Visiting Artist - Mel Chin

Mel Chin Interview, Visiting Artist Spring 2022

In association with his solo exhibition Inescapable Histories in The Gallery at UTA, which includes 24 artworks ranging in date from 1988 to 2022, the internationally known conceptual artist Mel Chin discusses his practice in a conversation with Gallery Director Benito Huerta.

Born in Houston, Texas in 1951, Chin is known for the broad range of approaches he utilizes in his art, including works that require multi-disciplinary, collaborative teamwork, and works that enlist science, history, and politics as components or layers to develop his ideas. The important issues and concepts he addresses influence the materials used - from actions, to films, to objects.

Chin’s work was documented in the popular PBS television program, Art of the 21st Century and he is the recipient of many awards, grants, and honorary degrees from organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council for the Arts, Art Matters, and Creative Capital, as well as Foundations such as the Pollock/Krasner, Joan Mitchell, Rockefeller and Louis Comfort Tiffany, among others. In 2019, he received a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, and in 2021 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.