Lee Wen 李文 | Singapore Performance Artist

Born in 1957, Lee Wen was a Singaporean multidisciplinary artist whose practice explored themes of social identity, culture and the body. After leaving a career in banking, he enrolled at LASALLE College of the Arts and later completed his MA Fine Arts in 2006. Best known for his Yellow Man series, Lee Wen was one of the pioneers of performance art in Singapore.

Lee Wen’s practice relied on the strategic use of visual, kinesthetic symbols and signs. Through constructed personas and performative gestures, his works offered audiences insight into the many roles he occupied as an artist. Since 1989, Lee had explored different strategies of time-based and performance art. His work was strongly motivated by social investigations, as well as inner psychological directions, using art to question stereotypical perceptions of culture and society.

Lee Wen’s essays, texts and artistic investigations remain important references, not only for Singaporean and Asian artists, but also for performance art scholars and researchers internationally.

Beyond performance art, Lee Wen was a multidisciplinary artist. To him, regardless of medium, his works were about conveying a message to the audience through the composition of a picture, image or scene. In his later years, as he faced the physical challenges of Parkinson’s disease, large paintings and drawings became increasingly demanding. The gestures of marking, drawing and painting across blank spaces became, in themselves, akin to performance. Despite these challenges, his two-dimensional works convey an enduring sense of optimism, resilience and perseverance.

Anthropometry Revision – LW Series No. 01, 2008
110x79cm,127×91.3cm (Framed)

Anthropometry Revision – JJ Series No. 02, 2008
110x75cm,127×91.3cm (Framed)

Lee Wen was a contributing member of The Artists Village in Singapore and participated in the Black Market International performance collective. He was also co-organiser of R.I.T.E.S. – Rooted in the Ephemeral Speak (2009), a platform dedicated to supporting and developing performance art practices, discourse, infrastructure and audiences in Singapore. In 2003, he spearheaded the Future of Imagination, an international performance art event that brought artists together in Singapore to share an ongoing interest in cultural identity and artistic exchange.

In 2005, Lee Wen was awarded the Cultural Medallion for his contributions to the development of contemporary art in Singapore. In 2016, he received the Joseph Balestier Award for the Freedom of Art. Lee Wen passed away in 2019.

Education

2006 | MA Fine Arts, LaSalle-SIA College of the Arts, Singapore
1992 | City of London Polytechnic, London, UK
1990 | LaSalle-SIA College of the Arts, Singapore

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2017 | Merdeka Mereka, Grey Projects, Singapore
2017 | Birds, 3331 Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2015 | Songs Unsung, iPreciation, Singapore
2014 | Mirrors In The Dark, Grey Projects, Singapore
2014 | ‘Lee Wen at Art Basel, HK 2014’, Presented by iPreciation, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre (HKCEC), Hong Kong
2012 | Lee Wen: Lucid Dreams In The Reverie Of The Real, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
2008 | Anthropometry Revision, Soo Bin Art Int’l, Singapore
2007 | Freedom to Daydream, Mothers of Imagination, Your Mother Gallery, Singapore
2004 | Unframed–7, P-10, Singapore
2003 | Strange Fruit, The Substation, Singapore
2002 | Everybody Should Be Happy, Utterly Art, Singapore
1997 | Hand-Made Tales, The Black Box, Theatre Works, Singapore
1995 | Neo-Baba, VA-nishiogi Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1993 | Journey of a yellow man no.3: DESIRE, The Substation, Singapore

