The exhibition “Because of /” opened at AYE Gallery on December 18th, 2016. This is the third exhibition by Chen Wenji at AYE Gallery since 2006.

The exhibition consists of seven oil painting and eight sketches on paper.

The oil paintings in the exhibition continue the production way of using aluminum panel material which Chen Wenji has been diligently exploring in recent years. The artist has always been fascinated by the industrial technology materials in the visual contemporary art. And the paper works are the corresponding partial graphics to the oil painting works. The pictures are easy while the shapes tend to become more planar. The blue and red tone forms two different experiences atmosphere throughout the exhibition. The rational, quiet mood continues the main line of Chen Wenji’s previous works. In this exhibition, his works seem to have some paranoid expression attitude, which should be a kind of choice and personal thinking inertia of the artist at a certain time.

All the works this time are Chen Wenji’s new works in 2016, which are based on "/" element to create. "/" here is no longer the meaning people familiar with, but as a form of the artist. Chen uses it to limit and strengthen his own way of thinking and expression, forcing himself to squeeze a new energy in such small space. Obviously, the artist is hoping to use this paranoid method to wake up his potential power. The audience did not see the struggling process of the artist, but to see the final confirmed visual fact. When we face the existing results, do we have the opportunity to restore the artist's original intention and unremitting endurance?