About Lin Hong-Wen (林鴻文)
Lin Hong-Wen used to be an iconic figure of New Style Painting Society of Southern Taiwan. His works express the genuine emotions and responses to different social contexts in an abstract style. Without specific symbols and concrete delineation, he truthfully responds to a life moving through the universe and time. Departing from the attention to his hometown, Tainan, the focuses of his works extend to a deeper awareness of and reflection on the world and nature.
The works Lin created in the 1980s were more of abstract explorations based on diverse materials. The materials he experimented included photocopiers, tracing paper, gypsum, printed circuit boards, printing ink, plexiglass, resin, fittings, and linen. In the 1990s, he began to make a multitude of graphic paintings, metal sculptures, and land art installations: With the thin painting method and smooth, translucent paint, he captured ideas flashing through his mind at the moment and then refined the painting with multiple layers of paint. His turbulent thoughts were also transformed into metal sculptures at the time. The physical labor required to slowly weld the sheet metal together was a stark contrast with his tempo of painting. The sculpturing process preserved the rustic nature of metal before it was naturally oxidized and became eternalized over time. Meanwhile, the installations he made from materials taken from nature, e.g. the floating bamboos from oyster racks, were a series of conversations and playful interactions between humans and nature. These diverse artworks allowed him to find balance and freedom that surpassed reality/illusion and liberated his life.
Born in Tainan in 1961, Lin graduated from National Vocational School of Arts (now Taiwan University of Arts) in 1982. Presently, he works as a full-time professor at Department of Fine Arts of Tianan University of Technology and an adjunct professor at Graduate Institute of Architecture of Tainan National University of the Arts. Lin is a prominent contemporary abstract artist in Taiwan as well as a pioneer in curating land art exhibitions and creating land art installations. With Tainan as the center, his artworks have been showcased in Hong Kong, Macau, Australia, the U.S., Canada, and China through residency programs and exhibitions. These overseas experiences have provided him with ample nourishment, further enriching Taiwan’s art scene.