LIN Yilin (?????) (Born 1964)

Born in 1964 in Guangzhou, China, Lin Yilin graduated from the Sculpture Department of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in 1987. He formed the ??ig-Tail-Elephant Group?? (?????) with two other artists, Chen Shaoxing and Liang Juhui, in 1991, and hence held several exhibitions under the group?? name. He currently lives and works in Guangzhou.

Lin Yilin is known for installation works made from stacking bricks. Originally trained as a sculptor, he later became interested in architecture and found brick walls an expressive means through which to explore the relationship between sculpture and architecture. He also utilizes other familiar objects found in daily life, such as water and money, which are also essential to our livelyhood and widely circulated in every community.

As a member of the Big-Tail-Elephant Group (meaning an elephant with lots of expenses), a group pursuing problems related to the rapid change in Chinese cities, Lin Yilin has examined the complex relationship between human beings and architecture, the materialization of the body, and the interaction between human beings and nature. From Guangzhou, a city in a region of China that was earliest exposed to the outside, Lin Yilin's works clearly reflect the problems caused by the ongoing transformation of the large southern cities, which highlights the conflict of commercial prosperity and the resulting chaos and disorder.

(credit: CCAA 2000 catalogue, p.30)