Lin Li

I am a practicing artist who also spends a lot of time making music. Coming from an academic and employment background in Social Sciences and disability service, I shifted my vocation to fine art and have been practicing as a full-time artist in Glasgow for over three years.  Music is a very significant part of my life.  I was a member of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra chorus for 18 years and am now a member of Russkaya Cappella which is an amateur a cappella group specialising in Russian choral music (www.russkayacappella.yolasite.com). 

My interest in music has influenced my artwork in a number of ways:
I try to integrate painting or sculpture with sound which is generated by the viewer interacting with the artwork. In both Resonance and Reverberation, a painting is placed behind a set of guitar strings which can be tuned using violin pegs, and the painting is placed in front of one or two sound board(s) and a sound box.   In the sculpture Connect, a singing bowl is placed in the centre of an installation in wood; the sound of the singing bowl connects the interior with the exterior space (both physically and psychologically).

Earlier this year, I started exploring video as an art medium and have completed 4 short videos (see www.vimeo.com/linliart/videos).  My enduring passion for singing is reflected and I often use my own voice in the original soundtracks which are as important as the moving images.  My first film Drifting was shown in the Holmfirth Arts Festival this year and will be screened again in the Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival in Hawick in October. 

Many of my paintings are inspired by music I like or have performed, such as  In paradisum which arose from my experience of singing Faure's Requiem, and Beneath your tenderness of heart, a Russian hymn.  Musical notations and forms often feature in my work for their visual effect or symbolic purpose. 

In February 2011, I collaborated with the iMAP Duo (two professional musicians - a Dutch saxophonist and a Chinese composer.  I had prepared a painting beforehand portraying the musicians involved.  In order to embody the theme of the event, during the performance I covered the artwork with white paint to a piece of music entitled 'Nocturnal Rain' performed by the iMAP Duo.

www.linli-art.com