Leon Lim
Encyclopedia
Leon Lim is an artist
, designer
and photographer who was schooled in Kedah
and Penang
and lives in New York City
. He has been profoundly deaf since birth and his deafness developed his strong sense of seeing. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts
degree from Rochester Institute of Technology
, New York. He was also known as "a 14-year-old boy who lived alone in the apartment". Recently, Lim completed the second season of the Bravo (US TV channel) television network's reality television series Work of Art: The Next Great Artist
.
In 1992, Lim moved to Penang
, Malaysia for high school, Federation School for the Deaf (presently known as SMK Pendidikan Khas Persekutuan
). Lim lived alone in the three-bedroom apartment at the age of 14. Living alone at this tender age afforded Lim the time to build his own world free of the barriers that come with the need to hear sound. His apartment, where he lived alone for the past seven years, gave Lim an opportunity to advance his life and knowledge by performing three family roles - father, mother and teenager - at the same time. "That experience really gave me a sense of responsibility for my life and the real world. I was losing my sense of humanity when people tried to cure my ears during my childhood,” Lim said.
Residing in Penang, Lim was inspired by the old town, George Town, Penang
to develop his keen interest in exploring on the story of Francis Light
, the founder of the British colony of Penang and identifying the local aesthetics of the historic Colonial old buildings. Lim's newfound independence in Penang also gave him the opportunity to cultivate his artistic talents. Leonardo da Vinci
was Lim's biggest inspiration when he was young.
After Lim graduated from his high school in 1997, he realized that his pre-adulthood life in Malaysia or Asia was hopeless. Lim had long searched for scholarship opportunities on the Internet for higher education in the United States (USA) and submitted several letters to international organizations for educational finance while Lim was taking a De Montfort University
of United Kingdom program at the Equator Academy of Art
in Penang.
After more than two years, Lim received a full five-year scholarship from USA and Japan. Lim decided to attend Rochester Institute of Technology
without his parents' permission. Lim selected Rochester Institute of Technology because the university has 1,300 deaf students, 14,500 hearing students and more than 150 American Sign Language interpreters. While studying at RIT, Lim discovered his passion for design, photography, film and architecture. After his graduation from RIT, Lim settled in New York City, which was his childhood dream before coming to USA for his art career.
In 1999, Lim reached out to various organizations and newspapers for a grant to do his first art project, “What is in the Deaf’s Mind?” with the help of his former teacher, Vicky Teoh. Teoh had spoken to several representatives of the companies by phone for Lim. He received three sponsors, including 500 cans of acrylic colors from the Hai Kuang Sdn. Bhd, a manufacturer of Pelaka paints; old newspapers and grants from the two local newspapers, The Star (Malaysia)
and The Sun (Malaysia)
. Lim directed 80 deaf students of ages 8–16 to make a big canvas by using old newspapers and to paint their faces and bodies to express their own worlds onto canvas.
In addition to his artistic pursuits, Lim has participated in heritage-conservation research and gave a lecture of "George Town Contemporary" at Penang Heritage Centre, George Town, Penang (Pusat Warisan Pulau Pinang) with the help of Khoo Salma. Also, Lim served as an Art Director and Set Designer in US-based film production for short movies.
, New York City, Bevier Gallery, Rochester NY and Gallery R, Rochester NY.
Lim was commissioned in 2008 to create a permanent art installation, The 3(656) for a study lounge in the new center at Rochester Institute of Technology. The installation is an introduction of Lim's inspiration from the unknown history from the dream of building a college to the reality of a college to Lim's arrival. The grand opening of the installation was launched on May 2008.
Lim is one of 17 selected artists from New York City, (including Artist Chuck Close
) featured in the 2009 calendar for the Mayor of New York City
. Bank of America
, Bank of America's Disability Affinity Group, Pitney Bowes
and Williams Lea
donated their time and effort to help make the calendar a reality.
On June 2010, Lim’s art installations, Silent Story and Discommunicativeness which were exhibited in Washington DC, New York, and Beijing, were selected again to be part of the inaugural exhibition of the 5th Busan Media Festival in Busan
, the second largest city in South Korea. Busan is the home of the Busan Biennale, a well renowned international contemporary art biennale.
