MOCA TALKS with Hilda Shen: Their Landscapes

The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) welcomes Brooklyn artist Hilda Shen for a conversation about Their Landscapes, the inaugural exhibition of MOCA’s Solo Artist Projects (SAP). Shen’s artistic practice is guided by an inquisitive scrutiny of nature and an instinct for deconstruction. Her forms can appear both ancient and futuristic, naturally occurring and handmade, suggesting processes of construction and decay. Their details and motifs open up conversations that cut across post-minimalism, Chinese landscape painting, and architectural space. Shen will reflect on the ideas, influences, and creative processes behind her work, exploring how her sculptures and prints approach landscape through form and material. The conversation will consider how we observe, interpret, and imagine our surroundings. Join us for an evening with an artist whose work encourages curiosity and close looking. Hilda Shen: Their Landscapes is on view in MOCA’s Cheng Gallery from October 22, 2026, through January 24, 2027. About Hilda Shen Hilda Shen was born in Minneapolis (1954) and spent much of her childhood in upstate New York before settling in New York City in the 1970s. Her father grew up in Beijing while her mother was raised in Hangzhou. Shen studied classical music at Oberlin College before shifting to the visual arts. She lives and works in Brooklyn. Shen’s sculpture, prints, drawings, and installations have been shown throughout the New York City area, Seattle, and Beijing, and most recently in a solo show at Starr Suites in Brooklyn. She has created large installations at WaveHill in the Bronx, the Tenri Cultural Center in NY, China2000 in NY, and the Smithsonian Flushing Town Hall in Queens. She has been an artist in residence at Willapa Bay AIR, The Bloedel Reserve, Millay Colony for the Arts, Yosemite National Park, and Platte Clove. Her work is in private collections in the United States, Belgium, and Beijing. Shen’s work has been reviewed in The New York Times, The Brooklyn Rail, ArtAsiaPacific, and ARTnews. About Their Landscapes Hilda Shen’s Their Landscapes inaugurates Solo Artist Projects (SAP), a MOCA initiative dedicated to presenting compelling artistic voices through one-person exhibitions of new work. The Brooklyn-based artist will present an arrangement of recent ceramic sculptures and prints in the museum’s Cheng Gallery. Shen’s artistic practice is characterized by an inquisitive scrutiny of nature and an instinct for deconstruction. The forms can appear both ancient and futuristic, naturally occurring and handmade, undergoing construction and decay. Their details and motifs open up conversations that cut across post-minimalism, Chinese landscape painting, and architectural space.