Ling-lin Ku
Teleperve, 2018. 3D prints, paint, flock, fabric, rubber. 84 x 26 x 30"
Describe your artistic style in three words.
playful, humorous, animistic
What's inspiring you right now?
Disguise and reveal: the concept of seeing and not being seen, camouflage in the natural world as well as ways of not being seen in human society.
What do you do when you're feeling uninspired?
traveling, watching films, reading.
Tell us something unique about your process.
I usually start with simply looking at things around me. I respond to things I see everyday, such as food I eat, highway views I drive by, and architectures I inhabit. These things usually would organically become part of my work.
My practice includes both digital and hands-on process. 3D modeling software helps me to visualize my project, while tactile engagement with material allows me to respond to my work more intuitively.
Additionally, I think in English when I am developing and making my work although my first language is Mandarin. This allows me to play with the language and create my own visual language.
What advice do you have for other artists?
Try to see the bigger picture.
Anything else you'd like to share?
I daydream a lot. Every time I feel bored or zone out I start to daydream, and it is usually when I start to have ideas for art.
In A Relationship (front), 2016. MDF, refabricated found objects, bronze, plaster, paint. 60 x 10 x 96"
In A Relationship (back), 2016
Trypophobia, 2018. MDF, bendy ply, 3D prints, wood, sand, paint. 80 x 6 x 25"
Stiletto Street Walking, 2018. MDF, bendy ply, 3D prints, wood, rubber, steel, fabric. 72 x 6 x 75"
Deep Breath, 2020. 3D prints, epoxy clay, foil, wood glue, wood putty, wax. 17 x 13.5 x 5”
A Fever Called Living, 2019. 3D prints, UV Print on MDF, digital print, wood, steel, plywood, pink foam, paper mache, fabric, urethan rubber, silicon, plaster, bird nest, egg shell, glass, real ant, rust paint, paint. 25 x 22 x 10’
A Fever Called Living (detail I), 2019
A Fever Called Living (detail II), 2019
A Fever Called Living (detail III), 2019
Ling-lin Ku’s sculpture and installation work explore language play, urban landscape, food, and fetish. Through proximity, scale, texture, display structures, and material, she upends our relationship to the known. The work slip in and out of categorization, creating a new way in which we come to understand objecthood.