Chin, Mel, 1951-
Biography
Mel Chin was born in Houston in 1951. He received a BA from Peabody College in Nashville, TN.
Mel tries to create social awareness with his art with multidisciplinary and collaborative creations. Some of his most outstanding works include: Forming the collective GALA committee which produced the public art project "In the name of the place", working with software engineers in the creation of the video game "Knowmad", filming the short film 9/11-9/11 that won the Pedro Sienna award for best animation (Chile, 2007).
Chin has received several awards and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council for the Arts, Art Matters, Pollock/Krasner, Rockefeller Foundation, Tiffany Foundation, among others. He has taken art to unlikely places like destroyed homes, toxic landfills and popular television.
Visit the artist’s website:
"The survival of my own ideas may not be as important as a condition I create for others" --Mel Chin
Sources : Art21, Mel Chin,
Mel Chin website, bio,
Found in 1 Collection or Record:
Texas Art Project Microfilm: Mel Chin Papers
Biographical data; newspaper and magazine clippings; a Bryant Park Artists in Residence Program file containing Chin's revised proposal for his sculpture, a news release, and photographs; a drawing of Chin's sculpture "The Manila Palm;" copies of sketches for a sculpture commission in Houston; and photographs of Chin's works of art.