Caren Shen’s CV & Artworks<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t consider myself to be creating fiber art. Rather, I use fiber as a language to speak about memory, perception, and lived experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Based in Vienna, Austria, for three decades, Taiwanese contemporary textile artist Caren Shen has long been active across textile design, metalwork, sculpture, and contemporary art. In addition to presenting a series of substantial, large-scale fiber works, this exhibition also features recent watercolor and acrylic paintings that reveal the artist\u2019s process of translating two-dimensional color into three-dimensional woven structures. Together, these works invite viewers into an immersive dialogue centered on the return to pure sensation.<\/p>\n
Shen first went to the United States to study during junior high school, where she discovered both inspiration and recognition in her art classes. Seeking an artistic environment with greater historical depth and cultural richness, she later traveled alone to Europe and was admitted to the internationally renowned University of Applied Arts Vienna. During her studies, her exceptional talent led her professors to describe her as \u201calready baked bread\u201d\u2014someone whose artistic potential was already fully formed. She studied under several distinguished teachers, pursuing textile design, metalwork, and sculpture, and received her Magistra artium degree in 1996.<\/p>\n
Decades of immersion in European culture have shaped Shen\u2019s free and unconstrained approach to art. \u201cI never deliberately thought about how to \u2018integrate\u2019 metalwork and sculpture,\u201d she explains. \u201cWhen the work comes into being, it naturally reveals itself as a whole.\u201d For Shen, fiber is not merely a craft material, but \u201cthe first material a person encounters at birth,\u201d carrying with it a natural sense of warmth and the human touch.<\/p>\n
Breaking away from conventional perceptions of carpets and tapestries as functional objects, Shen boldly treats the woven surface as a canvas and fiber as a substitute for paint. She works extensively with natural materials such as Tibetan wool and bamboo silk, combining Hi-Lo Pile structures with hand-carved and trimmed surfaces. As viewers move around the works, changing light and perspectives reveal subtle shifts in color and texture. The wool surfaces evoke the diffuse washes of ink painting, giving these seemingly flat woven works a sculptural depth reminiscent of relief.<\/p>\n
One of the exhibition\u2019s representative works, Silent Matter, breaks free from the constraints of recognizable imagery. Through fluid, undulating contours reminiscent of water droplets and layers of shifting color, the work encourages viewers to let go of the question of \u201cwhat is depicted\u201d and instead enter an inner space where thoughts can gradually become still. For Shen, \u201chypnosis\u201d does not mean falling asleep, but rather a transformation in the way we look. As colors appear to flow slowly across the surface, the silent force contained within the material quietly soothes the viewer.<\/p>\n
Another significant work, WeR, whose title echoes \u201cWe are,\u201d explores the rhythms of interconnected life through collisions of color and the sculptural variation created by high- and low-pile fibers. Its forms suggest the cyclical movements of embryos and flowing water, creating a transitional space within a soft, tactile landscape where human beings coexist and move together.<\/p>\n
In Atem, the German word for \u201cbreath,\u201d breathing becomes the central motif. Lines resembling currents of air and pulses overlap and weave across the surface, transforming invisible breath into one of the most delicate connections between the body and the natural world.<\/p>\n
The exhibition also presents a selection of original watercolor and acrylic works, including Dream Weave, The Core of Stillness, and Incubation Chamber at the Seams. For Shen, cleaning and organizing her studio before beginning a work is a ritual that allows her mind to return to zero. The process of enlarging small fabric studies, stitch by stitch, into monumental woven works not only tests her craftsmanship and sense of proportion, but also enables her to find stability through repetitive, day-to-day labor. In this process, she experiences a sense of healing that resonates between the two forms of work.<\/p>\n
Shen believes that the relationship between art and life has never been about \u201cconquering,\u201d but about \u201charmonizing.\u201d Within the limitations, conflicts, and changes of everyday life, she follows the lines and gradually finds her own rhythm. Materials carry life, while life shapes the individual. Between the two, we touch the world with our hands\u2014and, in doing so, come to understand ourselves anew.<\/p>\n
Having previously participated in a fiber art group exhibition at Apollo Art Gallery and exhibited at Art Taipei, Shen once again joins hands with Apollo Art Gallery for her latest solo exhibition, Woven Narratives: Infinite Threads, presented from October 24 to December 5.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on the exhibition, Shen says sincerely: \u201cI hope this is not simply a presentation of weaving techniques, but an opportunity to seek dialogue and resonance. None of the works offers a standard answer. Whether viewers feel drawn to a work or not, that response can become the beginning of an exploration of the self and a renewed act of listening inward.\u201d<\/p>\n
