To know Yng-Ru Chen is to understand the phrase “force of nature.” The Founder and CEO of Praise Shadows Art Gallery gives the impression that controlling the weather or bringing dead things back to life would not be beyond her powers. It’s as if rather than operating within an existing ecosystem, she creates one around her—one people are rushing to inhabit.

As the independent curator Maggie Adler put it: “She inspires loyalty in scholars and curators around the world and draws them into her orbit—so much so that I hopped a plane at the eleventh hour from Texas when she told me that I couldn’t miss her latest opening night in Boston. Done and done.”

Take her first gallery show with the multimedia artist Duke Riley. It resulted in acquisitions by the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the MIT List Center, and the Boston Public Library.

That BPL acquisition, “The Enchafed Flood” – Riley’s mosaic inspired by the Great Molasses Flood of 1919 – was the first work to be installed in the library’s historic McKim building since John Singer Sargent's “Triumph of Religion" murals went up in 1919.

Duke Riley, "The Enchafed Flood" now hangs in the Boston Public Library.

So you see, she is no ordinary gallerist. Yng-Ru Chen is a Visionary. In addition to representing eleven nationally and internationally known artists – Juan José Barboza-Gubo, James Clar, Oliver Jeffers, Crystalle Lacouture, Helena Metaferia, Joiri Minaya, Nicole Wilson, Duke Riley, Jean Shin, Yuri Shimojo, and Yu-Wen Wu – she runs a robust programming schedule, a retail space for art books and objects, a mentorship program for young talent, and Praise Shadow Art Partners, an advisory dedicated to developing innovative exhibition and partnership opportunities for artists. She sits on the Board of Trustees of the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, and recently co-founded Arrival, a contemporary art fair which will have its first iteration at Tourists Hotel in North Adams MA in June, 2025.

The Long View

Chen is part of a global wave of change-makers working toward a more collaborative, innovative and inclusive art world. Yes, the fight is a long one — just think, Judy Chicago’s “Dinner Party” hit 45 years ago and the Guerrilla Girls’ poster “Do Women Have to Be Naked to Get into the Met Museum?” were placed on NYC buses after being rejected by the Public Art Fund 35 years ago. Today, the National Endowment for the Arts reports that 51% of visual artists working today are women. But only 25 - 35% of artists with gallery representation in the U.S. and the U.K. are women, according to the Gallery Tally Project.

Chen is doing her part to even the score. Of the eleven artists represented by Praise Shadows, seven are women and five are women of color. Her robust mentorship program gives real-life working experience to students hoping to make it in the arts, many of them not male, and not white. And Chen’s Arrival co-founders are two influential females: the Boston and Berkshires-based artist Crystalle Lacouture and Sarah Galender Meyer, of Galender Art Advisory in San Francisco.

Yuri Shimojo, "Sakura," 2011. Japanese ink on paper. 41 x 57 inches.

Born in Taipei, Chen grew up in Brookline, not far from Praise Shadows’ location in Coolidge Corner. She attended Williams College of Art, Duke University and earned her MA in Arts Administration from Columbia. Leadership roles in New York at MoMA PS1, Asia Society, Sothebys and Tattly provided an expansive understanding of the art market and global curatorial landscape. But what makes someone a visionary is the relentless cultivation of relationships forged in such roles and a bold, outsized imagination about the possibilities partnerships might create.

Installation view of Jean Shin, "Second Skin," solo exhibition. Photo: Dan Watkins.

In our conversations, Chen frequently references other art professionals she admires and consults. Paul Ha, Director of the MIT List Visual Arts Center, was the first person with whom she shared her Praise Shadows prospectus. Jen Mergel, the James and Audrey Foster Executive Director of the Esplanade Foundation and former MFA curator was an early supporter and brainstorm partner. Matthew Teitelbaum, Ann and Graham Gund Director and CEO of the MFA Boston stops by with coffee on the weekend to see her shows and talk shop.

