Lin Hong-Wen

Lin Hong-Wen at Tainan Confucian Temple © Courtesy of the artist

Hong-Wen Lin(b. 1961—)

Graduated from the National Taiwan Academy of Arts in 1982, he made his official debut with his invited participation in the Contemporary Art Trends in the Republic of China (the predecessor of Taipei Biennial) in 1984. According to Lin’s reflection upon his development as an artist, his debut at this exhibition had a significant influence on him and his art.

Though living in Tainan, Lin’s care for the society and environment is not limited to his hometown only. The disasters caused by several devastating typhoons in the 90’s and the environmental damage brought by the 921 Earthquake in Taiwan have led Lin to switch the focus of his art from sculpting to installation art exploring topics about the natural environment and ecosystem. He started to use drift bamboo pieces, instead of drift wood, to create his works. These drift bamboo pieces came from the bamboo racks used in oyster farming, washed into the ocean by typhoon floods, and then washed ashore. Lin’s installation works of drift bamboo are a continuance of his kite-flying and outdoor installations back in 1985 with the same sense of solitude and detachment from the real world. After the mid-1990s, Lin started to step outside his hometown and embrace the world by engaging in a lot of exhibition curations and artist-in-residence programs in other places of Taiwan and around the world. Since he settled down in his hometown in the 80’s to the present, with his roots in Tainan, he has reached out to Hong Kong, Macau, Australia, America, Canada, and mainland China, drawing artistic nutrients from these places to enrich Taiwan’s art landscape.

Lin is known for his abstract expressionism of painting. His works are bright, pure and rich in poetic abstractionism, unpredictability and unlimited possibilities. In recent years, he focuses more on environmental issues and installations in his artistic creation. No matter what art form he works in, he has established his personal styles. The form of artistic creation is only a communication interface between an artist and the outside world. Lin’s rhetoric of abstractionism is always present, latent but powerful, in all types of his works. Such rhetoric is the result of his spiritual accumulation and refinement over the years.

|Biography|

1982 Graduated from National Taiwan University of Arts; currently the Professor, Department of Fine Arts, Tainan University of Technology; Adjunct Professor, Graduate Institute of Architecture, Tainan National University of the Arts 2019; YV Contemporary Arts Museum Resident Artist, MA, USA

Solo Exhibition
2021
“Lin Hong Wen: In Silence”, ALIEN Art Centre, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

2020
“Medium of Reified Immediacies” Lin Hong Wen Solo Exhibition, Double Square, Taipei, Taiwan

2019
“Treading on Soft Shadows” 2019 Lin Hong Wen Solo Exhibition, Beyond Gallery, Taipei Taiwan
“A Moment’s Thought” Lin Hong Wen Solo Exhibition, Corner Stone Art Gallery, Taichung

2018
“Desolate Romance Art of Lin Hong Wen Research Exhibition” Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung Taiwan

2017
Arto21 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair, Shanghai Exhibition Center, China
“On a Whin” Lin Hong Wen 2017 Solo Exhibition, Corner Stone Art Gallery, Taichung Taiwan
Lineage-Taiwan Contemporary Abstract Art Exhibition, Double Square Gallery Taipei
“Spirit Landscape” Lin Hong Wen Solo Exhibition Sicoh Gallery Tokyo Japan

2016
The Possibility of an Island 2016 Taiwan Biennial, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
"Contemporary Taiwan: An Exhibition of Abstract Art Classics", Remarkable Cultivation Art Museum, Taiwan
"Reading Landscape: Stories from Artists", Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung Taiwan
"The Possibility of an Island: 2016 Taiwan Biennial", National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung Taiwan
2016"Casablanca Biennial", Casablanca, Morocco
Ex-situ Morphology 2016 Lin Hong Wen Solo Exhibition,Main Trend Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

2015
Gaze: Visual Art Exhibition for the August 1st Gas Explosion Incident,Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Art,Taiwan
“Traveling Minds 4th”, Duta Fine Art Foundation, Jakarta, Indonesia
Lin Hong Wen Solo Exhibition,Tsuchiya Contemporary Art Gallery,Osaka, Japan
"Art Busan", Busan, Korea