On July 2010, Lim was commissioned by the Penang State Government, George Town World Heritage Incorporated, and Penang Global Tourism, to create a new site-specific, public art installation, The Last Chairs for the George Town Festival 2010 inaugurated in conjunction with the UNESCO World Heritage Site's second anniversary. The installation, The Last Chairswas a living work created by the nature of people's participation in and the influence of urban culture today, which is brought together through a collection of hundreds of irreplaceable wooden chairs that were built, placed, or found originally in the neighborhoods of George Town. Before creating his installation, the chairs that are damaged, ignored, and thrown on the streets of George Town, caught Lim's interest and perception in 1997. After 13 years, Lim decided to use the chairs for his exhibition. The chairs are a symbol of brutality - the mess of society. This exhibition marked Penang’s first public art in its new chapter on Contemporary Art in George Town as well as Lim's first exhibition in his native homeland of Malaysia, after his works have been exhibited in several other countries.
Lim completed the second season of Work of Art: The Next Great Artist
. Lim was chosen for Prestige Magazine's November-issue cover for The Art Issue in 2011.
In an interview with New Straits Times
, one of the major Malaysian newspapers, Lim quoted,
In other major newspaper in Korea, Cathy Rose A. Garcia, reporter of The Korea Times
, wrote,
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, designer
Designer
A designer is a person who designs. More formally, a designer is an agent that "specifies the structural properties of a design object". In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, such as consumer products, processes, laws, games and graphics, is referred to as a...
and photographer who was schooled in Kedah
Kedah
Kedah is a state of Malaysia, located in the northwestern part of Peninsular Malaysia. The state covers a total area of over 9,000 km², and it consists of the mainland and Langkawi. The mainland has a relatively flat terrain, which is used to grow rice...
and Penang
Penang
Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...
and lives in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He has been profoundly deaf since birth and his deafness developed his strong sense of seeing. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts
Bachelor of Fine Arts
In the United States and Canada, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, usually abbreviated BFA, is the standard undergraduate degree for students seeking a professional education in the visual or performing arts. In some countries such a degree is called a Bachelor of Creative Arts or BCA...
degree from Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester Institute of Technology
The Rochester Institute of Technology is a private university, located within the town of Henrietta in metropolitan Rochester, New York, United States...
, New York. He was also known as "a 14-year-old boy who lived alone in the apartment". Recently, Lim completed the second season of the Bravo (US TV channel) television network's reality television series Work of Art: The Next Great Artist
Work of Art: The Next Great Artist
Work of Art: The Next Great Artist is an American reality competition show that airs on the cable television network Bravo, in which up-and-coming artists compete for a solo exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum and a cash prize of $100,000. The show is produced by Pretty Matches Productions and...
.
Early life
As a child, Lim discovered colorful prints covered on music cassettes, which brought him into the art world. Lim was attracted to watercolor, pastel and drawing when he participated many art competitions through his primary school in Kedah, Malaysia and received several awards.In 1992, Lim moved to Penang
Penang
Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...
, Malaysia for high school, Federation School for the Deaf (presently known as SMK Pendidikan Khas Persekutuan
SMK Pendidikan Khas Persekutuan
Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Pendidikan Khas Persekutuan Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Pendidikan Khas Persekutuan Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Pendidikan Khas Persekutuan (the Federation Special Education National Secondary School, formerly known as the Federation School for the Deaf is a school in...
). Lim lived alone in the three-bedroom apartment at the age of 14. Living alone at this tender age afforded Lim the time to build his own world free of the barriers that come with the need to hear sound. His apartment, where he lived alone for the past seven years, gave Lim an opportunity to advance his life and knowledge by performing three family roles - father, mother and teenager - at the same time. "That experience really gave me a sense of responsibility for my life and the real world. I was losing my sense of humanity when people tried to cure my ears during my childhood,” Lim said.
