Today’s guest on the Not Real Art Podcast is John Chang, one of our six 2021 Not Real Art Grant winners. John is a Chinese-American multidisciplinary artist from Shanghai who considers himself a spiritual escapist. His work is rich and deep, layering language and image to construct and reconstruct meaning, memory, and intention. In this episode, John shares his process of searching for new meanings in a new world, one where it has become increasingly important for artists to embrace digital mediums and utilize the power of art to facilitate empathy. In the wake of COVID-19 and waves of racially motivated violence against Black and Asian people of color in the US, John emphasizes the importance of communication and creating work that is open to interpretation, as well as how he reconstructs memory and meaning through collage using found materials such as newspapers. He also speaks candidly about the challenges he has faced since emigrating to the US, from cultural and physical homelessness to xenophobia, and he shares the core message he hopes viewers take away from his work: his story and how it relates to their own. To learn more about John Chang, how he makes and unmakes meaning, experience, and history, and his attempts to communicate the newfound perceptions he gains through his creative process, tune in today!
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For more information, visit: https://notrealart.com/john-chang