Excavating the Bones of New Deities in Margaret Chen’s Work

SONN NGAI

There is a consistently eldritch quality to Chen’s large-scale mixed media sculptures which I am particularly intrigued by. One not only gets the idea that they are to be seen as artefacts but also as beings, as monuments and as vessels/vehicles. The impressive scale and positioning throughout the space recall ideals of ancient monoliths unearthed from a foregone time. As if they are things which were never meant to be revealed to the eye of man but are here now in a new era fully on display. Like the buried pieces of an ancient god who is no longer worshipped because their followers are all long gone. Would such a god still hold power even though no one believes in them? Belief after all IS such a powerful thing. The very gods themselves are sustained by the immense power of something as simple as human belief. Entire worlds are shaped into existence by something as fragile as a wish.

As with any work of art, one’s beliefs and the ability to extend or suspend them come into play naturally. However, what is unavoidable with Chen’s sculptures is how they make you want to believe in them as parts of a single whole. In “OVOID/O void“, we see how its peculiar placement in a corner evokes feelings of being stalked by something unknowable, its name stemming from ‘void’ further arousing one’s unease. Ovoid evokes ideas of voids and chasms but also sleep paralysis demons, motionless spectres standing in corners, the flickers of shadows in a room that disappear when you turn to look. Only the sculpture is there, demanding you see all its pieces and parts — the sinewy reds and the ephemeral grayscales. Corners are also significant concepts in mythical lore as they represent a kind of liminal space, portals into other places where it is implied the unknown can slip through, or you gain glimpses into the void itself.

Ovoid. Photocopied film on acetate and plexiglass, wrapped tree branches and x-rays, variable dimensions, approx. 8ft in height.

Where seeing is concerned the eye as a motif is a very impactful image as it relates to the worship of a god or gods. Keep in mind the biblical adage, “But the lord said, you cannot see my face because no human can look at me and remain alive (Exodus 33:20).” In Cross section of Imago we are given a hands-on engagement with the art of seeing divinity, as its gravity-defying nature means you must crane your neck towards the sky to experience the work in its fullness; viewers thus find themselves quite literally searching for God in the fleshy cloudlike growths above.

The gravity-defying Cross-Section of Imago at the National Gallery of Jamaica, and below, at Olympia Gallery, 1995.

Sight as a theme cannot be ignored in relation to Cross-section of aperture/orifice either, with its obvious resemblance to an eye but also following the imagined “eyeline” of the piece, tends to lead you around the room as if being purposefully guided around the exhibition. The title once again references orifices and voids, the eye itself being both in a sense. The eye receives light which translates it into images in the same way a void works, by consuming light. The sculpture can thus be interpreted as a literal representation of the void staring back at us.

Cross-section of aperture/orifice. 2010. Carved Plywood layers, leather, wood and x-rays 55 high x 64 inches wide

Looking away from Aperture’s line of sight you are met with the almost bio-organic semi architectural feel of Cross-section of Curve l. At the same time one can imagine it as a small cut of scales from the body of a very large fish or sea serpent. This formal diversity helps communicate the idea that these works present a mystery to be solved, pieces to be fitted together like some kind of puzzle. This sense of mystery is also evoked by Cross-Section of Ark continuing the connection to the deep. The boat-like structure and title are easily identifiable biblical references which tie in nicely with Curve’s resemblance to aquatic scales. Do the obvious references to Noah’s Ark and the Leviathan suggest a biblical connection? Both are anecdotes which fundamentally address the unconquerable power of nature/god, testaments to the ability of gods to create forces capable of destroying and conquering destruction itself.

Cross Section of Ark. 1999. X-rays on wood strips, Length: 11 feet.

Cross Section of Curve, 2016 X-rays on wood and bamboo strips approx. 77 inches high 78 inches wide

The use of X-ray wrapped wooden skeletons as a consistent theme throughout Chen’s works mirrors the idea of creation and destruction as well as man and nature (god). X-ray images are diagnostic tools used to examine damage to our bodies or in the hope there is none whereas wood is a natural resource which even when refined by man still has an undeniable connection to the wild. This kind of mirroring quality can be found in concepts of divinity across cultures, specifically ideas of ‘liminal deities’ often considered border crossers and gods of chaos (Nadkarni, 2010). Voids are often thought of as incarnations of chaos, linked with ideals of primordial seas birthing all of creation. The idea of being at the crossroads of various things is central to ideas of liminal deities and likewise, these pieces intersect in a lot of places not just ideologically but in terms of material composition.

Chen’s sculptures feel purposeful, almost ceremonial in their placement, much like prehistoric holy sites that consist of monoliths gathered in very specific locations guided by geometry, geology and mathematics. Among the most meaningfully placed is Cross section of Interior. Despite being hung on the farthest wall of the gallery it manages to be the first to command your attention when you enter. Siren-like, it draws you in with its eerie, seductive form. Its central placement completes the room as a kind of altar space bringing you face to face with what feels like a portal, a void, yet at the same time an entity with a palpable sentience to it owing to its organic shape. Its rich blues and tentacle-like edges, as if to remind once more of Leviathan, but it has a threefold nature that seems to embody the sky, the sea and the land.

One is reminded of the Behemoth and the Ziz who along with the Leviathan comprise the mythical trio mentioned in various Jewish rabbinic legends (Coogan, 2004). These entities are not only direct parallels to the holy trinity but also a representation of the sheer inscrutability of nature, described as “primaeval creatures created by God and so powerful that only God can overcome them” (Dell, 2003). Interior can be read through its relationship to the materials it is composed of, varied natural elements that have coalesced into a single being. The might of towering trees, the grace of soaring birds, the calm subdued rage of the deep blue seas. One looks at the work and thinks of Tehom, the “deep or abyss” in the Bible which was overcome by the light of God and from which all things were then birthed.

Cross-Section of Interior, 64 x 104 inches, Taxidermized bird, x-rays on bamboo wood strips and wrapped tree branches, 2023

Interior’s most striking feature is the taxidermized bird embedded within it. Possibly a direct reference to the Ziz, the bird can also be seen as a poignant symbol for the act of sacrifice. The root meaning of sacrifice is to ‘make something holy’. The way this creature which has forever departed its mortal shell is remade into something, commanding such awe is a means of transmuting it into something holy. Its encasement in clear glass is also meaningful — a material which like water is reflective and often considered a portal. Here it serves as a container, trapping a thing that was once free and unbound even from the laws of gravity. The creature is given a second life in a way, but a life it cannot make use of.

Detail, Cross Section of Interior

The way the bird is sealed evokes containment but also transmutation and transformation, key concepts in the field of alchemy. The bird, a thing of the air, is now permanently grounded. Something which belonged to the sky is now a permanent fixture of the abyss. In this way it represents the very essence of sacrifice, giving up one form to help shape another. The shedding of old worldviews, the sealing away of old gods by appeasing them with a final meal and then drowning them beneath the tide to offer praise to new ideals, new deities.

References

Ernst-Joachim Waschke. “Tehom.” Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament. Eerdmans. (1974).  574-575.

Katharine J. Dell. “Job.” Eerdmans Bible Commentary. Eerdmans. (June 18, 2019).

Micheal D. Coogan. “Behemoth.” The Oxford Guide to People & Places of the Bible. Oxford University Press. (2004).

Michela Pereira. “Alchemy.” Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Routledge. (2018).

Vithal Nadkarni. “Ganesha for good start”. The Economic Times. December 30, 2010.