Never Been in Love

In "Never Been In Love", the artist examines the experience of an inexperience. Chen's documentation grew from a small collection of spontaneous writing and private poems into an archive of sensitivities collated through chance encounters, cities he lived in and left behind, and confrontations with the self. In sections, the book interrogates mechanisms (some maladaptive) through which we regulate-rationalize emotions and desires such as affection and affluence to become the model...
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In "Never Been In Love", the artist examines the experience of an inexperience. Chen's documentation grew from a small collection of spontaneous writing and private poems into an archive of sensitivities collated through chance encounters, cities he lived in and left behind, and confrontations with the self. In sections, the book interrogates mechanisms (some maladaptive) through which we regulate-rationalize emotions and desires such as affection and affluence to become the model human, but in certain abrasion of our humanity. Not quite the portrait of romance- the book is an evolving mold of both an attached and detached human, a singular being, negotiating one's inescapable singularity with instincts to connect and be connected to in modern individualism. Illustration, collages, and visual elements supplement the writings, and they take inspiration directly from Chen's written pieces, his encounters, and his surroundings.