAAD – Jukebox of Dissonance Art Festival (2024) and Transfer Gallery 10 Years Anniversary (2023).
My practice centers on constructing personal narratives that explore how identity and meaning are projected, misrecognized, and temporarily constructed within unstable, fragmented realities. Working intuitively across diverse mediums, I create quiet yet uncanny encounters between private fantasy, everyday observation, and cultural residue—transforming familiar spaces into ephemeral systems of belief.
Objects in my work are not passive materials but active agents—living metaphors that filter and refract my perception of the world. I see myself as a filter: absorbing fragments of life, reorganizing them through emotional logic, and releasing them as poetic, tactile constructions. Through this process, I do not reject reality but reinterpret it—selectively amplifying details that move me, while inviting viewers to bring their own feelings into the experience. It is not about offering resolution, but about opening up a space where sensation, memory, and imagination can surface organically.
The logic of my work mirrors the nonlinear nature of my own thought process: spontaneous, fragmented, and vividly associative. My inspirations spread like wild grass or scattered stars—emerging unpredictably from broad sources, growing chaotically yet organically, full of contingency and vitality. Seemingly composed of disconnected "noise," each element in my work subtly resonates with others, forming a complex yet vibrant network of meaning. This interplay of chaos and internal order is at the heart of my creative language.