Born in 1985, LIN Chien-chih is currently studying at the Graduate Institute of Plastic Arts, Tainan National University of the Arts. With the least polish and superfluous ornament, LIN creates highly rational, simple, and seemingly abstract objects with which he composed various kinds of vehicles in the shapes of living creatures. In this solo exhibition, Izumo VS Shen Yuan, LIN for the first time brings together his recent works to present them as an integral whole.
Izumo” is the home of ancient Japanese myths and legends, while
Shen Yuan” is a place located on the way to Tainan National University of the Arts. With these two names, LIN fabricates a battle of which he becomes a part. The imaginary battle is a metaphor for the highly utilitarian society he has been trapped in as well as his inward struggles that he has objectified unwarily. In a detached and clinical manner, LIN becomes a machine that creates his imaginary comrades by putting together lifeless components he has produced. Equipped with some heavy gears, weapons, vehicles, Lin set out with the troop of monsters to fight against the overwhelming consumer society and material culture. LIN will transform the exhibit space into a virtual base shrouded in profound obscurity. Seemingly invincible and ready to fight, the troop somehow gives an air of void and emptiness. Giving no clear depictions of the connections among the characters, LIN instead offers the viewers a larger scope for free association between the artwork and the imaginary event.