Mel Chin

artist

Mel Chin is known for the broad range of approaches in his art, including works that require multi-disciplinary, collaborative teamwork and works that conjoin cross-cultural aesthetics with complex ideas. He developed Revival Field (1989-ongoing), a project that has been a pioneer in the field of "green remediation," the use of plants to remove toxic, heavy metals from the soil. From 1995-1998 Mel formed the collective GALA Committee that produced In the Name of the Place, a conceptual public art project conducted on American prime-time television. Chin is one of 16 artists included in the PBS Series Art of the 21st Century aired in the Fall of 2001. His proposal for a New World Trade Center was part of the American representation at the 2002 Venice Biennale of Architecture. These projects and others are consistent with a conceptual philosophy which emphasizes the practice of art to include sculpting and bridging the natural and social ecology.