Chen Zhen's legacy: the last works of this noted Chinese artist are the focus of an exhibition opening in New York this month. Through sculptures, installations and an unrealized project for a Zen garden, Chen explored themes of illness, exile and cultural difference

Art in America, Feb, 2003 by Eleanor Heartney

(1.) In the spring of 2001, shortly after Chen's death, the Serpentine Gallery in London exhibited his late work. See A.i.A., Nov. `01, pp. 157-8.

(2.) From a previously unpublished interview with the author in 1997 that will be included in the forthcoming catalogue of "Chen Zhen: Inner Body Landscapes."

(3.) Chen Zhen with Giovanni Maria Pace and Alessandra Pace, "A Conversation about the Praise of Black Magic" in In Praise of Black Magic, Turin, Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, 2000, p. 49.

(4.) From the 1997 interview.

"Chen Zhen: Inner Body Landscapes" debuted at the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art [Sept. 18-Dec. 31, 2002] and can be seen starting Feb. 16 at P.S. 1, New York [May closing date to be announced].

Eleanor Heartney is a freelance critic based in New York