Residing in Penang, Lim was inspired by the old town, George Town, Penang
George Town, Penang
George Town was voted as one of the best cities in Asia by Asiaweek, ranked 6th in 1998 and 9th in 2000. More recently, George Town has improved a notch to rank as the 9th most liveable city in Asia in a survey of 254 cities worldwide according to an international location ratings survey by , an...
to develop his keen interest in exploring on the story of Francis Light
Francis Light
Captain Francis Light was the founder of the British colony of Penang and its capital George Town in 1786.-Early years:...
, the founder of the British colony of Penang and identifying the local aesthetics of the historic Colonial old buildings. Lim's newfound independence in Penang also gave him the opportunity to cultivate his artistic talents. Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
was Lim's biggest inspiration when he was young.
After Lim graduated from his high school in 1997, he realized that his pre-adulthood life in Malaysia or Asia was hopeless. Lim had long searched for scholarship opportunities on the Internet for higher education in the United States (USA) and submitted several letters to international organizations for educational finance while Lim was taking a De Montfort University
De Montfort University
De Montfort University is a public research and teaching university situated in the medieval Old Town of Leicester, England, adjacent to the River Soar and the Leicester Castle Gardens...
of United Kingdom program at the Equator Academy of Art
Equator Academy of Art
Equator Academy of Art, commonly known as Equator or EAA, is a private educational institute providing specialist Art & Design courses in Penang, Malaysia. It is located on the island of Penang in the heart of George Town...
in Penang.
After more than two years, Lim received a full five-year scholarship from USA and Japan. Lim decided to attend Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester Institute of Technology
The Rochester Institute of Technology is a private university, located within the town of Henrietta in metropolitan Rochester, New York, United States...
without his parents' permission. Lim selected Rochester Institute of Technology because the university has 1,300 deaf students, 14,500 hearing students and more than 150 American Sign Language interpreters. While studying at RIT, Lim discovered his passion for design, photography, film and architecture. After his graduation from RIT, Lim settled in New York City, which was his childhood dream before coming to USA for his art career.
Early work
In 1998, Lim created his first sculptural installation, The Recycled Head Anatomy with old objects such as bulbs, broken glasses, steel cans, toys, and electronic and plastic media found around the streets of George Town. That sculpture allowed Lim understand about the possibility of transformation and how one cultural object or gesture may turn into another.In 1999, Lim reached out to various organizations and newspapers for a grant to do his first art project, “What is in the Deaf’s Mind?” with the help of his former teacher, Vicky Teoh. Teoh had spoken to several representatives of the companies by phone for Lim. He received three sponsors, including 500 cans of acrylic colors from the Hai Kuang Sdn. Bhd, a manufacturer of Pelaka paints; old newspapers and grants from the two local newspapers, The Star (Malaysia)
The Star (Malaysia)
The Star is an English-language, tabloid-format newspaper in Malaysia. It is the largest in terms of circulation in Malaysia, according to the . It has a daily circulation of between 290,000 to 300,000...
and The Sun (Malaysia)
The Sun (Malaysia)
The Sun is Malaysia's first national free daily newspaper in tabloid form. Available from Mondays to Fridays except on public holiday, with a target audience of white-collar workers and urban youth....
. Lim directed 80 deaf students of ages 8–16 to make a big canvas by using old newspapers and to paint their faces and bodies to express their own worlds onto canvas.
Recent work
Lim has been creating works ranging from paintings and sculptures to interior/architectural models and graphic design to multimedia and art installations and photographs. The solo voyager, who has traveled to more than 33 countries worldwide, often explores themes of heritage preservation, social segregation, mortality, interactive communication, and the politics of identity and culture. His voyages inspired his work which is an investigation of the diversity of human expression, built environment, sociological experience, and cross-cultural experience.In addition to his artistic pursuits, Lim has participated in heritage-conservation research and gave a lecture of "George Town Contemporary" at Penang Heritage Centre, George Town, Penang (Pusat Warisan Pulau Pinang) with the help of Khoo Salma. Also, Lim served as an Art Director and Set Designer in US-based film production for short movies.
