With The People of the Garden, he created an immersive work for the courtyard and upper balconies while guests watched as the 13 dancers in white body paint and monochrome costumes move mystically amongst the plants, sculptures and architectural elements to music composed by Daniel Burke and Avro Part.
"I also wrote a small poem for this upcoming exhibition: 'We rebuild differently but with a same goal. Though we are in a divided space, we are synchronized in ideas. We are individual but we rebuild together'," he says.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Shen was in Paris himself for over eight months, which enabled him to have more time to collect his thoughts.
"It inspired me," he says. Audiences will clearly see the influence of the pandemic on the artist from his most recent series, titled Reflecting Element (2019-2020). Also as many his video works and writings.
His films, including April (1998), which is a very personal investigation of the artist's struggle with isolation, loneliness and creativity, Inner Shadow of Movement (2016), which celebrates the monumental architecture of the Harbin Opera House in Heilongjiang province as a dancer moves throughout its light and shadows, and a new commission for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, titled Passion Spirit, will be screened.
