Born in 1957, Lee Wen (Chinese: 李文; pinyin: Lǐ Wén) is a multidisciplinary artist and one of Singapore’s most internationally recognised contemporary artists. Best known for his Yellow Man series, painting his own body with bright yellow poster paint, he expresses an exaggerated symbol of his ethnic identity as a citizen of Singapore. Lee now lives and works extensively on a global circuit and based between Singapore and Tokyo.
Lee Wen’s performances and installations often expose and question the ideologies and value systems of individuals as well as social structures. His work attempts to combine Southeast Asian contexts with international currents in contemporary art. His early practice was associated with the Artists Village, an alternative art group in Singapore and later forged a more individuated artistic career. (Lee officially resigned from TAV in 2011). Lee has been represented at the Singapore Biennale (2014), Busan Biennale (2004), the 3rd Asia Pacific Triennial in Brisbane (1999), the Sexta Bienal de La Habana, (1997), the Kwang Ju Biennial (1995) and the 4th Asian Art Show, Fukuoka (1994).
Lee’s enthusiasm as an artist goes beyond his solo work and continues to be active and involved with the new generation in spawning possibilities of collaborations, network and discourse. In 2003 Lee initiated, with the support of the Artists Village, “The Future of Imagination”, an international performance art event and “R.I.T.E.S.- Rooted In The Ephemeral Speak” (2009), a platform to support and develop performance art practices, discourse, infrastructure and audiences in Singapore.
Since 1999 Lee has worked with Black Market International an innovative, ground-breaking, utopian performance art “group” comprising artists from various countries and cultural backgrounds. Lee initiated the Independent Archive in 2012 to develop documentation, research and resource sharing of ephemeral art manifestations in Singapore as well as internationally.
http://leewen.republicofdaydreams.com
https://aaa.org.hk/en/collection/search/archive/lee-wen-archive
https://youtu.be/o881i7EV5iA
venue : Jogjakarta, Indonesia
date. 25~27th April, 2007
project : Perfuerbance #3, Performance Art Urban Festival
organized by Performance Klub
camera and edit by Sakiko Yamaoka
title : untitled
venue : The University Art Museum,
Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music
date : 14th October 2000
project : Performance Art!
organized by The University Art Museum,
Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music
curated by Noguchi, Reiichi , Sakiko Yamaoka
camera : Noguchi, Reiichi
digitized and edited by IPAMIA Sakiko Yamaoka