.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
'In the 1970s when Joan Miró visited Richard Lin in Wales, he said of Lin's Minimalistic works, 'in the world of white, you are without equal.' Excerpt From Richard Lin
A QUEST FOR PURITY
In the late 1950's and early 1960's, minimalist art emerged in response to representations of objects and human figures from Pop Art movements and various forms of passionate expressionism. A new place was made for the relationship between the viewer and the work of art, where the simplicity of lines and purity of composition brought the work back to its most truthful essence. Minimalist artists such as John MacCracken, Sol LeWitt, Donald Judd, all refused to focus on composition and favored elementary geometry, modularity, and progression. Representations through painting only are no longer enough to express space and work process, three-dimensionality helps the artist and viewer bridge the gap between object and representation.
RICHARD LIN'S MINIMALISM
Following the same process, in the wake of Victor Pasmore's work in the UK, Richard Lin incorporates such concepts to his work Edward Road (Lot 586). The interaction between two three-dimensional aluminum lines and carefully calculated use of line thickness and color brings the viewer's attention to the work as material object. A decade after his first solo show at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, Lin's body of work at the end of the 1960s follows a clear pursuit for the physical process of a work in the goal of achieving a "pure object". Precise measurements and an intricate spectrum of whites reflect seamless perfection. This juxtaposition between lengthy, almost painful technique in the artist's experience and the effortless depiction of perfection in the viewer's point of view, brings forward the importance of the work of art as object and makes the artist disappear behind his work.
PAST AND FUTURE
Born in Taiwan, Lin moved to the UK and studied architecture in the 1950s. Lin's work moved from representational to semiabstract landscapes in the 1950s, to finally accomplish the height of his minimalistic geometric abstractionism in the 1960s. His work Modern Painting Relief, Diptych from 1967- 1968 is now in the National Palace Museum in Taipei as the only modern work of art of their collection. Edward Road can be considered a perfect example of this period, and with such technique, Lin has contributed to bridging the gap between ancient Eastern painting traditions, in his approach of the artist's place, with young generations of Chinese artists, who value and emphasize the intricate process of creation as part of the final work of art.
A QUEST FOR PURITY
In the late 1950's and early 1960's, minimalist art emerged in response to representations of objects and human figures from Pop Art movements and various forms of passionate expressionism. A new place was made for the relationship between the viewer and the work of art, where the simplicity of lines and purity of composition brought the work back to its most truthful essence. Minimalist artists such as John MacCracken, Sol LeWitt, Donald Judd, all refused to focus on composition and favored elementary geometry, modularity, and progression. Representations through painting only are no longer enough to express space and work process, three-dimensionality helps the artist and viewer bridge the gap between object and representation.
RICHARD LIN'S MINIMALISM
Following the same process, in the wake of Victor Pasmore's work in the UK, Richard Lin incorporates such concepts to his work Edward Road (Lot 586). The interaction between two three-dimensional aluminum lines and carefully calculated use of line thickness and color brings the viewer's attention to the work as material object. A decade after his first solo show at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, Lin's body of work at the end of the 1960s follows a clear pursuit for the physical process of a work in the goal of achieving a "pure object". Precise measurements and an intricate spectrum of whites reflect seamless perfection. This juxtaposition between lengthy, almost painful technique in the artist's experience and the effortless depiction of perfection in the viewer's point of view, brings forward the importance of the work of art as object and makes the artist disappear behind his work.
PAST AND FUTURE
Born in Taiwan, Lin moved to the UK and studied architecture in the 1950s. Lin's work moved from representational to semiabstract landscapes in the 1950s, to finally accomplish the height of his minimalistic geometric abstractionism in the 1960s. His work Modern Painting Relief, Diptych from 1967- 1968 is now in the National Palace Museum in Taipei as the only modern work of art of their collection. Edward Road can be considered a perfect example of this period, and with such technique, Lin has contributed to bridging the gap between ancient Eastern painting traditions, in his approach of the artist's place, with young generations of Chinese artists, who value and emphasize the intricate process of creation as part of the final work of art.