In anticipation of her upcoming two-person show, alongside Veng of RobotsWillKill, I visited Gigi Chen's studio to see the new body of work and to catch up with the lady about art and life.

When arriving to her studio, I'd already been subjected to a 5-flight walk up-- an elevator exists, but Gigi thinks those are pretty silly. She greeted me at the outer entrance with a huge smile that's become synonymous with her name and then took me down a long, narrow, dark hallway until we reached the other end where her studio resides. Upon opening the door, I simply wasn't prepared for all the natural light that invaded the studio. I'd also heard rumors that Gigi works like a mad woman, but not even in my wildest dreams was I prepared to see the vast amount of works the woman has produced and is continuously producing. 

Sketches, drawings, collages lined up the walls and surfaces. In preparation for my visit, she'd laid out drawings for The Birds and the Bees, opening tonight at Mighty Tanaka Gallery in Dumbo. For this show, Gigi really embraced the nature of bees; both in the context of love and human sexuality, and the animalistic predatory yet communal beings that the actual insects really are. Gigi's style is "cute", as she describes it, but for this body of work-- Gigi explored the many layers and phases of love. Paintings represent love in it's infatuating state of valentine's requests, through phases where we clearly endure the sting that is sometimes associated with the demise of love. And though at first glance you may associate her style with "cute," this body of work as a whole is very personal and very heavy with it's connotations of love. 

If you're in the New York City area, catch the show in person at Mighty Tanaka Gallery. The show will open tonight from 6-9pm and will run through May 4th.