Current status
Lim continues working on his creative installations for further exhibitions in Asia and Europe. Lim's recent multimedia installation has been exhibited internationally at Seoul's Total Museum of Contemporary Art, South Korea in July 2008 and Beijing's CAFA Art Museum, China in August 2009. His works have been exhibited at galleries such as the John F. Kennedy Center, Washington DC, the World Financial CenterWorld Financial Center
The World Financial Center is a complex of buildings across West Street from the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan in New York City, overlooking the Hudson River. This complex is home to offices of companies including Merrill Lynch, RBC Capital Markets, Nomura Group, the Wall Street...
, New York City, Bevier Gallery, Rochester NY and Gallery R, Rochester NY.
Lim was commissioned in 2008 to create a permanent art installation, The 3(656) for a study lounge in the new center at Rochester Institute of Technology. The installation is an introduction of Lim's inspiration from the unknown history from the dream of building a college to the reality of a college to Lim's arrival. The grand opening of the installation was launched on May 2008.
Lim is one of 17 selected artists from New York City, (including Artist Chuck Close
Chuck Close
Charles Thomas "Chuck" Close is an American painter and photographer who achieved fame as a photorealist, through his massive-scale portraits...
) featured in the 2009 calendar for the Mayor of New York City
Mayor of New York City
The Mayor of the City of New York is head of the executive branch of New York City's government. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and enforces all city and state laws within New York City.The budget overseen by the...
. Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America Corporation, an American multinational banking and financial services corporation, is the second largest bank holding company in the United States by assets, and the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by market capitalization. The bank is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina...
, Bank of America's Disability Affinity Group, Pitney Bowes
Pitney Bowes
Pitney Bowes Inc. is a Stamford, Connecticut-based manufacturer of software and hardware and a provider of services related to documents, packaging, mailing, and shipping, collectively referred to as mailstream. The company has approximately 36,000 employees worldwide. It is one of 87 existing...
and Williams Lea
Williams Lea
Williams Lea is a global company that offers business process outsourcing to large companies. Although founded in 1820 as a company providing printing services to the financial industry, the company has undergone a number of reinventions and nowadays offer 'corporate information solutions', a...
donated their time and effort to help make the calendar a reality.
On June 2010, Lim’s art installations, Silent Story and Discommunicativeness which were exhibited in Washington DC, New York, and Beijing, were selected again to be part of the inaugural exhibition of the 5th Busan Media Festival in Busan
Busan
Busan , formerly spelled Pusan is South Korea's second largest metropolis after Seoul, with a population of around 3.6 million. The Metropolitan area population is 4,399,515 as of 2010. It is the largest port city in South Korea and the fifth largest port in the world...
, the second largest city in South Korea. Busan is the home of the Busan Biennale, a well renowned international contemporary art biennale.
On July 2010, Lim was commissioned by the Penang State Government, George Town World Heritage Incorporated, and Penang Global Tourism, to create a new site-specific, public art installation, The Last Chairs for the George Town Festival 2010 inaugurated in conjunction with the UNESCO World Heritage Site's second anniversary. The installation, The Last Chairswas a living work created by the nature of people's participation in and the influence of urban culture today, which is brought together through a collection of hundreds of irreplaceable wooden chairs that were built, placed, or found originally in the neighborhoods of George Town. Before creating his installation, the chairs that are damaged, ignored, and thrown on the streets of George Town, caught Lim's interest and perception in 1997. After 13 years, Lim decided to use the chairs for his exhibition. The chairs are a symbol of brutality - the mess of society. This exhibition marked Penang’s first public art in its new chapter on Contemporary Art in George Town as well as Lim's first exhibition in his native homeland of Malaysia, after his works have been exhibited in several other countries.
Lim completed the second season of Work of Art: The Next Great Artist
Work of Art: The Next Great Artist
Work of Art: The Next Great Artist is an American reality competition show that airs on the cable television network Bravo, in which up-and-coming artists compete for a solo exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum and a cash prize of $100,000. The show is produced by Pretty Matches Productions and...
. Lim was chosen for Prestige Magazine's November-issue cover for The Art Issue in 2011.
In an interview with New Straits Times
New Straits Times
The New Straits Times is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print , having been founded as The Straits Times in 1845, and was reestablished as the "New Straits Times" in 1965. The paper served as Malaysia's only broadsheet format English...
