Unearthing

The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) located in New York displays works in clay and mixed media by Carole Wong Chesek.

The exhibit Unearthing presents an unprecedented selection of Carole Wong Chesek’s oeuvre, focusing on work from her mixed media assemblages and selections from two series of recent ceramic pieces.

Wong Chesek's deep roots and upbringing in New York City’s Chinatown offer her a rare and distinct perspective on the quintessential American issues of assimilation and identity. Constantly questioning and investigating for better understanding and interpretation, her work reflects those themes. With a bicultural background and poetic sensibility, her installations and sculptures often contain multiple layers of meanings, expressive of both her Eastern and Western consciousness.

Over the years, Carole Wong Chesek has created a body of thought-provoking and visually powerful works in clay and mixed media. The selection at MOCA brings to light her characteristic artistic practice—one that emphasizes the interplay of personal experience as well as aesthetic themes and forms, from the natural world to Asian landscape painting to architecture. In effect, it gives the artist a unique visual language that is distinctly her own, a reflection of her diverse interests and continued explorations.

The exhibition is curated by Michelle Cheng, guest curator, and organized by Ting-Chi Wang, Exhibitions Manager at the Museum of Chinese in America.