Artist-in-Residence

Jennifer Wen Ma
Charleston, SC | Fall 2024

FSA welcomes artist Jennifer Wen Ma to Charleston for a residency this fall. Ma is a multi-disciplinary visual artist, propelled by conceptual interests to pursue different media and forms that offer the most evocative expressions of the concept, manifested as immersive, experiential installations, paintings, videos, public art, performances, or social practice works. The foundation of these large-scale and multi-faceted projects is a grounding practice of quietly, repetitively, and contemplatively making calligraphic drawings. These works are rarely seen by the public and seldom exhibited, nourishing Ma’s inner self, fueling the engine that drives the rest of her practice.

Ma plans to base her FSA fall residency in Charleston on this drawing and writing exercise. She will work daily on a 100-meter-long paper scroll, either alone or inviting visitors, friends, artists, and conversation partners into the studio to participate in some capacity. They could directly interact with the paper or contribute through her hand and brush. The starting point of the exploration will be how one obtains spiritual subsistence with consistency, longevity, and sustainability.

She will give an artist talk, “Between Spiritual Ideals and Material Realities: Jennifer Wen Ma on Art and Community” at the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art in Charleston on October 1st from 5:30-7:00pm. The talk is free and open to the public; more information HERE.

 

She states: “At the onset of the 2020 pandemic, I initiated a weekly book club to read ancient Chinese classics in their original textual form.

She states: “At the onset of the 2020 pandemic, I initiated a weekly book club to read ancient Chinese classics in their original textual form. We have worked through Book of Rites (Liji), The Analects of Confucius (Lunyu), and Lao Tzu’s The Book of the Way (Tao Te Ching), and we are now reading Book of Odes (Shijing). These classics have profoundly affected my phenomenological experience of living in a physical body while contending with spiritual matters in a chaotic world. The residency will provide much-needed space and time to better understand these inner seismic shifts. I look forward to connecting with the Charleston community, regardless of religious, cultural, or secular affiliations, to share strategies for finding balance and meaning living in uncertain times.”

Her upcoming exhibitions include the following:

Untitled: Ink Rhythm
Roppongi Art Night
Nation Art Center Tokyo and Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
September 27-October 26, 2024

Around the Table
Georgetown University Galleries, Washington DC, US
September 27 – December 8, 2024

Artist Bio

Jennifer Wen Ma is a visual artist whose interdisciplinary practice bridges varied media of installation, painting, video, public art, performance, opera, and social practice, bringing together unlikely elements in a single work, creating sensitive, poetic and poignant works.

Projects with international institutions include New Britain Museum of American Art, CT; Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, Charleston; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Guggenheim Museum, New York; Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain; National Art Museum of China, Ullens Center For Contemporary Art, Beijing; Vancouver Art Gallery; The Phillips Collection, Washington DC; Qatar Museums, Doha; Cass Sculpture Foundation, UK; Sydney Opera House, Australia. 

In 2019, Ma received Anonymous Was a Woman Award and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. She conceived, visually designed, and directed the installation-opera Paradise Interrupted, which performed around the world, including at Spoleto Festival USA and Lincoln Center Festival. In 2008, Ma was a core creative team member for the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony and received an Emmy for its US broadcast. 

Ma teaches in the MFA program at the School of Visual Arts, New York, and has guest lectured at many institutions worldwide. She works and lives between New York and Beijing. 

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Select Images

Jennifer Wen Ma, “Isle of Enchantment,” 2012. 6,700 live plants, 650 kg of Chinese ink, and Eucalyptus beams.

Jennifer Wen Ma, “An Inward Sea,” 2021. Laser-cut flashspun non-woven HDPE, pigments, glass sculptures, metal mechanisms, video, and audio tracks.

Jennifer Wen Ma, “ Cry Joy Garden - Fold,” 2018. Laser-cut flashspun nonwoven HDPE garden, copper fruit, mechanical elements.

Jennifer Wen Ma, “ Cry Joy Garden - Fold,” 2018. Laser-cut flashspun nonwoven HDPE garden, copper fruit, mechanical elements.

Jennifer Wen Ma, “Hanging Garden in Ink,” 2012. 1,500 living plants, 400 kg of Chinese ink.

Jennifer Wen Ma, “Moler,” 2016. Ink-painted acrylic glass panels, 480 pieces of hand-crafted glass, flashspun nonwoven HDPE fiber leaves, 75 kg of Chinese ink, lights, wooden walkway, steel framework, sound files, and audio playback system.

Jennifer Wen Ma, “Moler,” 2016. Ink-painted acrylic glass panels, 480 pieces of hand-crafted glass, flashspun nonwoven HDPE fiber leaves, 75 kg of Chinese ink, lights, wooden walkway, steel framework, sound files, and audio playback system.

Jennifer Wen Ma, “Paradise Interrupted,” 2015-2018. An installation opera in one act.

Jennifer Wen Ma, “Threading the Sky,” 2021. Laser-cut flashspun non-woven HDPE and pigments.

Read

“Between Spiritual Ideals and Material Realities: Jennifer Wen Ma on Art and Community” | Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art

“Paradise Interrupted” at Lincoln Center | Lilly Wei, ARTnews

“An Inward Sea” | William Corwin, Brooklyn Rail

“Temples of Art” | Eleanor Hearney, Art in America

View

Jennifer Wen Ma | Artist Webpage

Documentary Cry Joy Park | Halsey Institute, Charleston