Selected Group Exhibitions

2019 | SUNSHOWER: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
2018 | Children’s Festival: Small Big Dreamers, National Gallery Singapore, Singapore
2017 | SUNSHOWER: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now, The National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan
2015 | The Prudential Singapore Eye, Art Science Museum, SINGAPORE
2015 | ‘Secret Archipelago’, Palais De Tokyo, Paris, France
2015 | Whose Game is It?, Royal College Of Art, London, Curating Contemporary Art Exhibitions, England
2015 | (Art Garden) Le Printemps 2015 Gare Saint Sauveur, Lille, France
2015 | Do Disturb, Palais De Tokyo, Paris, France
2015 | Prudential Eyezone, Co-curated by ArtScience Museum START, Saatchi Gallery, London, England
2015 | The Esplanade Presents National Day Celebrations, Singapore
2015 | 2015 Artist Making Movement, 5th Asian Art Biennale, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts,Taichung, Taiwan, R.O.C
2015 | Kulstof 15 Performance Art Festival Nordkraft, Alborg, Denmark
2015 | BONE 18 Performance Art Festival Bern, Switzerland
2014 | The Roving Eye: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia, ARTER, Istanbul, Turkey
2014 | ‘Modern Love’, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Singapore LASALLE College of the Arts’, Singapore
2014 | Roppongi Art Night, Roppongi Hills, Tokyo Midtown Plaza, Tokyo, Japan
2013 | Britto International Artists Workshop, Dhaka, Bangladesh
2013 | 7th Kuala Lumpur Triennial BARRICADE , Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2013 | Cascadence , Singapore Redux, Singapore
2013 | “The Realm in the Mirror, the Vision out of Image”, Suzhou Jinji Lake Art Museum, China
2013 | “Gu Yu International Performance Art Festival 2013”, Xi An,Shang Nan, Beijing, China
2013 | ‘My Earth Staglinec 2013’ Staglinec, Koprivnica, Croatia
2013 | “Rethinking of Protocols-Us and/As Institutions’ curated by Biljana Ciric, Guangzhou Times Museum, Guangzhou, China
2013 | “Lit Up 2013”, Aliwal Art Center, Singapore
2013 | “The Artist, the Book and the Crowd”, The Substation, Singapore “Singapore Biennale 2013: If The World Changed”, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
2013 | “Concept Context Contestation: art & the collective”, Bangkok Art & Culture Centre, Bangkok, Thailand
2012 | “Wanderers 2 / Underground Site”, 4th International Performance Art Festival Toyama, Japan
2012 | “New Strange Faces”, Valentine Willie Fine Arts, Singapore
2012 | “The Lecher of Art” The Substation, Singapore
2012 | “14th Asiatopia International Performance Art Festival”, Bangkok, Thailand
2012 | “The First Venice International Performance Art Week”, Venice, Italy
2011 | 2011 R.I.T.E.S. “Rooted In The Ephemeral Speak” #01/2011, The Substation, Singapore
2011 | “This Is Performance Art”, Aberdeen and Glasgow, Scotland
2011 | “Negotiating Home, History & Nation: Two Decades of Contemporary Art from S.E. Asia, 1991– 2011”, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
2011 | “Video: An Art, A History”, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
2011 | “Singapore Survey 2011: Imagine Malaysia”, Valentine Willie Fine Arts, Singapore
2011 | Future of Imagination 7, Goodman Art Centre, Singapore
2011 | “Currents: from Singapore in Macau”, Ox warehouse, Macau, Hong Kong
2011 | “Guangzhou Live”, You You Gallery, Guangzhou, China
2010 | National Review of Live Art 2010, Glasgow, Scotland
2010 | Performance Art Laboratory Project (PALA Project) 2010
2010 | “undisclosed territory#4”, Padepokan Lemah Putih, Solo, Indonesia
2010 | Future of Imagination 6, Sculpture Square, Singapore
2010 | 9th International Performance Art, Turbine, Giswil 2010, Switzerland
2010 | Rencontre internationale d’art performance de Québec, Quebec, Canada
2010 | Survey from Singapore, FADO, Toronto Free Gallery, Toronto, Canada
2010 | 4 Directions from Asia, Grace Exhibition Space, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.
2010 | “The winds project” encontro internacional da performance, Teatro TUCA, Sao Paulo, Brazil
2010 | Action Script: Symposium on Performance Art Practice and Documentation in Asia, Hong Kong
2010 | Performance Platform Lublin 2010, Poland
