A self-proclaimed “third culture kid”, Eleen Lin finds inspiration at points of cultural intersection, rearticulating folklore, literature, and cultural references into contemporized cross-cultural narratives. Lin’s paintings confront the inadequacies of translation and representation between different cultures and eras in an increasingly globalized world.
Born in Taiwan, raised in Thailand, and educated between England and the United States, Lin’s work is informed by her own experiences living at the meeting point of multiple cultures. In an age of cultural cannibalism out of which new identities emerge, Lin’s work explores ideas of diaspora and memory as a means to understand the world. Her paintings are a cumulative journal, simultaneously negotiating the loss of cultural boundaries and the collective trans-cultural consciousness born out of globalization.
Eleen Lin received a BFA in Painting from Slade School of Fine Art and University College London in 2005, and a MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Yale University School of Art in 2008. Lin began showing her work in 2003, with a solo exhibition at Gallery 543 m3 at the Academy of Fine Art in Vienna, Austria. Her work has subsequently been presented internationally, with solo and pair exhibitions at the Srinakharinwirot University Gallery in Bangkok (2004), Yunlin University of Science and Technology in Douliu, Taiwan (2006), Thierry Goldberg Projects in New York (2008), Garrison Art Center in Garrison, New York (2014), 456 Gallery in New York (2019), and Emerson Dorsch Gallery in Miami, Florida (2023). Lin’s work has also been included in group presentations at the Gwangju Museum of Art in Korea (2007), Guangdong Museum of Art in China (2007), SaLon Gallery and Olympia Exhibition Center in London (2008), Yale University Green Art Gallery (2008), Rohrer Fine Art in Los Angeles (2008), Taichung City Cultural Affairs Bureau in Taiwan (2012), Queens Museum of Art (2012), ArtSpace 64 in New York (2013), Deutsche Bank Art in New York (2015), Emerson Dorsch in Miami (2021), and Culture Lab LIC in New York (2024).
Lin's work can be found in collections around the world, including the Jimenez-Colon Collection and MSKCC Art Collection in the U.S., the International Baccalaureate Organization in the United Kingdom, the Starland Museum in Beijing, and the Hsinchu Art Museum, Yunlin University Art Center, and the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts in Taiwan. Lin is the recipient of numerous awards, such as the Queen Arts Fund from the Queens Council of Arts, NYFA Immigrant Artist Projects, Rancho Linda Vista Artist Residency, the Fountainhead Residency, Artist in Marketplace from the Bronx Museum of Art, and the Elizabeth Canfield Hicks Award from Yale University School of Art.