York Chang (b. 1973, St. Louis, MO, lives and works in Los Angeles) makes conceptually-driven work which investigates the slippages between memory, language, images, symbols and belief, and how our sense of truth, and reality is influenced by the velocity of fractured narratives in evolving forms of propaganda. He uses interdisciplinary strategies, such as appropriation, collage/de-collage, painting, video, and performance as interventions into documentary modes of display, public address, broadcast, and reception. He transforms archival and forensic systems into supports for poetic gestures. His work often foregrounds the labor of looking in the searching and sorting of images, finding pattern and meaning in the noise of hyper-information.
Chang has exhibited at galleries, institutions, and fairs in the United States and internationally, including Greene Exhibitions, Charlie James Gallery, 18th Street Arts Center, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Commonwealth & Council, MAK Center for Art & Architecture, MASS MoCA, Scottsdale MoCA, Edel Assanti London, NADA New York, EXPO Chicago, and concurrent solo exhibitions in 2019 at the Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) and the Vincent Price Art Museum (VPAM). He has performed works at the Hammer Museum and MOCA Los Angeles.
Chang is a recipient of the California Community Foundation Fellowship (2014), the VPAM Thomas Silliman Vanguard Award (2020), the Center for Cultural Innovation CALI Catalyst grant (2022), and the City of Los Angeles (COLA) Master Artist Fellowship (2022). His work is held in private and public collections, including the permanent collections of Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. His work has been reviewed and profiled in publications such as the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Artnews, ArtAsiaPacific, Hyperallergic, Artillery, the LA Weekly, the OC Weekly, and Artscene.
York Chang also served on the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Commission from 2005-2013 (President, 2009-2013), leading the development of new urban design guidelines and artist-centered commission processes for public architecture and public art in Los Angeles.