Interview and Text by Hung Yu-Cheng
 
Chen Ting-Jin, a contemporary artist from Kaohsiung, is best known for his iconic sculpture Woker and Fishwoman, displayed at the Pier-2 Art Center in Kaohsiung. This large-scale work is a familiar sight to both visitors and locals, yet it often leaves a slightly vague impression. Why does this piece seem somewhat elusive? Take a moment to consider: can you recall the faces of the figures in this sculpture? And more importantly, do these figures even have faces?
 
The answer is no. The Worker and Fishwoman sculptures depict only backviews, completely omitting facial features. This approach isn’t unique to this piece. In Chen’s series of woodcarved backview sculptures, the figures are consistently shown from behind. These nameless characters reflect the countless silhouettes we encounter in urban life—vague yet undeniably real. So, what is Chen seeking to explore and express through these works?

From Self-Gazing to Imagining Others
After graduating on a government scholarship from the Art Education Department, Chen Ting-Jin returned to his hometown in Penghu to teach at an elementary school for several years. He then spent over a year in Paris for advanced studies before enrolling in the Fine Arts graduate program at Kaohsiung Normal University. After completing his degree, he taught at the Chung-Hwa School of Arts. Following an opportunity to collaborate with a art gallery, he then devoted himself full-time to his artistic practice for around five years. In 2022, he opened his own art studio in Kaohsiung.
 
Chen’s studio mainly welcomes elementary school children, giving them the freedom to create based on their own interests without the pressure of preparing for art school admissions. He encourages his students to explore creativity beyond just learning technical skills. One of his main teaching themes is self-portraits. “Unlike still life, self-portraits require students to look in a mirror and draw themselves—they can’t copy from their classmates. This helps them build confidence in solving problems on their own,” Chen explains.
 
In Chen’s studio, creating self-portraits is a regular practice, much like keeping a visual diary. He encourages students to experiment with different media, such as charcoal, crayons, watercolor, and ink. The focus isn’t on accuracy but on observing themselves and expressing what they see. To inspire creativity, Chen sometimes uses stories or themes, like telling Jack and the Beanstalk and asking students to imagine and draw how the magical beans grow. Chen believes that motivation is the key to sustaining creativity and is more important than technical training. At this age, art teaches children how to feel—a skill different from learning academic subjects like language or math but just as valuable.

Capturing Hidden Essence
Self-portraits allow students to see themselves and confront their issues directly—an unavoidable, uniquely personal process. Chen’s creations also revolve around the human form. He reflects, “I have a strong sense of self-awareness. I often wonder, why I am ‘I’ within this body? What are other people thinking? Why am I not living in someone else’s body?” This sense of detachment allows him to view his life as an observer, as if watching events unfold from the sidelines. Even during the interview, he admits to pondering, “Why am I sitting here, thinking about these questions?”
 
Naturally shy, Chen feels uneasy speaking in front of others. When people watch him, he feels trapped, almost like being imprisoned. However, when others turn their backs, he feels safe and free. Observing people from behind frees him from judgment, sharpens his self-awareness, and deepens his individuality. This perspective helps him see his own existence while imagining becoming someone else. By observing and portraying backviews, Chen feels he can step into different lives and embody many identities. His childhood curiosity about self and others, combined with his keen observation of people, grew into a strong passion for creating art focused on backviews.
 
Before graduating from university, Chen created his first backview sculpture using clay for a class project. He also experimented with reassembling toys like Ninja Turtles, Japanese lucky cats, and Ultraman, transforming them into figures that only showed their backs. As his artistic vision became clearer, Chen switched to woodcarving for his backview series. He is inspired by Michelangelo’s famous words: “The sculpture is already complete within the marble block... I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.” Unlike building up layers, woodcarving is a process of removal. With every cut and chisel, the piece gets closer to its true form. For Chen, this reflects his goal of uncovering the hidden souls and stories within the backviews he creates.

The Everyday Gaze That Inspires Creation
Chen’s backview series, which includes over a hundred works, draws inspiration in fleeting moments of daily life—perhaps the person in front of him at a convenience store checkout line or an elderly woman sweeping the streets at dawn. During the pandemic, he even watched videos from international YouTubers using chest-mounted cameras to capture glimpses of strangers on foreign streets. Chen takes these observations and reimagines them in his art. For example, Worker and Fishwoman is inspired by the fishing villages of Chen’s hometown in Penghu and his father’s work as a yacht carpenter, with his mother often by his side. Chen adds a unique twist by exaggerating the figures’ muscles, giving them a playful, cartoon-like “hyper-real” look.
 
Even though his sculptures only show backviews, they clearly convey emotions and physical changes through body language. In one piece, a young girl bends over, clutching her stomach in pain from her first menstruation, while on the other side, she wears her mother’s high heels, trying to look more grown-up.
 
Backviews naturally suggest anonymity, representing the unseen masses rather than specific individuals. Chen’s works focus less on specific people and more on capturing the essence of nameless figures in society. During talks, he enjoys surprising the audience by asking, “Did you notice all these figures are shown from behind?” Their surprised reactions delight him, as it makes them wonder, “What do they look like from the front?” This deliberate ambiguity and open-endedness are exactly what Chen wants to convey.

Life and Artistic Creation in Kaohsiung
For several years, Chen received financial support from sponsors, allowing him to focus entirely on his art. However, the arrangement made him feel uneasy, so he decided to end the collaboration. Throughout his career, Chen has balanced his roles as both a teacher—whether in schools or his own studio—and an artist. He describes being an artist as a “reasonable way to escape the world,” providing an outlet to express the strange, unpleasant, or unconventional sides of life through his work. In teaching, however, he thoughtfully designs lessons to inspire students to explore and express their own ideas. The feedback he receives from his students, in turn, enriches and informs his artistic practice.
 
Living in Kaohsiung with his family nearby, Chen enjoys a supportive and comfortable environment to create art. His mother, who always prepares family dinners, his Kaohsiung-born partner, and their three children help him maintain a stable and joyful life rhythm. Originally from Penghu, he also enjoys the city’s easy access to the ocean. Chen rejects the stereotype of artists as tormented by extreme emotions or hardship, seeing it instead as a barrier to creativity. “If I let my life fall into chaos, I’d be too busy saving myself,” he explains. “There would be no room left for art.” By maintaining balance and working steadily, Chen creates the freedom for his imagination to thrive, using his artistic practice to navigate and resolve life’s challenges.
 
Chen has remained prolific, hosting annual solo exhibitions at galleries across southern and northern Taiwan in recent years. His works have also been featured at art expos and in the 2023 group exhibition Art Scope at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts. Through his backview sculptures, Chen explores themes of anonymity and collective memory, creating works that quietly observe everyday life. Behind his continued carving and exploration lies a deep reflection on existence—both his own and others’. In these blurred backviews, we might also find our own answers.