REVIEW: Chen Zhen Double-Εxil

For me personally, the exhibition that marked last year and ends today is the “Double exil” with artworks by Chen Zhen at the Galleria Continua in Paris, because in one gallery the viewer had the opportunity to navigate through a museum exhibition, with works that record and testify to his entire career. An artist who lived between two countries, China and France, and who Chronicled the human suffering, his personal suffering in a way and a magnificent body of work. The impressive thing, what I wondered about the two times I saw the exhibition, because I always return to exhibitions that interest me and I want to work on them, is the power of a great artist’s art, which depending on the space and the moment is reignited every time. While in Chen Zhen’s case, who deals with a specific theme -even though he is a leading figure- one would think that one knows well his work, in the end through this “Double Exil” he can discovers new aspects and works that through a new dialectical relationship, that affect him deeply and problematize him more deeply, creating new questions (!)– Efi Michalarou

Photo: Chen Zhen, Double Εxil, Installation view Galleria Continua-Paris, 2023-24, Photo: © & Courtesy Dimitris Lempesis

Info: Galleria Continua, 87 rue du Temple, Paris, France, Duration: 29/9/2023-6/1/2024, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 11:00-19:00, www.galleriacontinua.com/