, one of the major Malaysian newspapers, Lim quoted,
People generally cannot see beyond a deaf person's physical handicap. Many of them have hidden talent. All that is required is a little prodding, a push. Give them a little encouragement. They are not as disabled as you might think.
In other major newspaper in Korea, Cathy Rose A. Garcia, reporter of The Korea Times
The Korea Times
The Korea Times is the oldest of three English-language newspapers published daily in South Korea, along with The Korea Herald and The JoongAng Daily. It is part of the same newspaper group as Hankook Ilbo, a major Korean language daily...
, wrote,
Being deaf should not be seen as a hindrance to pursuing one's dreams ― if anyone is living proof of this, it is deaf Malaysian artist Leon Lim.
External links
- Leon Lim chosen to be one of fourteen contestants on Bravo's Work of Art: The Next Great Artist
- Work of Art Recap: Jerry Saltz Works Through the Embarrassment
- Leon Lim's Artwork of Julian Assange on TIME magazine
- Malaysian artist’s TIME of fame
- TIME OUT KL interview with Leon Lim
- Deaf Malaysian draws Assange's portrait
- Deaf artist Leon Lim with a message Malaysia needs to hear
- Leon Lim: The Last Chairs
- Chair Man: Turning old chairs into art
- Art: George Town Festival
- CNN GO: 7 reasons to check out Penang in July
- Busan New Media Festival, South Korea
- Contemporary Deaf Filmmakers by Karen Christie , PH.D., Patti Durr, & Dorothy M. Wilkins
- National Art Gallery Fund To Help Visual Artists. Bernama News. 21 July 2009
- Kosmo Interview: Hidup Bujang Ketika 14 Tahun (Single Life When 14 Year Old). 21 August 2009
- Balai Seni Lukis Negara Menghulurkan Bantuan Kewangan Kepada Leon Lim (National Art Gallery Museum providing financial assistance to Leon Lim's). 21 July 2009
- Khoo Salma represented LEON LIM Malaysian contemporary artist at Humanities and Social Sciences
- Leon Lim's Multimedia Installation at CAFA Art Museum featured on China Daily Newspaper. 10 July 2009
- KoIAN's exhibition at CAFA Art Museum. 11 July 2009
- KoIAN's exhibition at CAFA Art Museum. 10 July 2009
- China Culture Organization features Leon Lim's show. July 2009
- France-based Hype Up Gallery presents EUROPE BY DESIGNERS with 52 selected contributors from 47 countries. 15 June 2009
- Deaf artist hopes sponsors will help make Beijing invite a reality. 15 June 2009
- NY1 featured Leon Lim's video art installation at the World Financial Center. 08 February 2008
- Penang State Government invited Leon Lim. 09 July 2008
- The Mayor of New York City's 2009 Calendar. August 23, 2009
- Deaf Malaysian Artist Wants to Help Young Koreans. 11 June 2008
- The Star Newspaper has interviewed with Leon Lim, alumni of Federation School for the Deaf Alumni, Penang, Malaysia. 12 July 2008
- New Straits Times' Interview with Leon Lim: "Speaking Through His Art". 10 August 2008
- New Artwork Spruces Up Student Development Center. April 9, 2008
- ArtDaily.org featured Leon's video installation
- 林明生的沉默故事 (Leon Lim of The Silent Story). 12 August 2008
- Deaf People Magazine's Deaf Person of the Month: Leon Lim
- Brooklyn International Film Festival featured The Deaf Man
- Leon Lim's exhibition's exhibition at Total Museum of Contemporary Art
- Total Museum of Contemporary Art
- Penang Government's Cultural Event
- New York Premiere of Groundbreaking International New Media Exhibition at the World Financial Center
- Italy's magazine & website, DIGIMAG and DIGICULT features thisAbility vs Disability
- Kiss-Fist Magazine: Issue Three
- Rhizome at New Museum, New York featured "Ready and Able Art"
- Total Museum of Contemporary Art Exhibition Brochure
- Leon Lim's portfolio selected at National September 11 Memorial & Museum
- Dyer Arts Center & Gallery exhibited Leon Lim's "George Town: Exhausted Streets After Midnight, April 2003