Mickey’s Online Solo Exhibition 2026
Where Has the Heart Gone?
ARTIST
MICKEY
CURATOR
TAN XIAOZHENG
DATE
2026.05.21
Traces of Existence
When the heart is lost, no one notices. Mickey paints a figure in monochrome—curly hair, a striped shirt, and a side-backlight that carves her out from the void. The face is quiet, like a closed door; yet, you know there is something stirring behind it. She observes that while some things remain still, others shift and change—and more often than not, she herself cannot fully contain it all. This is not a complaint, but a moment of radical honesty: an admission that one cannot be defined by a single state of being.And so, she begins to paint the fall.The body falls; the heart follows. There are no safety nets in these paintings—only fragments, erratic lines, and eyes that refuse to focus. From 2024 to 2026, she has chronicled her own descent—not to reach a destination, but to see clearly the things she passes along the way.
Then, the Joker appears. Not as a performance, but as an instinct. She asks: Is it only I who play the fool, or is it everyone? The question remains unanswered, but the giant red lips on canvas and the city-scrawl of symbols surrounding them have already said enough. She posits that a man lives inside this female body; she believes that abstraction is an emotion, and that surrealism is a form of displaced longing for the world. These are not mere statements, but explanations—reasons why her paintings feature organs in the wrong places, dissolving boundaries, and faces that morph into masks and back again.
In 2026, she seeks to take flight. “Flying Out of Myself.” It is not an escape, but an expansion. The cage was built by her own hands, but so was the bird.
Some people are not gifted with words. Instead, they translate everything into color and form, waiting for the right person to pass by and recognize them in an instant. These are Mickey’s paintings. They are not made for the eyes; they are for those whose hearts have also been lost at some point and have never quite found their way back.
Curator: Tan Xiaozheng
May 2026
Hi, I’m Mickey(Hui-ju Chen)!
Art Biography
Hui-ju Chen (Mickey) graduated from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago major in Fine Arts and the University of Hertfordshire in Creative Arts. Even though she has not been using art and design as her main profession, she has kept up her passion of making art until today. She always finds time to create various styles of work. It is interesting to see how her work has varied from photography to acrylic painting to mixed-media to collage. She hopes to keep being experimental because she believes that, in the art world, there are no real errors but rather different thoughts and processes with different outcomes. Without experimentation, she feels, art is not art. She gets inspiration from different aspects of life. She always hopes to learn and create different kinds of work by making use of her own different life experiences.
Email: mickey7625007@gmail.com
2026
Lost Heart
Sometimes, I wonder why— I’ve left my heart behind somewhere, without even knowing it.
My World
My world holds things of every kind— sometimes still, sometimes shifting, ever-changing, and more often than not, leaves even me overwhelmed, unable to take it all in.
Longing to Break Free
I want to fly out of myself— out of the cage I’ve built with my own hands.
2025
The Fool
Sometimes I wonder— is it only me who’s the fool, or is everyone, just another fool?
40 X 40cm
Surprised
Sometimes, I’ve amazed even myself— turns out, I could do it too.
40 X 40cm
Grown Hearts
My heart has taken root in so many places— and one of them, grew right onto my face.
2024
Falling
Constantly falling— my body, and my soul.
On Being Woman 2014
On Being
Honestly, I don’t think I’m all that different. Rather than calling myself a woman, I’d rather just say—I’m a person.
Inside this female body of mine, there might also live a man. I believe, gender is fluid.
Abstract Me 2017
The Essence of Abstraction
What is abstraction, really? I think abstraction is an emotion—a feeling, a sensation. I can be abstract anytime, because now and then, I need to mess around with my own moods.
Blue Moon
A blue moon, a blue mood— I open my mouth wide, letting my emotions pour out.
Blurred Vision
A blurred sight— the boundary between past and future, more and more, I can no longer tell where it lies.
Awakening
The little monster inside me, is waking up.
2008
Surreal as Sensation
Surrealism is also a way of expressing emotion. I love seeing things displaced— because it sparks in me a longing and curiosity for the world.
