You're An Artist, Dude: A Conversation With Mei Chen
By Kenneth Kim
Courtesy of the artist
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
I had a sit down and a chat with Mei Chen, a self-described “bi-polar, bisexual, and bilingual artist” who creates accessible, eccentric statement pieces that can easily be worn as earrings, usually in the form of small hands in a variety of skin tones. Behind the talented artist is a beautifully nuanced mind, one with quite a lot of character and a strong understanding of what would be required to pursue this kind of creative career.
Kenneth Kim: All right, so firstly, please introduce yourself - names, pronouns, anything that you think is critical to understanding who you are.
Mei Chen: OK! I go by pronouns she/her, and I am a bi-polar, bisexual, bilingual artist.
KK: Wonderful. Secondly, how are you right now?
MC: I'm good. I literally just came back from lunch and was trying to speed run everything so I could make it.
KK: So how did you get started in the world of art? I mean, you hold a pretty unique niche, and I wanted to know how it came to you.
MC: So I never really did art growing up because my parents are Vietnamese refugees and their main focus was not “Oh, I hope my daughter follows her dreams.” It was more like “I want you to have a job and grow up for a job that you can be financially stable from, so we don’t have to worry about you.” So they sent me to private Catholic prep schools my whole life, which I hated. As I got older, I started going to museums and I remember feeling mad and uncomfortable, because I felt like I don't belong here. At the time, I rarely saw people of color, either in the artworks or people who had created the artwork. As I got older, I dabbled in a lot of things because when you're manic, you just have these weird hyper fixations. I would get really obsessed with something for like six months; I wouldn't be able to sleep because I would be dreaming about it and thinking about all of these exciting ideas I had for them. As I was getting older, I realized I actually wanted to do polymer clay and I'm too broke to actually afford it. So after doing a ton of different hobbies, I settled out of polymer clay when I started working on that. My therapist was like “You're an artist, dude.” And I was like, “Oh, shit!” So that's how I got started doing it, and then I stopped for like a year because I had a job that was super stressful. I was also on the wrong medication cocktail. Now, I’m back and better than ever!
Courtesy of the artist
KK: That sounds wonderful. You kind of answer this next question, but I wanted you to dove a little deeper into it. So your brand, your entire brand revolves around accessible art and art that is available to be utilized efficiently. Did this desire arise out of anything, maybe like a reaction to where the art world is currently right now?
MC: Yeah, I mean, I didn't like how it felt. I wanted to see art that reflected culture, let's say like Chinese culture, for example. I just wanted to see a reflection of the artists I was like. I wanted to see cultural backgrounds. It was a thing where I thought like “Oh, what? I'm an artist.” I didn't even think of being an artist as a full time job until like last year. It just never occurred to me and when I was in those museums, I felt that I didn’t want people to feel like they don't belong here. I feel like art is supposed to be an equal opportunity thing where you can appreciate it. I feel like a lot of the times that I look at art pieces, you have to have a specific background to understand it, and I wanted people to be able to understand it without having to go to art classes if that makes sense.
KK: Yeah, that definitely makes sense! Next question, do you have a favorite pair of earrings that you've ever made and do you have any stories behind?
MC: I have two favorite pairs of earrings! One of them, I had thought about four months before I made it because I felt I needed to make something Chinese, badly. I wanted to do that because I felt like it was important for me to have a way to intersect my culture as an American artist and as an Asian person. Lunar New Year is obviously very exciting in Asian culture in general, and I thought it’s mad funny how obsessed with the thought of money like Chinese people are. You give people envelopes and you're like “I hope you get rich,” which is so funny. And so I felt that I needed to make these but miniature, because I think that's so exciting. And so, I made them and people loved that shit! A ton of Chinese people, left and right asking if I could make more of these. I didn't think it was going to go that well. It was so cute. I have ideas for the mid autumn festival, too, which I'm excited about. I really liked doing that because it was just the intersection of like a bunch of my identities and like one piece which I loved so much.
My other one was this one pair of earrings that I made. Basically, I have to take legit at least 10 pills a day to maintain this fucking physique. I have to take so many to, like, stabilize my mood to make sure I don't get manic, to make sure that I don't get depressed, etc. When I got diagnosed with bipolar disorder, I realized that you kind of have to spend your life around that. Now, I can't just leave to go on a trip with no notice for like three months or something, which is something I definitely would do, because I have to keep my medication in mind at all times. I can't skip a day. I can't just keep doing the shit that I used to do, which is sad. So I wanted to make a pair of earrings that kind of represented that it's OK if you have to take medication! People always act like it’s a crutch, and I just think about how you don't think of glasses as a crutch. You need them to see, which is fine, and you need to take medication to live, which is also fine. I don't want people to have to demonize themselves for taking something that they need to live.
KK: Wow, that was a lot of content. Thank you so much for that. Do you have any plans on where you want to see your brand and the art that you make going or do you kind of want to stick to earrings and whatnot?
MC: Yeah, I am trying to branch out into other things besides earrings. It’s just that earrings sell the most, and I am a business, so I need to make money as much as I would love to just keep fulfilling my own desires and artistry. I need to pay rent! I have done magnets before, but I need to make them again. I like fridge magnets and I can make wine charms, which is fine. I have a lot of different things for accessories because it's just like anything you could put a miniature sculpture, truly. But the way I see my brand, my goal for the last six or seven years now has been to move to Berlin. I live in Boston right now, and even if the main goal has always been consistent, the circumstances around it kept changing. Before, I was working like a marketing job so that I could get enough experience and money to move to Berlin. Now, my goal is to go to art school in Berlin. I haven't been classically trained or anything like that. I've taken a couple of classes at a community college, but I don't really know how to actually do anything. I've never done glasswork, for example. There's so many mediums that I want to learn, and I just want to be around people who have the same general goals in mind that I do. Whatever comes out of that is the next step. I just have no idea what that is.
Courtesy of the artist
KK: Yeah, for sure. All right, what kind of impact do you hope to have? What kind of impact do you hope your art will have in any capacity?
MC: I watched this video a while back and it was a video about ballerinas. Ballerinas that were people of color had a really difficult time with the shoes. Every time they bought shoes, they would have to put foundation on the shoes to match their skin color. This one ballet company and art company had a collaboration where they specifically made shoes for ballerinas of color. The whole point was that they would go into the store and look at the shoe and think “Wow, this was made specifically for me.” That's exactly how I want people to feel with my art, that's the kind of impact I want to have. I want to be able to say “I thought of you when I made this. I want you to know that I had specifically you in mind.”
KK: Wonderful! For my last question, what advice do you have for young artists that are trying to get started and make their business out of creating interesting art the way you do? What advice do you have for them?
MC: My advice for anyone that is going into the art business... I want to say I allegedly do art 40% of the time; the other 60% is making spreadsheets and doing marketing and doing PR. I love that shit so much, I think it's really fun. I know most people would not think that's fun, but if you're thinking about going to art as a business, just know that you also have to be good at photography and videography and learning how to phrase captions that make the art more appealing. Your job is not to make art at that point, it's literally everything else. And if you're not prepared for that, it's really tough to get into the business. ◆
You can find more of Mei Chen’s work on her Instagram or purchase them via her Etsy.