Artists
Photo Credit: NIU Chun-Chiang
Ling-lin Ku
Ling-lin Ku
| Location | USA / New York, NY |
|---|---|
| Residency | International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) |
| Year of the Grant | 2017 |
| Work | “Daydreaming” “Morning After” |
Ku has received Seebacher Award for Fine Arts from American Austria Foundation and won the UMLAUF Prize Expanded in Austin, Texas, in 2019. Her recent solo and two-person exhibitions include "Play without Play" Wayfarers Gallery, Brooklyn, New York (2018), "Dead Warm," Sawyer Yards TANK Space, Houston, TX (2020), and "Off the Map," Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum, Austin, TX (2020).
Artist Statement：
It was an invaluable experience to participate in ISCP, New York, for five months right before going to graduate school. Located in Brooklyn, ISCP has a diverse programming and artist community from all over the world. ISCP holds weekly art salons and arranges studio visits for resident artists with various curators, artists, and gallerists, and organizes field trips to local and out-of-state art institutions.
During these five months I exhibited two pieces of my sculpture work "Morning After" and "Daydreaming" during ISCP’s Open Studio, and towards the end of my residency I was invited by local curator to participate the group exhibition "Time Share "at Zaha Hadid Building in Chelsea, New York City. This exhibition was about the experience of living in a dense space like New York. I also received an invitation by Wayfarers Gallery in Brooklyn for a solo exhibition next spring that features a new series of sculpture work reflecting my fantasy and my adventure living in New York.
Living in a diverse city has a significant impact on my work as well as my future career plan. During these 5 months, I have connected with many creative individuals and had diverse conversations. It allowed me to examine my studio practice through a new perspective and gave me the opportunity to learn how to articulate my art with many different audiences. In the past I spent most of my time developing my work while at school, yet once I graduated I found the conversations around artwork were much broader and sometimes could be unexpected in the larger art world. For example, even both with an art background, in a studio visit the curator might focus more on the theory through the curatorial lens while an artist might primarily think about process and materials. It is crucial to find a common ground during the conversations, especially in this fast paced, ever evolving city. How to efficiently communicate with a wide range of audiences and articulate one’s work is a survival skill.
The experience of ISCP residency and living in New York showed me a glance of the larger art world outside of art school through various inspiring ways. It subsequently helped me focus on my study at graduate school and had a long term impact on how to be an artist and how to pursue what I love.