graedance
resilience theme
unseen time [ʌnˈsiːn tʌɪm]
about
Rong Jake Chen (Yuan Rong Chen) is a Chinese designer based in Australia. Hailing from a migrant family, Rong draws inspiration from his cultural identity to design from a liminal place merging themes from his birth place in the east to Australia where he currently resides. Rong has a background of design through practice. From designing t-shirts for his friends, Rong’s design eventually caught the eye of UNIQLO with who he collaborated on a capsule. His work focuses on researching humanistic narratives, such as communities and primal natures, whilst looking into the cyclical nature of our social blueprint.
An admirer of contemporary art as a practice, and digital media as a medium, much of Rong’s work integrates and welcomes collaboration in the process. Formerly the co-creative at AMXANDER, a contemporary menswear line that reinvented and explored cultural and social uniforms, he has been nominated twice for the International Woolmark Prize, the National Designer Award and also the Lane Crawford Creative Callout. Since leaving AMXANDER, Rong has increasingly pursued new ways to explore fashion and art projects. He currently has an online residency at Bureau of Works, exhibiting alongside contemporary Chinese artists including Xiao Ke and Zi Han on their global series exploring the ‘What is Chinese?’
statement for the future
“I want to let this project serve as a reminder of the positives that 2020 brought forward - although time ticked to its own beat with its upward and downward tempo, the year served as an important reminder to reflect on yourself and personal (life) practice”. I hope this shared reflection will build and accelerate better pathways for all industries, particuarly ours - where it has shown the greatest senstivity.”
connect
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object: grae space
photograph by: Myles Pedlar
about
‘Unseen Time’ is a lockdown and quarantine inspired reflections on the elasticity of time. Grey covered over a pink layer, the free-standing object insinuates the human time-space is relative akin to other objects within this continuum. Without them, time’s relativity is erratic and although the tick of the clock is static - with a moment’s distraction, we lose count of the numbers that have passed.
A grey hammock hangs anxiously above the object as an unnerving distraction that takes the viewer further away from observational control.
composition
100% Wool + Mixed Media
100% Wool + Mixed Media
made from
deadstock fabrics and found objects
deadstock fabrics and found objects
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