The exhibition will also take part in the citywide cultural programming of Taipei Art Week 2026, taking place from October 24 to November 7. Through this occasion, viewers are invited to slow down, pause before the works, and enter into a warm and intimate dialogue with the inner self.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t consider myself to be creating fiber art. Rather, I use fiber as a language to speak about memory, perception, and lived experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Based in Vienna, Austria, for three decades, Taiwanese contemporary textile artist Caren Shen has long been active across textile design, metalwork, sculpture, and contemporary art. In addition to presenting a series of substantial, large-scale fiber works, this exhibition also features recent watercolor and acrylic paintings that reveal the artist\u2019s process of translating two-dimensional color into three-dimensional woven structures. Together, these works invite viewers into an immersive dialogue centered on the return to pure sensation.<\/p>\n
Shen first went to the United States to study during junior high school, where she discovered both inspiration and recognition in her art classes. Seeking an artistic environment with greater historical depth and cultural richness, she later traveled alone to Europe and was admitted to the internationally renowned University of Applied Arts Vienna. During her studies, her exceptional talent led her professors to describe her as \u201calready baked bread\u201d\u2014someone whose artistic potential was already fully formed. She studied under several distinguished teachers, pursuing textile design, metalwork, and sculpture, and received her Magistra artium degree in 1996.<\/p>\n
Decades of immersion in European culture have shaped Shen\u2019s free and unconstrained approach to art. \u201cI never deliberately thought about how to \u2018integrate\u2019 metalwork and sculpture,\u201d she explains. \u201cWhen the work comes into being, it naturally reveals itself as a whole.\u201d For Shen, fiber is not merely a craft material, but \u201cthe first material a person encounters at birth,\u201d carrying with it a natural sense of warmth and the human touch.<\/p>\n
Breaking away from conventional perceptions of carpets and tapestries as functional objects, Shen boldly treats the woven surface as a canvas and fiber as a substitute for paint. She works extensively with natural materials such as Tibetan wool and bamboo silk, combining Hi-Lo Pile structures with hand-carved and trimmed surfaces. As viewers move around the works, changing light and perspectives reveal subtle shifts in color and texture. The wool surfaces evoke the diffuse washes of ink painting, giving these seemingly flat woven works a sculptural depth reminiscent of relief.<\/p>\n
One of the exhibition\u2019s representative works, Silent Matter, breaks free from the constraints of recognizable imagery. Through fluid, undulating contours reminiscent of water droplets and layers of shifting color, the work encourages viewers to let go of the question of \u201cwhat is depicted\u201d and instead enter an inner space where thoughts can gradually become still. For Shen, \u201chypnosis\u201d does not mean falling asleep, but rather a transformation in the way we look. As colors appear to flow slowly across the surface, the silent force contained within the material quietly soothes the viewer.<\/p>\n
Another significant work, WeR, whose title echoes \u201cWe are,\u201d explores the rhythms of interconnected life through collisions of color and the sculptural variation created by high- and low-pile fibers. Its forms suggest the cyclical movements of embryos and flowing water, creating a transitional space within a soft, tactile landscape where human beings coexist and move together.<\/p>\n
In Atem, the German word for \u201cbreath,\u201d breathing becomes the central motif. Lines resembling currents of air and pulses overlap and weave across the surface, transforming invisible breath into one of the most delicate connections between the body and the natural world.<\/p>\n
The exhibition also presents a selection of original watercolor and acrylic works, including Dream Weave, The Core of Stillness, and Incubation Chamber at the Seams. For Shen, cleaning and organizing her studio before beginning a work is a ritual that allows her mind to return to zero. The process of enlarging small fabric studies, stitch by stitch, into monumental woven works not only tests her craftsmanship and sense of proportion, but also enables her to find stability through repetitive, day-to-day labor. In this process, she experiences a sense of healing that resonates between the two forms of work.<\/p>\n
Shen believes that the relationship between art and life has never been about \u201cconquering,\u201d but about \u201charmonizing.\u201d Within the limitations, conflicts, and changes of everyday life, she follows the lines and gradually finds her own rhythm. Materials carry life, while life shapes the individual. Between the two, we touch the world with our hands\u2014and, in doing so, come to understand ourselves anew.<\/p>\n
Having previously participated in a fiber art group exhibition at Apollo Art Gallery and exhibited at Art Taipei, Shen once again joins hands with Apollo Art Gallery for her latest solo exhibition, Woven Narratives: Infinite Threads, presented from October 24 to December 5.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on the exhibition, Shen says sincerely: \u201cI hope this is not simply a presentation of weaving techniques, but an opportunity to seek dialogue and resonance. None of the works offers a standard answer. Whether viewers feel drawn to a work or not, that response can become the beginning of an exploration of the self and a renewed act of listening inward.\u201d<\/p>\n
The exhibition will also take part in the citywide cultural programming of Taipei Art Week 2026, taking place from October 24 to November 7. Through this occasion, viewers are invited to slow down, pause before the works, and enter into a warm and intimate dialogue with the inner self.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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