Chen Mutian 陈牧甜

Artist Biography：

Chen Mutian (b. 1987, Changsha, Hunan, China).Chen Mutian graduated from the Oil Painting Department of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in 2009, received her Master’s degree from the Digital Art Department of Hunan Normal University in 2013, and studied at the Materials Art Studio of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2015. She currently lives and works in Changsha.Her creative inspiration is deeply rooted in Huxiang (Hunan) traditional culture. She draws particularly from the ethereal symbols found in the silk manuscripts unearthed from the Mawangdui tombs in Changsha, and incorporates the delicate craftsmanship of Hunan embroidery into her contemporary expression. This inheritance is not a mere formal appropriation, but a creative “cultural gene translation” that transforms ancient silk manuscript aesthetics into a fluid poetics that records contemporary daily life.

Her practice centres on fabric as a core medium, employing a wide range of materials—cloth, wax, silicone, cotton thread—through handcrafted processes such as sewing, weaving, embroidery, and knotting to construct landscapes where dream and reality intertwine. She endows discarded fabric and old clothing with the metaphor of “social skin,” allowing them to carry bodily memory, social conditioning, and traces of consumption—transforming them from “leftovers” discarded by consumer logic into “sacred objects” that bear individual life histories. The brushstrokes and patterns, which resemble script yet extend into graphic forms, contain her unique insight into the world and serve as the private space where her imagination unfolds.

Exhibition Record

Solo Exhibitions

2025–2026 “Chen Mutian: Zibi Pavilion”, Xie Zilong Photography Museum, Changsha

2025 “Dwelling on Earth: Walking, Touching, Nature”, Arch Gallery, Shanghai

2024 “Footprints Under the Moonlight”, ISM Art Space, Shenzhen

2023 “Soft Surface Maze”, Suzhou Bay Digital Art Museum, Suzhou

2022 “Chen Mutian – Garden and Lace” (Solo Exhibition), Enclave Contemporary, Shenzhen

2023 “Soft Puppet” (Two-Person Exhibition with Xiao Tingting), Enclave Contemporary, Shenzhen

2018 “Playground Mazurka”, Yuxiang Spinning Mill, Changsha

Selected Group Exhibitions

2026 “Signifying Objects”, Chong Art Museum, Beijing

2026 “Vining: A Song of the Earth”, Wuhan SKP RDV GALLERY (co-presented by Shine Art Center), Wuhan

2025 Two-Person Exhibition with Yuan Keru, Xie Zilong Photography Museum, Changsha

2024 “Memory · Inheritance · Mutation – The 6th China and Portuguese-speaking Countries Art Exhibition”, Macao Museum of Art, Macao

2024 “Migration”, Shenzhen Art Museum, Shenzhen

2023 “Before the Silent Spring Arrives”, Enclave Contemporary, Shenzhen

2023 “Gravity Field: The 5th Shenzhen Contemporary Art Biennale – Poetic Geographies”, Dafen Art Museum, Shenzhen

2022 “Nomadic in the South: Rivers, Tunnels, Humidity, Constellations”, Pingshan Art Museum, Shenzhen

2021 “The Original”, Paper Art Museum, Changsha

2019 Art Nova 100, Guardian Art Center, Beijing

2019 “Wall Power”, Times Art Museum, Beijing

2019 Taipei Spring Contemporary Art Salon, Taipei Collection & Trading Center, Taipei

2019 “Outstanding – The 5th National Young Artists Nomination Exhibition”, Paper Art Museum, Changsha

2018 “Qingjin Project 2018”, Zhenguan Art Museum, Beijing

2018 “Wandering · Objects”, Hunan Provincial Museum, Changsha

2017 “Wandering · Objects”, Hunan Provincial Exhibition Hall, Changsha

2017 “Art China”, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

2016 “Art China”, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Art Fairs

2023 Design Shenzhen, Shenzhen Convention & Exhibition Center, presented by Enclave Contemporary, Shenzhen

2023 Beijing Dangdai Art Fair, National Agricultural Exhibition Center, presented by Enclave Contemporary, Beijing