2014
「Traveling Minds」,Galerie Verge,Tokyo Japan

2010
Landscape in Transition-Yuzi Paradise International Art Symposium, Yue-Hu Museum of Art, Shanghai, China
2010 Kaohsiung International Steel & Iron Sculpture Festival,
2010"The Other Book" the G-Dot Art Space in Beijing Songzunag Artists Community
2010 Sharing Donations to the Museum Collection.2009-2010, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan
2010Landscape in Transition-Yuzi Paradise International Art Symposium, Yue-Hu Museum of Art, Shanghai, China

2009
(No Flowers In Unreality) Solo Exhibition 2009. Liart Gallery. Taiwan
Hong-wen Lin's Journey /through Time Solo Exhibition 2009.Taiwan Taipei Cultural of TECO in New York, The Dishman Museum. Texas,
Dishman Gallery. Lamar University. Texas, U.S.A

2007
ART TAIPEI 2007. Taipei
「as if」sound and environment installation art exhibition 2007. Taiwan New Art Gallery. Taiwan
Attentive / Whispery Sound and Environment Installation Art Exhibition 2007. the calligraphy museum of ming zong. Taiwan

2006
2006 International Steel/Iron Sculpture. Kaohsiung Taiwan
2006 {One Hundred 「?」Pieces} Group Exhibition. Kaohsiung Taiwan
2006 HAN-YU Festival. Ping-Tong. Taiwan
{Between Obstruction and Crossover}
2006 International Windbreak Forest Environment Arts Exhibition. Tainan. Taiwan
Green field / Ecological Practices of Contemporary Art. Kaohsiung Fine Art Museum .kau-Shaung. Taiwan
{In The Dream Light} Taipei Lantern Festival, Giang Je-Shi Public Hall, Taipei. Taiwan
“Thinking Tree„ Environment Sculpture Show, Kadoorie Garden, Hong Kong
{The Material for Art} 7/15-7/28 the either end of bridge artist village
< 15.07-28.07 2006 south taiwan
ABOUT“ mind-eyes and bag-bug„ 2006 solo exhibition.
tainan art center. taiwan
"Micro-confines / View " The Exhibition of The China Contemporary Art. Macau Art Museum. Macau
tai-shin arts award finalists. of the tai-shin bank arts foundation. taipei
“Overlook„ Light Art Group Show, Tainan, Taiwan
Fête de la lumière des Artists, Eslite Art Space,Taipei. Taiwan
2006 The 9th International Shoebox Sculpture Exhibition.University of Hawaii Art Gallery, Honolulu

2005
Shihmen Reswrvoir 2005 International Drift-wood Sculpture Symposium, Taiwan
Fruition. Garden Show. Birmingham. UK
The International Art Exhibition of TheTropic of Cancer. Chai-yi Art Center. Taiwan
Intertidal Zone Art Monitoring Station-Annual Project for 2005. Kaushung Fine Art Museum. Taiwan
The Environment Art Documentary Exhibition of The Kadoorie Farm Artist-in-Residence Project . Tainan. Taiwan
2005 Light Art in Tainan. Tainan. Taiwan
Artist in Nature International Network Member

2004
[Garden's Whisper] Artist-in-Residence Project / Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden. Hong Kong Art Center, Hong Kong
The peninsula of Ping-Tong International arts project , Tainwan
Lodz Biennale in Poland, Loze Poland
'CO4'taiwan avant-garde documenta nexus-next to us,Taipei
Art Omi International Artists' Colony Invited Artist , New York, American
The Transitional Eighties-Taiwan's Art Breaks New Ground, Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taiwan
[Composite Symbol of Life] Solo Exhibition, East Gate Gallery, Taiwan

2003
[Dream Garden] Art in Environment . Kadoorie Farm. Hong Kong Art Center, Hong Kong
[Art in Action] Installation Exhibition. Ming-Chan Rd, Tainan. Taiwan
[City Prediction] Image Complex Exhibition. Prototype Art Space, Taiwan
[Vermont Studio Center Freemen Fellowship Artist], Vermont. America
Language- Solo Exhibition. Red Mell Gallery, Vermont . America

