Lin Tianmiao
b. 1961, ChinaPart of the ‘apartment art’ generation, Lin Tianmiao is one of the first Chinese contemporary artists to achieve international recognition. Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, Lin explored the use of thread winding in which she bound the material – usually silk, hair, cotton, or felt – tightly around found and manufactured objects. Initially tasked by her mother to spool cotton as a young girl, Lin later reclaimed the act. Lin’s work studies the materiality of existence through the physical lens of female self, questioning the limited social roles for women and the human body more broadly. Best known for her large-scale installations, Lin also works in sculpture, photography, video, and a variety of other media.
Solo exhibitions of Lin’s work have been held in China, Europe, and the United States. Recent major museum exhibitions include Systems, Rockbund Museum, Shanghai, China; Annealing, Shanghai Museum of Glass, China; 1.62M: Lin Tianmiao, How Art Museum, Wenzhou, China; and Bound Unbound, Asia Society Museum, New York. Her work was also part of Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, which travelled to the Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain. She has participated in the Istanbul Biennale, Turkey (1997); Shanghai Biennale, China (2002); Ireland Biennale (2002); Gwangju Biennale, South Korea (2002, 2004); and Setouchi Triennale, Japan (2016). Lin’s work can be found in the public collections of museums including the Brooklyn Museum, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Australia; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California; M+, Hong Kong; and Singapore Art Museum.
Lin was born in in 1961 in Taiyuan, China. She now lives and works in Beijing, China.
Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co. New York
Recently Exhibited
Explore and Follow Artists Shaping Contemporary Art
A respected voice in contemporary art discourse.
Focusing on ambitious storytelling and insightful art-world commentary. Ocula Magazine publishes in-depth interviews, critical essays and timely analysis on the artists, exhibitions and ideas driving the global art world.
Learn more about Ocula Magazine
Showcasing the best of the art world.
Ocula partners with galleries from around the world to highlight their artists, artworks and exhibitions. Gallery membership is by application and invitation, with each member vetted by an independent panel.
Learn more about Ocula Membership
Specialises in the sale of major artworks.
Led by a team with deep ties to the world’s leading auction houses, galleries and collectors. Ocula’s advisory team offers bespoke services to high-net-worth clients from around the world who are looking to acquire the best of contemporary and modern art.
Learn more about our team and services