-007 Yi Chengtao
If there is one thing that you can change in a previous project of yours, what would it be?
On the subject of art’s “regret pill,” I once indulged freely. My university training in industrial design, rigorous and exacting, instilled in me a belief that everything could be refined, reshaped, optimized. Yet, in the practice of art, I’ve come to see error, regret, even fleeting folly, as integral to the work—authentic echoes of an artist’s lived experience. Just as a life consumed by FOMO distorts its own truth, or a revised diary ceases to be a diary, I strive to resist the urge to reimagine past works.
By curious chance, I once created a piece to mark this conviction: three circular saw blades, each etched with “could,” “would,” “should.” They embody a boundless danger, a devouring abyss, a totem of anti-creation. For me, they stand as a warning against the seductive, destructive impulse to undo what has been made.
Solid-State Poems No.292, 2021, digital. Courtesy of the artist.
About Yi Chengtao
Chengtao Yi, born in 1992, is a New York-based artist whose work explores cultural and perceptual landscapes by investigating the historical and ontological development of man-made objects and systems. His practice spans painting, sculpture, installation, and digital media, often focusing on vision and the mechanism of human perception. Yi's work integrates physical and virtual contexts, highlighting the technological and cultural forces shaping objects and their meanings.
Chengtao's work has been exhibited internationally, including at The Chengdu Art Museum, Chengdu Biennale (2021), Yulingson Project Space, and Axis in Chengdu, as well as at Madein Gallery in Shanghai and Rainain Gallery, Below Grand Gallery, and NARS Foundation in New York. His notable accolades include receiving Atlantic’s Blank Canvas Fund in 2020 and the A’Design Award Silver in 2016. He completed two seasons of NARS Foundation art residencies in 2023. He earned his Bachelor of Industrial Design from Pratt Institute and his MPS in Interactive Arts from NYU. He is currently a visiting lecturer at Pratt Institute.
www.chengtaoyi.com