2002
2002 International Steel/Iron Sculpture. Kaohsiung Taiwan
Taipei Public Art Festival / Water Charter. Taipei Taiwan
[Vison Arts Research]University Que'bec a' Trois-Rivie'res. Canada
[Xin Shan Shui2]Solo Exhibition.Silex Gallery.Que'bec Canada
[Xin Shan Shui]Solo Exhibition. Focus Art Gallery
[An-Ping Tree House Artist Village]Artist-in-Residence. An-Ping Tainan

2001
[Light arts] Group Show. Kaosiung Fine Art Museum. Kaosiung.Taiwan
[Unrecorded of Outphase Gravity] Solo Exhibition. Prototype Art Place. Tainan
[Today's masters and Young Artists]42th Anniversary Special Exhibition, al' Espace Eiffel-Branly. Paris France
[Very Fun Park Taipei-Contemporary Art]. Taipei

2000
Group Exhibition “Spring Island”, G.S 50 Art Center, Kaosiung Taiwan
Alternative Space on Line/Spin City 2000, Whashang Art District, Taipei
Solo Exhibition “Touching Spring”, Eslite Art Space, Tainan Taiwan
“In-Place1, 2”One Year Exhibition, Wu-Fe St Space, Tainan Taiwan
“Toward Nothingness” Solo Exhibition, Kuo Mu Sheng Foundation Art Center, Taipei Taiwan

1999
“Art in March: Legend 99”, Taiwan International Artists’ Village,
Nantou County
“New Space Art In Regard To The Old Space”, Public House, Tainan Taiwan
“Intercrossing . Two Worlds” , Prototype Art Space, Tainan
Contemporary Art in Taiwan, 1988-1999, China Art Museum. Beijing, Mountain Art Museum. Kaosiung, National Museum of History, China. Tainan

1998
“Voyage 1998 Art Festival of Taiwan”, Public House, Tainan
Solo exhibition, “De tour/ The recursive dialogue between the visual and the perceptual”, Asia Art Center, Taipei
Solo exhibition, “Formation on papers”, New Phase Art Space, Tainan

1997
Tainan-Boston Culture Exchange Program
Group exhibition, “Biannual Exhibition of Art in Southern Taiwan”, Public House, Tainan

1996
Solo exhibition, “Gloom Wanders About”, Taiwan Gallery, Taipei

1995
“The Contemporary Art of Taiwan”, Organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia and the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei

1994
Art Galleries Fair R.O.C., Taipei
Solo exhibition, “The Resident State of Mind”, New Phase Art Space, Tainan

1993
Solo exhibition, Galocrie Pierre, Taichung
Group exhibition, “Time and Images”, New Phase Art Space, Tainan
Group exhibition, “Concourse II”, Tainan Municipal Cultural Center, Tainan
Hong Kong International Art Fair, Hong Kong

1992
Group exhibition, “Biannual Exhibition of Art in Southern Taiwan”, Tainan Municipal Cultural Center, Tainan
Group exhibition, “New Sketches 1992”, Tainan Municipal Cultural Center, Tainan
Group exhibition, “Dis / Continuity-Religion, Shamanism and Nature “, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei
Solo exhibition, New Phase Art Space and Tainan Municipal Cultural Center, Tainan

1990
Solo exhibition, Dimensions Art Center, Taipei.

1988
Group exhibition, “Contemporary Art Trends in R.O.C.”, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei.

1987
Group exhibition, “Three-man exhibition”, Spring Gallery, Taipei.
Group exhibition, “New Faces of Modern Panting” National Museum of History R.O.C., Taipei
Exchange exhibition, Kuan-Hsuin Museum, Korea

1986
Group exhibition, “Contemporary Art Trends in R.O.C.” Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei
Group exhibition, “Modern Art of young Generation R.O.C.”, Hawaii, U.S.A.

1985
Group exhibition, “Contemporary Abstract Painting” Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei
Group exhibition, “Hsiung-Shih New Artists Prize”, National Museum of History R.O.C., Taipei

1984
Group exhibition, “Contemporary Art Trends in R.O.C.”, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei

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In Silence

2021.01.16-2021.10.31