Christopher Lin is a Brooklyn-based artist and educator with a background in research science. Fueled by a lifelong obsession with fossils, his experimental installations, sculptures, and performances question the world we inhabit and envision the one we will leave behind.
Featured Works
Ziggurat
Molted cicada shells, resin, gold leaf, wood, and table; 2020; 41 x 30 x 26 inches.
Ziggurat is a structure built from the molted shells of cicadas, a form constructed from an accumulation of lives. The upper segment is gold-leafed referencing not only the gold caps on Egyptian pyramids and the luminary eye on the Masonic symbol but also structures of hierarchy in economy and power. As a small minority are able reach the gilded peak, the lower segments give up order for chaos.
Aviator
Mannequin arm, pigeon feathers, and pilot’s watch; 2018; 4 x 18 x 24 inches.
Aviator references the Greek myth of Ikaros, the boy who flew too close to the sun. A wooden mannequin arm which is studded with feathers suggests a fragmentary body which has fallen from above.
After receiving a BA from Yale University and an MFA from Hunter College, Lin was awarded the C12 Emerging Artist Fellowship in 2016. In 2018, he constructed an immersive installation exploring relative color and gravity titled What do you call the world? at Hunter College. He has shown work and performed at SVA Curatorial Practice and ABC No Rio in New York City, NY; Recess Art and Trestle Gallery in Brooklyn, NY; and Flux Factory, in Long Island City, NY and was a 2020 fellow in the Bronx Museum AIM Emerging Artist Fellowship. He currently teaches undergraduates at Hunter College and is co-director of the research-based artist collective, Sprechgesang Institute.
