LATITUDE Gallery is pleased to present our first exhibition of work by Artist Leah Ying Lin. Exhibition Happy Living, Happy Life , curated by Yixuan Cai, Artist Leah Ying Lin’s 7 recent works will be on view till 23rd of October, 2020.
Like phantom lingering under lamp
Political memory faintly glows in happy life
is that the nostalgia of history
or it is a joke about the memory that reenacts?
Unfolded under double perspectives of a dissociated flauner and personified protagonist, Leah Ying Lin's works are both sweet and dark, kitsch and serious. She brings the political memory from the last generation glowed in daily life into her works, samples ordinary and universal happy moments, ridicules and criticizes individual mentality under collectivism and social surveillance. The narrative starts from The Graduation, A Sweet Dinner, Cheers to Forever, Happy Living Happy Life, Paradise, to The Hills Have Eyes, presents an ordinary path from birth to death. The contradictory visual language in Lin’s works weaves personal emotions, metaphors, folklores and symbols into a satirical narrative.
A maverick pig
revolts against framework and struggles
subjective construction
if eyes are blinded and nostrils are blocked
will they be ecstatic in death blind.
Inspired by Wang Xiaobo’s short story "A Maverick Pig", the Happy Life series transforms the protagonist into a pig pretending to be deaf and dumb, when opening one eye and closing the other has become the truth of quotidian life. Inspired by Wang Xiaobo’s short story "A Maverick Pig", this collection transforms the protagonist into a pig feigning ignorance, when it’s normal to turn a blind eye to daily life, has it become the truth of quotidian life?Though stuck in the cesspit, he can still imagine the luxuriant flowers growing and spreading from the swollen limbs when his nostrils are blocked. Intentionally opposed to Wang Xiaobo’s wild boar, who pursues free will without compromise, Leah Lin’s one-eyed pig, self-deceiving pet pigs and defenceless angel pigs, are more like the masses. This blind delirium and social surveillance shift through the mist of history and reenact in the current society, as a lingering phantom. Lea Yingh Lin draws social criticism from each magical realistic miniatures she creates, orchestrating fantasy meanwhile breaking the fantasy with satirical visual language.
Artist Leah Ying Lin, New York based multimedia artist, architect, and art director, was born and raised in China. She is a practicing architect with a Masters Degree from the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design. Her mediums include architecture, sculpture, film, lighting installations and art direction for independent short films and music videos. The media in her work is influenced by her experiences studying lighting in Rome and ceramics in Japan. Her pieces have been internationally exhibited in Rome, Kyoto, Providence, and New York.
Raised in a family torn by hyperpolarization, artist Leah Ying Lin feels constant dissociation in order to establish her own identity. This collection is a personal exposition of the artist's voyeuristic observations of conflicts within her family, which are echoed by the political and religious tensions of the current zeitgeist. As a statement against this division, societal precognitive definitions defining ideals in fulfillment, pursuit and happiness are concluded in the showing of HappyLivingHappyLife™
Leah uses sculptural techniques to explore a plethora of media, ranging from ceramics, casting, and film to create complex forms and landscapes that mirror her embodiment of dissociation. Her sculptures are fantastical sets of magical realism, designed to represent the thirst for happiness within our navigations of a diverging society. The symbolic iconism delicately details the visual metaphors of a secret insurmountable duality found in this collection.
Curator Yixuan Cai, curator, designer and creator. As the founder of art organization Conversazione, Yixuan has curated numerous art forums, film screenings, exhibitions and theater workshops in the past 4 years in New York and Beijing. Graduated from the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design, her work includes architecture design, Independent short films and experimental theater, devoted to exploring the immersive/(game-like) theatrical space, media technology and spatial politics. Her work has been exhibited in Long Gate Art Museum (Beijing) and Oculus (New York) and galleries in Los Angeles. Her curation project “Qiwu: Natural Footprints in Technological vicissitude” has been selected into 2020 OCAT research exhibitions.
LATITUDE Gallery New York
Founded in this special year of 2020, LATITUDE Gallery supports and represents young contemporary artists from not only china, asian and but all around the world, featuring avant-garde exhibitions and performances in a variety of media. Through diverse programs such as open calls, exhibitions, screenings, interviews, talks, art salons, workshops, and online presentations, we are dedicated to fostering a creative community, stimulating intellectual discussions, and engaging a wide range of audiences. As an art boutique and online platform, we provide far-reaching opportunities for artists and designers to explore new ways of selling and promoting their works.
Phone: +1 3125082615
Website: www.latitudegalleryny.com/
Email: pr@latitudegalleryny.com
