Yi Ling Lai

Yi Ling Lai is a Taiwanese artist based in London. Drawing on both eastern and western traditions, Ling has developed her artistic practice of using traditional techniques of Chinese calligraphy, combining it with contemporary painting and drawing to explore ideas, systems and experiences of languages and their limits.

Her practice tests both the restrictions and possibilities of traditional Chinese calligraphy; by pushing the boundaries of its use, she explores

themes of desire, ambivalence and obsession, subjects typically considered impossible to express in traditional calligraphy. The use of lines in her works is diaristic and abstract, descriptive and opaque, creating unique rhythms across time and space.

The relationship between each line presents a dialogue, which gradually becomes visible through impressions of thoughts, interacting through reduction and amplification.

By releasing traditional Chinese calligraphy from its literal meaning, she opens the viewing experience to all audiences, no matter your mother tongue.

Artiq recently had the pleasure of commissioning Ling for a site-specific mural on behalf of the London School of Economics and Political Sciences.