2010 | BONE 13 – Festival für Aktionskunst, Berne, Switzerland
2009 | International Performance Show-Ceramic Passion, 5th World Ceramic Biennale, Icheon, South Korea
2009 | Infr’Action ‘09 -Festival International d’Art Performance, Paris, France
2009 | Rasa Aksi-4 Artists From Singapore, Lublin, and, Warsaw, Poland
2009 | Live Action Göteborg 09, Gothenburg, Sweden
2009 | Momentum- Platform for Performance-Art, Brussels, Belgium
2009 | “Drawing As Form”, Sculpture Square, Singapore
2009 | 10th OPEN International Performance Art Festival, Beijing, China
2009 | LIVE International Performance Art Biennale, Vancouver, Canada
2009 | Performance In Frames, Singapore Management University Gallery, Singapore
2008 | “Small East Co-prosperity Restaurant 08”, Tokyo, Japan
2008 | Intervene! Interrupt! Rethinking Art as Social Practice, University of California, Santa Cruz, U.S.A
2008 | Kết Nối : Vietnam-Singapore Performance Art Dialogue, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
2008 | Performatica’08, Four Artists From Singapore, 26cc, Rome and La Casa Verde, Foligno, Italy
2008 | Blow!5- Performance Art Meeting between Singapore and Germany, Hildesheim & Ilsede, Germany
2008 | The Artists Village: 20 Years On, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
2008 | Infr’Action -Festival International d’Art Performance, Sète, France
2008 | UP-ON First International Live Art Festival, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
2008 | 2nd Vital Chongqing International Live Art Festival, Chongqing, Sichuan, China
2008 | Inward Gazes: Documentaries of Performance Art in China & Asia, Macao Museum of Art, Macau
2008 | Future of Imagination 5, Sculpture Square, Singapore
2008 | Asiatopia, 10th Anniversary, Bangkok Art &Culture Centre, Thailand
2007 | National Review of Live Art 2007, Glasgow, Scotland
2007 | Perfurbance #3, “spiritual renewal”, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
2007 | Là-bas-> Hyper Center in Helsinki, Finland
2007 | IX Międzynarodowy Festiwal Sztuki Akcji “Interakcje 2007” Piotrkow Trybunalski; Bielsko-Biała, Poland
2007 | Made In China, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art; Humlebæk, Denmark
2007 | Future of Imagination 4, 72-13, TheatreWorks, Singapore
2007 | Maju Jaya – CHAOS Dab!, Jogjakarta National Museum, Jogjakarta, Indonesia
2007 | Vital 07: essence of performance, Chinese Art Center, Manchester, England
2007 | LONG’ACTION 07- rencontres franco-chinoises d’art performance, Sète France
2006 | M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2006, Singapore
2006 | Satu Kali, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2006 | Future of Imagination 3, The Substation, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
2006 | TROUBLE #2, halles de schaerbeek, Brussels, Belgium
2006 | acción!06MAD – III Encuentro Internacional de Arte de Acción. Madrid, Spain
2006 | Ctrl+Alt+Del, Singapore Management University Arts Fest 2006, Singapore
2006 | 4th DaDao Live Art Festival, Beijing, China
2006 | S+S, 1, ALL_2, Shenyang, China
2006 | 7a*11d International Festival of Performance Art, Toronto, Canada
2006 | DEFORMES, Primera Bienal de Performance, Santiago, Chile
2006 | Birds Migration: Indonesia International Performance Art Event [IIPAE, Jakarta, Indonesia
2006 | Episode5: 12-Hour Performance, Sound and Video Festival, Singapore
2005 | Performance Site, Myanmar 05, Borders:withIN withOUT, NICA, Yangon, Myanmar
2005 | National Review of Live Art, 2005 , Glasgow, Scotland
2005 | Crossing Time International, Dartington College of Arts, Totnes, Devon, England
2005 | 3 Encuentro Internacional de Performance, Institut Valencia D’Art Modern (IVAM), Valencia, Spain
2005 | National Review of Live Art – MIDLAND 05, Perth, Australia
2005 | Stopover, Japan Singapore Performance Art Meeting, FronT Room Gallery, Singapore
2005 | Situations, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia
2005 | REACH OUTLYING 2005 Tipalive Taiwan International Performance Art Festival, Taipei, Taiwan
2005 | “UGNAYAN‘05”, 4th Philippine International Performance Art Festival (PIPAF), Manila, The Philippines
2005 | Spaces and Shadows: Politics of Fun, House of World Culture, Berlin, Germany
