mel chin

  • Gouge: A memorial to the murdered

    Gouge: A memorial to the murdered

    1995
    proposal
    from “If They Built a Memorial to the War in the Streets: Seven Proposals to Honor the Urban Dead,” published in The New York Times Sunday Magazine (April 9, 1995)

  • 21 Visions of Nancy Fowler

    21 Visions of Nancy Fowler


    1995
    brass, plastic half-frame slide viewers, photo transparencies
    7 7/8 x 8 x 3 inches
    Collaboration with students of the Seminar in Contemporary Art at the University of Georgia, Athens
    edition of 100

    21 visions of the Christian mystic, Nancy Fowler, of Commerce, GA, were interpreted by Mel Chin’s UGA class of 1995. They formed a collection of viewable “visions” held together by a brass halo.



  • Erased Currency

    Erased Currency

    Ruin (2nd state) (5 dollar denomination)

    The Green Light Ahead (20 dollar denomination)

    The Eye of the Beholder (1 dollar denomination)

    1995
    Erased U.S. currency
    2 9/16 x 6 1/8 inches each

    A series of U.S. bills of various denominations were erased to isolate particular elements in order to create alternate narratives.

  • HOME y SEW 9

    HOME y SEW 9


    1994
    External: GLOCK 9 mm handgun: steel, polycarbide plastic, Optional tag in two patterns: silver, enamel
    Internal: 2″ Ace bandage, micro electronic locator, normal saline (100 ml of 0.9% Sodium Chloride) with IV needle and polyethylene tubing, narcotic analgesic, (5 mg oxycodone hydrochloride, 500 acetaminophen), intramuscular Epinephrine (0.3mg), angiocatheter (14 gauge)
    5 7/16 x 7 5/16 x 1 3/16 inches

    A strapable, self-contained, action-activated, fully functional, self-inoculating, self-medicating, emergency gunshot trauma treatment kit. Disarming the aura of “gun” through covert, surgical implantation of life-saving potential.

  • Study for HOME y SEW 9 (on metal)


    1994
    brush and white ink, and enamel on sheet metal
    17 x 17 inches

    see HOMEySEW9

  • Study for HOME y SEW 9


    1994
    14 x 20 inches
    electro-pounced drawing with graphite and label on tracing paper, laid over police firing range target

    see HOME y SEW 9