Born in Taiwan and grew up in Thailand with a western education, Eleen Lin is a third culture kid. In the age of cultural cannibalism where everything is brought together and rearranged to formulate new identities, Lin rearticulates folklores and literature into contemporized cross-cultural narratives. The Pet series paintings transform mystical intimacies between man and animal to represent complex urbanites' obsession with pet ownerships, while the Mythopoeia series portray cynical mistranslations of Moby Dick. The multivalent reimagination explores the inadequacies of translation and representation within different cultures and eras, while also expresses ideas of diaspora, memory, and other means to understand the world. Her paintings are a cumulative journal that portrays the loss of cultural boundaries but are also meant to celebrate how the globalized world brings us closer together to create a collective consciousness shared across cultural divides.
Lin studied at Slade School of Fine Art, UK (BA 2005), and Yale School of Art (MFA, 2008). Her work has been exhibited in Guangdong Museum of Art, China; Queens Museum of Art, NY; Gwangju Museum of Art, Korea; and galleries throughout Austria, Thailand, Taiwan, United Kingdom and the United States. Lin has been awarded with Elizabeth Canfield Hicks Award, Sanyu Scholarships, and has participated with NYFA Immigrant Artist Projects, Fountainhead residency as well as the AIM program from the Bronx Museum of Art.