But the cohort of heavy hitters she and her partners have assembled as Curatorial Ambassadors for Arrival is the best example of her network’s clout. The list includes leaders from Harvard, Tufts, the MFA Boston, MA MOCA, Williams College, the Fidelity Art Collection, the Brooklyn Museum, the Cantor Arts Center, Portland Museum, the Kemper and Storm King.

Reflecting on Chen’s influence, Northeastern Associate Professor of Contemporary Art History Gloria Sutton put it this way: “First, she’s a connector whose intense intellect fuels a program that is very much grounded in Boston, but like the artists she works with—sees her audience as a global one. Praise Shadows operates as a gallery while also pressing on what our expectations are for the circulation of art. She’s redefining what a gallery can and should do by offering relevant programs that take place inside the walls of her well attended exhibitions and extend or expand into conversations and talks that allow folks to delve deeper into the issues raised by the works. At the same time, her space is not only a community space but also a space of community… Praise Shadows, led by Yng’s clarity of vision and rigor, has become a vital oxygenator of Boston’s arts ecology.”

Crystalle Lacouture "Half Mast (21 for Uvalde)" 2023. 21 MAMA drawings in one large frame. 66 1/2 x 90 inches framed.

Bet on Brookline

Chen’s optimism stands in opposition to current art-economy fears. In 2020 it allowed her to see beyond the existential threats brought on by Covid to a dynamic opportunity in an untested place.

A pandemic real estate vacancy on a commercial street in Coolidge Corner sparked a radical idea. With her family transitioned from New York to Brookline and Praise Shadows Art Advisory doing well, she made the gutsy bet that artists and art enthusiasts would welcome a gallery experience outside Boston’s SOWA and Newbury Street enclaves. She opened Praise Shadows in December of 2020 and the New England art scene has benefited ever since.

Helina Metaferia, "Headdress 33," 2022. Mixed media collage. 42 x42 inches framed.

Her bet was met with plenty of skepticism. She remembers people asking, how do you know what to do here, this is such a weird location for a gallery. Isn't it random? “Because it wasn’t Newbury street and it wasn't SOWA,” she explains. “And I was like, ‘Why is it random?’” Residents of Brookline didn’t know what to think either. “People would look in from the door and ask, ‘How much does it cost to come in?’ They didn’t know how to go to a gallery… But, we haven’t gotten that question in a long time.”

“I don’t want to move to SOWA. I want to exist in a space that makes sense for our community.””

— Yng-Ru Chen

Back to that idea of an ecosystem – Chen believes Praise Shadows is right for the community, the community is right for her family and her artists, and that holistic perspective creates a welcoming, inclusive vibe which has been foundational to the gallery’s success.

Mallory Ruymann, Managing Partner at art_works, sees this as an important part of Chen's relatability: "She's a real person. She lives with her family in the same neighborhood as her gallery and even grew up in the area. She's accessible and warm, making her program that much more appealing.”

In New York, having a street level gallery can often mean people just asking to use the bathroom; in Brookline it can mean educating new audiences. Chen recalls one of her favorite moments when a fourth grader pulled her father into the gallery to see Yu-Wen Wu’s astonishing scroll “Walking to Taipei.” “She dropped her backpack on the floor and said, ‘Dad, you have to see this!’ she tells me over coffee, and Ruth Erickson, Chief Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs at the ICA Boston, who was in the gallery, laughed that Chen must have planned it. Introducing her artists’ work to varied and enthusiastic audiences like that young girl and her father make all the challenges of owning a gallery in today’s tough environment worth it.

Yu-Wen Wu, "Walking to Taipei," Ink on white and brown paper, mounted on Dura-lar, with acrylic rollers. 50.8 × 762 cm (20 × 300 in.).