2005 | Self-portrait Performativ, langaut, Golberode, Dresden, Germany
2005 | BLURRR 5 biennial of performance art, Tel Aviv, Israel
2005 | Bone 8, Schlachthaus Theater, Bern, Switzerland
2004 | 130 Bank Gallery, 10th Anniversary Commemoration Exhibition, Kitakyushu, Japan
2004 | National Review of Live Art, 2004, Glasgow, Scotland
2004 | Perform:State:Interrogate: Performance Studies international Conference (PSi#10), The Substation, Singapore
2004 | 2nd DaDao Live Art Festival, Beijing, China
2004 | Giving Water An Image, Hanoi University of Fine Arts, Hanoi, Vietnam
2004 | Sea Art Festival, Busan Biennale 2004, Pusan, S. Korea
2004 | Voice of Site, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Tokyo, Japan
2004 | Sustainable, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Tokyo, Japan
2004 | Future of Imagination 2, Sculpture Square, Singapore
2003 | Aciones en Ruta, Mexico City and Encuentro Intl de Performance Yucatan, Merrida, Mexico
2003 | Future of Imagination, The Substation, Singapore
2003 | 4th Asiatopia, Bangkok Thailand
2003 | “Alter-Native Dialogues”, Video/ Performance collaboration with James Luna, Tokyo, Japan
2003 | Recontre Int’l d’art performance de Quebec 2002, LELIEU, Quebec, Canada
2001 | EXIT International Festival for Unusual Live Performances, Cable Factory, Helsinki, Finland
2001 | 2nd Open Art Festival, Pengshan, Leshan and Chengdu, Sichuan, China
2001 | Theertha International Artists Workshop – 2001, Lunaganga, Sri Lanka
2000 | FEAST! Food In Art! Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
2000 | Critical Response, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
2000 | Expo 2000, Performance with Black Market International, Hanover, Germany
2000 | TransEuropa -Theatre Festival 2000, Hildesheim, Germany
2000 | Artists Investigating Monument – AIM projects, Raffles Landing Site, Singapore
1999 | Rånd, Festival der Regionen, Zuckerfabrik Enns, Austria
1999 | The Third Asia Pacific Triennale of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
1999 | Nokia Singapore Art 1999, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
1999 | “Post-Ulu”, The Artists Village Exhibition, The Substation, Singapore
1998 | Construction in Process VI – The Bridge, The Artists Museum, Melbourne, Australia
1998 | Sub-Fiction, Werkleitz Biennale 1998, Tornitz & Werkleitz, Germany
1998 | “3rd Asian Performance Art Series”, Tokyo, Japan
1998 | Asiatopia, Bangkok, Thailand
1998 | ZUG. Flexible:X, Performance Art Operation Work, Dresden, Germany
1997 | Simposio International De Escultura Mexico-Japon, Tuxtla Guttierez, Chiapas, Mexico
1997 | Sexta Bienal de La Habana, Havana, Cuba
1997 | 2nd Asian Performance Art Series, Nagano, Tokyo, Japan
1997 | SeptFest Art Conference-Multi-culturalism, The Substation, Singapore
1997 | Performance Art Conference5, Bangkok, Suan Pakkad Palace, Bangkok, Thailand
1996 | Recontre International d’art Performance Et Multi-media 1996, Quebec, Canada
1996 | Between the Visible and Invisible, Lahore International Arts Workshop, Pakistan
1995 | 2nd Nippon International Performance Art Festival, Tokyo & Nagano, Japan
1995 | Castle of Imagination, 3rd International Artists Meeting, Bytow, Poland
1995 | “International Nature Art Symposium”, Yatoo, Kong Ju, S. Korea
1995 | Kwang Ju Biennale,, Kwang Ju, S. Korea
1995 | MA: East West Study Project, Dusseldorf & Darmstadt, Germany
1995 | Chiang Mai Social Installation, Chiang Mai, Thailand
1994 | 4th Asian Art Show, Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka and Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
1994 | 5th Fukui International Video Biennale, Tawara, Fukui City, Japan
1993 | Sense Yellow, Concrete House, Nontburi, Thailand
1992 | International Sculpture Symposium, Gulbarga, Karnataka, India
1990 | TIME Show, Artists Village, Ulu Sembawang, Singapore
1990 | C.A.R.E.: Concerned Artists for the Environment, Artist Village, Singapore Art Festival, Singapore
1989 | HAPPENINGS II, QU*ART Gallery, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
1989 | HAPPENINGS, National University of Singapore, Singapore
1989 | The Drawing Show, Artists Village, Ulu Sembawang, Singapore

