THE PERSON

Sabrina Chan is an interdisciplinary artist from New York City. She received her BFA in Sculpture and Film from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2019. Her work revolves around video and mixed media objects, which focuses the idea of authenticity and the role of irony in relationship to humor. She was the station manager at ExTV, SAIC's student broadcast organization.

THE WORK

My exploration of media has been a gradual discovery in materiality, as well as how I communicate my memories and identity through physical means. I believe to make art is to express oneself, but finding autonomy was the first step that I struggled with before I could articulate it. My style varies amongst different media, though my most recent work all strives to engage the viewer’s sense of touch as a means of personal connection.

My work spans from short mockumentaries of fictional amateur artists to deconstructed bubble wrap. The first thing that I think about when creating my work is wondering how to create a relationship with the material. Using various media opens up many possibilities to test their functional limits, removed from their original context. I create my work by manipulating the material in my own interpretation of what it can become. My sculptures are revived objects that create a light-hearted experience for the viewer to intimately interact in and comprehend the material in a new light. I find an underlying sense of humor in the interest of many of my works. The process of experimenting is imperfect and messy, which is something I find worth embracing.