Chen Zhen: Purification Room

It is an inevitable fact that the only salvation is possible with the return to nature in the present day when human relations with nature have decreased. The artists, who establish a direct relationship with the materials offered by nature, try to show that it is possible for human to integrate with nature and create balance. Seeing is actually an act of thinking, and it will be the only way out for human beings to come to the essence of examining what they see with aesthetic sensitivity. Chinese artist Chen Zhen (1955 -2000), who is one of the most important names of 20th century contemporary art with his works that blend minimalism and conceptual art, produced works on the relationship between human, society and nature. The artist interrogates the production of art by including the audience in the world of appearances in his works. Zhen initiated a dialogue between the temporary character of his exhibited works and the concepts of proximity and distance. The artist, who makes a journey in nature to the viewer with the vehicle he takes from nature, examines the relationship between object and space. In 2000, Chen Zhen participated in the exhibition at the Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai with his work “Purification Room”. Contrary to the habit of the audience in the space he created in this work, he covered all the objects in the space with clay. In this study, the images in the artist's work “Purification Room ve and the dimensions of meaning left by the audience will be examined