Chen Yaoguang’s long-standing design practice has endowed him with extensive experience in materials across both art and spatial design. Wood—one of the most ubiquitous materials used in design—has remained central to his work.
In the installation, The Layers of Life, Chen deliberately extracts wood from its conventional functional context. A material originally serving everyday use is reconfigured into a structure resembling a totemic monument, becoming an object to be viewed and interpreted.
Through this transformation, the language of design is elevated to a conceptual artistic level. Wood, while bearing traces of time and growth, becomes an icon for local culture. Motifs derived from components of traditional Chinese furniture are inscribed onto the wooden surface through a process of “peeling,” allowing remnants of nature and human language to converge on a shared surface. This work marks a pivotal shift in Chen’s creative methodology and identity—from a designer creating beauty for everyday life to an artist expressing ideas through materials, with both trajectories unfolding in parallel.
Chen Yaoguang (b. 1962) is an artist and designer based in Hangzhou. He graduated from the China Academy of Art in 1987 and is among the early generation of spatial designers in China to receive systematic academic training, exerting a wide influence in the field of design. Chen’s long-term engagement with design practice has led him to continuously reflect on the relationships between space, materials, and everyday life—an inquiry that has gradually evolved into a more conceptual artistic exploration.
Positioned at the intersection of design and contemporary art, Chen’s work often employs readymade objects, design materials, and architectural structures as media, forging connections between natural materials and cultural memory. Through spatial installations, he constructs embodied experiences for viewers, seeking to reactivate perceptual relationships between humans and nature within the context of the contemporary urban environment.
In addition to his artistic practice, Chen is the founder of the design institutions Light Mix and Dianshang Design, and has long been engaged in spatial design for cultural institutions, museums, and exhibition projects. These cross-disciplinary experiences between design and art form a crucial foundation for his artistic work.
Chen Yaoguang’s practice has been featured in major international and Chinese media, including AD, GQ, The Bund, ELLE DECO, Yitiao, Bazaar Art, Wallpaper, Sanlian Life Weekly, Southern People Weekly, and ANSA. His recent exhibitions and projects include: The Gift, Milan Design Week, 2025; “Chengguan · Art Residency Light Mix,” Light Mix Gallery, Hangzhou, 2021; “The House of Light in Time and Space,” BFC Bund Financial Center, Shanghai, 2021; “Light Box Warehouse,” Shanghai West Bund Art & Design Fair, 2020; “Light Mix Project,” Shanghai Design Week, 2019; “Ju” and “Metamorphosis,” Milan Design Week, 2014–2016; “Transcendence: Stories of Drawers,” Gwangju Design Biennale, 2015.
浙江
