Susan Chen, Streetcars of Desires, 2025; Hand-Embellished, Signed, and Numbered Limited Edition Print

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Susan Chen is an oil painter whose works explore themes pertaining to race, community, immigration, prejudice, identity, longing, love, and loss. Since 2020, the artist has invited over one hundred individuals into her studio, where they sit and become subjects in large-scale, community portraits. She additionally creates self-portraits, and other depictions of personal interests. Born in Hong Kong and based in New York City, Chen received a Creative Capital grant in 2025, and has presented solo exhibitions at Rachel Uffner Gallery, New York, NY; Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; and Meredith Rosen Gallery, New York, NY. Additionally, her works can be found in a number of esteemed collections around the world, including the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection, Palm Beach, FL; and the Yuz Museum, Shanghai, China.

Streetcars of Desires is a self-portrait that pays homage to the figures and books that inspired Chen during the pandemic lockdown. Seated beside a bouquet of sunflowers, the artist is seen perusing a copy of How to Be an Artist by Jerry Saltz. In the book, Saltz prompts readers to create colored drawings of train cars that represent artists that they feel connected to. Inspired by this, Chen renders a train that can be seen traversing a somewhat ominous landscape, just outside a window that symbolizes longing. As she notes, “An artist’s path is rarely smooth, but rather filled with uncertainty and the bumpy unknown. The artists I chose for my train cars include David Hockney, Henri Matisse, Pierre Bonnard, Charles E. Burchfield, Chaïm Soutine, Le Pho, Kerry James Marshall, and the professors who taught me how to paint.” For this limited edition series, Chen will incorporate different artists’ names, to allude to her changing inspirations and tastes. She will also use acrylic and gouache paint to add new elements to the composition.  

Of ART FOR CHANGE’s initiative to support the Brooklyn Museum, the artist notes, “The Brooklyn Museum continues to champion young and emerging artists and has impressively diverse programming, which I appreciate. I know that the funds raised will help provide exposure to artists of color and other underrepresented voices, making the art world a little more equitable and reflective of modern-day America.” 

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