e-sapien

Paper bags, fabric, 36”x20”x20”

Spent e-commerce bags overflow recycling bin; business shirts are cut-up into masks; we drive less but Zoom down the digital superhighway; what r we b-e-coming?

Wen-hao Tien, E-Sapien (2021) , sculpture made of folded paper bags, repurposed clothing.

This work will be exhibited at the show “Becoming” at the Boston Sculptors Gallery, 1/28/21-2/21/21.

You can uncover many stories from a neighborhood walk on trash day. Since COVID pushed us to stay home, spent delivery bags and cardboard e-commerce containers took up my neighborhood sidewalks for weekly collection. In my studio, dress shirts are cut up to make face masks - as we no longer need them for the new “work from home” regime. Solitary time in 2020 affords quietness to look below the surface of things, yet our work is ever more inseparable from everyday life - chores, family, social time…

The digital AI undercurrent is carrying humans into an unknown future and transforming us at every level. How are we adapting to our time - 2020 and beyond?