Abstract mixed media artwork with textured layers

Maya Chen

Contemporary Artist

Exploring identity, memory, and transformation through mixed media, painting, and sculpture

Selected Works

Memory Fragments series - layered mixed media pieces

Memory Fragments Series

2025-2026

Mixed media on canvas, incorporating found objects, photography transfers, and acrylic paint

Various dimensions, 24" x 36" to 48" x 72"

This ongoing series explores the fractured nature of memory—how our recollections layer, fade, and transform over time. Each piece incorporates personal photographs, vintage ephemera, and textured materials that represent the physical traces of lived experience.

The work investigates how we construct identity from fragments of the past, questioning the reliability of memory while celebrating its emotional resonance.

Status: Selected pieces available. Inquire for details

Threshold series - sculptural installations

Threshold Series

2024

Steel, fabric, resin, and LED lighting

Site-specific installations, dimensions variable

Threshold examines liminal spaces—both physical and psychological—where transformation occurs. These sculptural installations create portals that viewers can move through, experiencing shifts in light, texture, and spatial perception.

The series draws inspiration from traditional architectural elements reimagined through contemporary materials, inviting contemplation about boundaries, passage, and change.

Collection: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (commissioned installation)

Dialogue series - diptych paintings

Dialogue Series

2023

Oil and acrylic on linen, diptych format

Each panel: 36" x 48"

Presented as paired paintings, Dialogue explores the relationship between Eastern and Western aesthetic traditions, drawing from my Chinese-American heritage. Each diptych places abstract gestural marks in conversation with more structured, geometric forms.

The work examines cultural hybridity and the constant negotiation between different ways of seeing and being in the world.

Status: Series complete. Several pieces in private collections, 3 available for purchase

Ephemera collection - small-scale works on paper

Ephemera Collection

2022-ongoing

Ink, watercolor, collage on handmade paper

8" x 10" to 12" x 16"

A more intimate body of work created as daily practice pieces. These smaller works explore spontaneity and imperfection, incorporating accidental marks, tea stains, and found papers collected during travels.

The collection celebrates the beauty of transience and the creative power of embracing mistakes.

Status: Available through studio visits. Prices range $400-$1,200

Exhibitions

Upcoming

Memory & Material

Solo Exhibition

Contemporary Arts Center, Chicago, IL

Major solo exhibition featuring new work from the Memory Fragments series alongside site-specific installations.

Emerging Voices

Group Exhibition

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

Group show featuring 12 contemporary artists exploring identity and cultural heritage.

Past Exhibitions

Threshold: An Installation

Solo Exhibition

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA

Commissioned installation for the museum's contemporary gallery space.

Dialogue: East/West

Solo Exhibition

Gallery 101, Los Angeles, CA

Complete presentation of the Dialogue Series with critical acclaim.

Intersections: Asian-American Artists

Group Exhibition

Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY

New Talent

Group Exhibition

Saatchi Gallery, London, UK

International exhibition showcasing emerging contemporary artists.

Maya Chen in her studio

In the studio, Oakland, 2026. Photo by Jordan Hayes

About the Artist

Maya Chen (b. 1992, San Francisco, CA) is a contemporary visual artist working primarily in mixed media, painting, and sculptural installation. Her work explores themes of cultural identity, memory, and transformation through layered, tactile compositions that invite prolonged contemplation.

Drawing from her Chinese-American heritage, Chen's practice investigates the spaces between cultures—the negotiations, translations, and hybrid forms that emerge from living across multiple worlds. Her work often incorporates found materials, vintage photographs, and traditional craft techniques alongside contemporary media.

Chen received her MFA from California College of the Arts (2018) and her BA from Yale University (2014). She has been awarded residencies at Headlands Center for the Arts and the Vermont Studio Center, and her work has been featured in Artforum, Art in America, and Hyperallergic.

She currently lives and works in Oakland, California.

Education

2018
MFA, Studio Art, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
2014
BA, Art History and Studio Art, Yale University, New Haven, CT

Awards & Residencies

  • Emerging Artist Grant, Joan Mitchell Foundation (2025)
  • Artist Residency, Headlands Center for the Arts (2024)
  • Artadia Award Finalist (2023)
  • Vermont Studio Center Fellowship (2022)
  • Inaugural Contemporary Art Prize, Asian Arts Museum (2021)

Collections

  • San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
  • Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA
  • de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
  • Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA
  • Private collections (USA, UK, Hong Kong)

Press & Publications

  • "Maya Chen's Layered Histories," Artforum, November 2025
  • "Threshold: Navigating Liminal Space," Art in America, October 2025
  • "10 Emerging Artists to Watch," Hyperallergic, January 2024
  • "In Dialogue with Heritage," Sculpture Magazine, Summer 2023

Artist Statement

My work emerges from the intersection of memory, materiality, and cultural identity. As a first-generation Chinese-American, I've always been fascinated by the ways we construct meaning across different cultural frameworks—the translations, mistranslations, and beautiful hybrid forms that result.

I work primarily with mixed media and installation, building up layers of material that mirror the layering of experience and memory. My practice incorporates found photographs, vintage papers, textiles, and traditional craft techniques alongside contemporary materials like resin and LED lighting. This juxtaposition of old and new, East and West, reflects my lived experience navigating multiple cultural identities.

Memory—both personal and collective—is central to my work. I'm interested in how memories fragment, shift, and reconstruct over time, and how physical objects can serve as anchors for recollection. The materials I choose carry their own histories and associations, adding layers of meaning beyond my own intentions.

Through my art, I create spaces for reflection and questioning. I want viewers to slow down, look closely, and discover the subtle details and layered narratives embedded within each piece. My work asks: How do we remember? What gets preserved and what fades? How do we honor multiple truths simultaneously?

Ultimately, I believe art can create bridges—between cultures, between past and present, between individual experience and collective understanding. My hope is that the work resonates not just with those who share my specific cultural background, but with anyone who has navigated the complexity of identity, memory, and belonging.

Get in Touch

For inquiries about available works, studio visits, commissions, or press requests, please reach out using the form or contact information below.

Contact Information

Email: studio@mayachen.art
Studio: Oakland, California
Representation: Gallery 101, Los Angeles

Gallery Representation

Gallery 101
456 Art District Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90013
(310) 555-1234
gallery101.example.com

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