Rice alum showcases work at art gallery’s summer window series

Rice alum showcases work at art gallery’s summer window series
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The Rice University Art Gallery is showcasing the work of a Rice alumnus in ”gustywindsmayexist,” the second in a series of Summer Window Installations.

The series began in 2001 to provide installation artwork that could be viewed from the entrance of the gallery while the gallery itself is closed for the summer months.

For the 2002 Summer Window, the Rice Gallery has commissioned former Rice University student David Chien ’02 to create a 16-by-44 foot installation on the front glass wall of the gallery using multicolored vinyl.

Chien’s installation features his stylized, Picasso-esque characters from his editorial cartoon strip, ”Rationale,” which has been published each week in the Rice Thresher, the student newspaper, since Chien arrived on campus in 1998. He has interpreted the characters to fit the space and location. The installation was inspired by a road sign that Chien saw while driving to the Grand Canyon.

The installation will be on view through Sept. 1 during regular building hours: Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Two handmade, magnetized puppet variations of his characters will be on sale at the gallery for $10 each.

Chien was born in Taiwan in 1980 and moved to the Houston area as a child. He graduated from Rice with a bachelor of arts degree in studio art and has worked in painting, printmaking and graphic design. He contributed ”Perspective,” a triptych of three figure paintings, to the 39th Annual Student Art Show and was awarded the Raymond Swift Medal by Rice’s Department of Art and Art History. Chien currently works as a free-lance designer in Houston.