Performances with Black Market International

2015 | Kulstof 15, Kroppen Som Proces OG Billede International performance festival NORDKRAF, Aarlborg Denmark
2015 | BONE 18 – Festival für Aktionskunst, Berne, Switzerland
2013 | “Gu Yu International Performance Art Festival 2013”, Xi An,Shang Nan, Beijing, China
2011 | “This Is Performance Art”, Glasgow, Scotland
2010 | “undisclosed territory#4”, Padepokan Lemah Putih, Solo, Indonesia
2010 | Future of Imagination 6, Sculpture Square, Singapore
2010 | Performance Platform Lublin 2010, Poland
2010 | Performance Art Season 2010, Warsaw, Poland
2010 | Black Market in Town, Orangerie Theater im Volksgarten, Köln, Germany
2010 | Blow!8, Umformerstation, Ilsede, Germany
2010 | BONE 13 – Festival für Aktionskunst, Berne, Switzerland
2007 | National Review of Live Art 2007, Glasgow, Scotland
2006 | TROUBLE #2, halles de schaerbeek, Brussels, Belgium
2003 | Aciones en Ruta, Mexico City and Encuentro Intl de Performance Yucatan, Merrida, Mexico
2003 | National Review of Live Art, Glasgow, Scotland
2003 | Zweiten Ilseder PerformanceAbend, Gebläsehalle in Ilsede, Germany
2003 | 13th Performance Art Conference – “The Art of Action 111”, Podewils‘schen Palais, Berlin, Germany
2003 | Bone 8, Schlachthaus Theater, Bern, Switzerland
2003 | Le Theatre de L’Usine (place des Volontaires), Geneve, Switzerland
2002 | 4th Asiatopia, Bangkok Thailand
2002 | Recontre Int’l d’art performance de Quebec 2002, LELIEU, Quebec, Canada
2000 | Expo 2000, Performance with Black Market International, Hanover, Germany
2000 | TransEuropa -Theatre Festival 2000, Hildesheim, Germany

Awards

2016 | Joseph Balestier Award for the Freedom of Art
2014 | ASA (Artist Scholar Activist) Award, Performance Studies international (PSi)
2013 | Artist-in-Residence, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, U.S.A
2013 | Artist-in-Residence, Contemporary Art of Japan, Saitama, Japan
2008 | Artist-in Residence, Red & Grey Contemporary, Chengdu, China
2005 | Cultural Medallion, Singapore
2002 | Artist in Residence, La-Salle-SIA College of the Arts, Singapore
1998 | Artist in Residence (Asia Europe Ministerial Meeting, Cultural and Arts Program) supported by Visiting Arts, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Gasworks Studios, London, UK

Workshops and Seminars

2013 | School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, U.S.A.
2007 | School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
2006 | NRLA (National Review of Live Art) International Winter School, Glasgow, SCOTLAND
2006 | La-Salle-SIA College of the Arts, SINGAPORE
2006 | Nanyang College of Fine Art, SINGAPORE
2004 | Faculty of Fine Arts, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Tokyo, JAPAN
2004 | Hanoi University of Fine Arts, Hanoi, VIETNAM
2004 | University of Ulster, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
2003 | Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Mexico City, MEXICO
2003 | Faculty of Fine Arts, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Tokyo, JAPAN
2002 | La-Salle-SIA College of the Arts, SINGAPORE
2002 | Musashino Art University, TOKYO
2001 | Musashino Art University, TOKYO
2001 | Faculty of Fine Arts, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Tokyo, JAPAN
2001 | La-Salle-SIA College of the Arts, SINGAPORE
2001 | Nanyang College of Fine Art, SINGAPORE
2000 | Nanyang College of Fine Art, SINGAPORE
2000 | La-Salle-SIA College of the Arts, SINGAPORE
1999 | La-Salle-SIA College of the Arts, SINGAPORE
1998 | Norwich College of Art and Design, NORWICH, UK
1996 | Faculty of Fine Arts, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Tokyo, JAPAN