Big Dreams
24” x 32”
gouache on bleached japanese raw denim
2020
Untitled
18” x 13.75”
gouache on linen
2020
same problem my father had and what he dreamed
52” x 44”
mixed media on canvas
2020
YAN WEN CHANG (b. 1993) spent her life between Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Singapore before moving to Toronto, Canada, alone, at the age of 17, to study painting at the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) University.
In 2014, Chang was Governor General’s Award-winning Artist and Writer Robert Fones’ studio assistant for his solo show at Olga Korper Gallery, Toronto, Canada. Under his mentorship, Chang was tremendously influenced by his painting practice. She continued to assist him for his Retrospective Show at Museum London, Canada, in 2017, and returned to assist him for his 2019 solo show Notes / Sutterlin Works / Contes en Trompe-l'oeil at Olga Korper Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
Chang has been residing in Parkdale, Toronto, for ten years, which is the home to many individuals who live in precarity, struggling with mental health and addiction issues. The text that appear Chang’s paintings are extracted from signage of the Parkdale community meeting spots, tattoos on the bodies of her peers, letters that she finds on the street, and slogans on AA posters.
Chang was recently a recipient of the Emerging Artist Visual Art grant from the Toronto Arts Council for her first solo show the life of vanda miss joaquim at Pushmi Pullyu, Toronto, Canada, that opened in September 2018. Chang is currently an MFA candidate at the University of Guelph’s Studio Art program.