What Makes It Work

A lot of networking, travel and planning goes into making sure her artists are seen all over the world. In addition to a rigorous schedule of curated shows, strategic partnerships, scholarship, lecture series, and online programming, Praise Shadows shows regularly at national and international art fairs. While exorbitantly expensive and time consuming, art fairs can be game-changing for galleries and artists because of the concentrated volume of exposure.

Some recent examples: this May Chen brought work by Yu-Wen Wu to Taiwans for Taipei Dangdai Art & Ideas. Crystalle Lacouture was awarded a residency and was featured in the Praise Shadows booth at this summer’s Aspen Art Fair. And in 2022, Jerry Salz, Senior Art Critic for New York Magazine saw “Walking to Taipei” and included it in his Best of 2022 write-up. Chen recalls that the famous critic asked her, “Why have I never heard of [Yu-Wen Wu]?” and she thought, “Well, when’s the last time you came to Boston?”

Tiffany Calvert, "*#366"* 2020. Oil on water-based latex print on canvas. 55 x 66 inches. From the 2022 gallery show Encounter / Exchange featuring artists Tiffany Calvert and Naomi Reis.

Boston may be having a moment, but it would be having a bigger moment if finding a place to live and work wasn’t so grim. As the recent shuttering of gallerist Abigail Ogilvy’s SOWA location attests, Boston today is not an easy place to succeed in the art business. Real estate prices can be prohibitive for those looking for long term studio or gallery space.

“We all know how expensive real estate is in Boston. For artists it’s an even bigger issue. I do think the city needs more affordable studios,” Chen insists, while admitting, “I don’t have a solution.” Students have told her they want to stay, they don’t want to move to New York. “They see a scene that is thriving and growing here and they want to be a part of it.” The Praise Shadows effect is part of what’s making art students want to stay. Will affordable live and work space follow?

Joiri Minaya, "Shield," 2022. Archival pigment print. 40 x 60 inches.

Chen often speaks with students and keeps in touch with graduates of the mentorship program. “I tell younger artists: just go make art and show it somewhere. Think literally beyond the box.”

“Yng has been so energizing to the contemporary art community since opening her gallery in 2020... Her spirit mixes an entrepreneurial energy with a down-to-earth vibe, and whether I see Yng and her amazing staff in Coolidge Corner or in Miami Basel, I am struck how vital Praise Shadows is to our Boston contemporary art landscape.”

— Ruth Erickson, Ruth Erickson Appointed Barbara Lee Chief Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs

Homer Shew, "Damien Ding II" 2023. Oil on canvas. 40 x 60 inches. From the 2024 group exhibition "See and Be Seen II," a follow up to Praise Shadows' first group exhibition about portraiture through a new lens.

Of course there are uncertainties. Any business started during the pandemic has some uncertainty built in. “This is not an intuitive business,” she explains.“No one knows how much work is going on behind the scenes.” But her confidence is so infectious it seems self fulfilling. When Horace Ballard, curator of American Art at Harvard Art Museums said of Arrival, “This is totally going to be a thing,” she believed him. And after witnessing the world class art leaders who showed up in July for the preview, so do I.

It’s exciting and surreal to see Yng Chen succeed where so many others are struggling to stay alive. Her gallery thrives while many others are closing. She’s launching a new art fair when the press wants us to believe art fairs are too big and too expensive to remain relevant, and she’s selling art when global art market sales are down. Lots of people in her orbit have thoughts about what makes Chen so successful. Maybe the most telling perspective is from the artists she represents.

Yu-Wen Wu was Praise Shadows’ first Boston based artist. She considers Chen extraordinary and intrepid in setting new paths. “Her advocacy for her artists' extends beyond their careers. She has changed the Boston art ecosystem in many ways including developing a platform for artist talks and opportunities for young writers and curators to participate with the gallery and the Boston art scene.”

Yng-Ru Chen is indeed a visionary transforming the art scene in Boston and beyond. If you want to be part of this scene, meet artists doing important work, feel the urgency of the perspectives being shared, and tap into a global vein of creative energy, Praise Shadows is a great place to start.