Full Circle, Flying Fish Press, 2006, numbered 57 of 100, signed by Chen, handmade artist's book with kinetic elements, lift top box

Provenance: purchased Vamp & Tramp, Booksellers, Birmingham, Alabama, July 2011 for $2,100 (accompanied by copy of receipt); Private Collection, Asheville, North Carolina

Note: "Full Circle is a powerful exploration into the cycles of faith and belief from the first moments of obsession through the experience of deepest doubts, and ultimately passing through the place of peace where the mind and heart are (re)united before the endless cycle starts again. A large box-mounted wheel rotates continuously beneath a series of windows to reveal the many stages of the faith cycle with concurrent letterpress images of the human body. One window in the wheel also reveals a tray with compartments containing simple every-day objects that take on varied and potent meanings for each individual reader as they attempt to connect or reconcile the complex spiritual world in their imaginations with the material reality before them. Three drawers open from a slot in the outer tray, cradling pop-up diagrams which act as three checkpoints along the cycle. One of Chen’s most advanced book structures to date, the ingenious wheel is not only a marvel of book craft but also an opportunity for a level of self-exploration leading the reader toward the realization that meaning may be encountered within the process of seeking." - Flying Fish Press