ABOUT
Carey Lin is a visual artist based in San Francisco, California. She earned her M.F.A. at the University of Chicago and her B.A. from New College of Florida. Aside from her individual studio practice, Lin directs Stairwell’s, a collaborative social practice project with site-specific programs in the Bay Area and beyond. Selected video work can be viewed on Vimeo. She previously created a line of handmade ceramic sculptures under the moniker DONUT DEPOT.
Lin’s work has been presented at Bass & Reiner Gallery (SF), Artists’ Television Access (SF), Roxie Theater (SF), Marrow Gallery (SF), ampersand international arts (SF), Screen Share Video Gallery (Chicago), Tropical Contemporary (Eugene, OR), Root Division (SF), Aggregate Space Gallery (Oakland), tmoro projects (Santa Clara), City College of San Francisco, Martina }{ Johnston Gallery (Berkeley), Interface Gallery (Oakland), Tartine Bakery (SF), Macarthur B Arthur Gallery (Oakland), Truesilver Gallery (SF), Zughaus (Berkeley), Hyde Park Art Center (Chicago), Samsøn Projects (Boston), DOVA Temporary (Chicago), and more.
Lin has been artist-in-residence at the Wassaic Project (NY), Vermont Studio Center, Ox-Bow (Saugatuck, MI), Hayes Valley Art Works (SF), Wave Pool (Cincinnati, OH), Opossum House (Eugene, OR) and at Irving Street Projects in San Francisco’s Outer Sunset district.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My studio practice is broadly based on concepts of play, chance, and experimentation. My work takes the form of drawing, painting, installation, ceramics, walking tours, video, animation, and sound compositions.
Some ongoing thematic interests include self-reflexive processes and “impossible tasks,” such as attempting to paint realistic portraits of my paint palette while using the paint on the palette itself to paint with; and an investigating the place where abstraction and representation blur or overlap.
A work-in-progress I am deeply invested in is a long list saved in the Notes app on my smartphone called “Weird Ideas to Pursue or Do Nothing With”. I have been adding to this list for almost a decade, and the only rule is that no idea is too absurd (or half-baked) to be included.
CV
Carey Lin
b. Florida, USA; Lives & works in San Francisco, California
Education
M.F.A. University of Chicago; B.A. New College of Florida
Projects, Exhibitions, Festivals
2023
All We Inherit, APAture 2023 Visual Arts Showcase (collaboration with Gabriel Gilder), Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Official Selection (Roundabout), Persian Independent Experimental Short Film Festival (collaboration with Gabriel Gilder), Iran
Pyramid Scheme, Bass & Reiner Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Noonan Building Artists, Daily Driver, San Francisco, CA
2022
Vehicles of Concern (collaboration with Gabriel Gilder), Your Mood Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2021
Meanwhile During Lockdown Part 1, 4th San Francisco Short Film Festival (collaboration with Gabriel Gilder), Roxie Theater, San Francisco, CA
Bay Area Cup Swap 2021 (as part of Origin Stories: Expanded Ceramics in the Bay Area), Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA
This Is Where We Are Right Now, Eighth Annual International Video Open Call (collaboration with Gabriel Gilder), Aggregate Space Gallery, Oakland, CA
Playground (2-person show with Stephanie Robison), Marrow Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2019
GAZE Animation Spectacular IV (collaboration with Gabriel Gilder), Artists’ Television Access, San Francisco, CA
Third Annual Aggregate Animated Shorts (collaboration with Gabriel Gilder), Aggregate Space Gallery, Oakland, CA
2018
Late Night, Screen Share Video Gallery, Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, University of Chicago
Serious Business, Tropical Contemporary, Eugene, OR
Political Birthdays, Dream Farm Commons, Oakland, CA
In the Classroom: Social Justice Posters, Madeleine Haas Russell Gallery, Rosenberg Library, City College of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
DONUT DEPOT III (storefront installation), Jenny Lemons, San Francisco, CA
Goodnight, Goodnight, Goodnight Projects, San Francisco, CA
2017
Just Say When (solo exhibition), ampersand international arts, San Francisco, CA
Bling Blang, You Bring the Hammer, I’ll Bring a Nail: Artworkers in Southeast SF, Madeleine Haas Russell Gallery, Rosenberg Library, City College of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Morphing Spaces (staff exhibition), SFMOMA Museum Offices, San Francisco, CA
Class Set (commissioned poster design project), San Francisco Bay Area
DONUT DEPOT II (storefront installation), Little Paper Planes, San Francisco, CA
2016
Nobody Said Not To (solo exhibition), Irving Street Projects, San Francisco, CA
Palette, ampersand international arts, San Francisco, CA
Hole History: Origins of the American-Style Donut, Win Wilder Hall + Asymmetrick Arts, Rockland, ME
PRETZEL PARTY (storefront installation), Little Paper Planes, San Francisco, CA
2015
Resonate (collaboration with Sarah Hotchkiss for Stairwell’s), Root Division, San Francisco, CA
ColorSpace, Zoo Labs, Oakland, CA
Stairwell’s at Wave Pool (collaboration with Sarah Hotchkiss), Wave Pool, Cincinnati, OH
First Person Once Removed (Bay Area Currents), Pro Arts, Oakland, CA
Still Life, Root Division, San Francisco, CA
What’s Going On? (feat. 4 Non Blondes), (2-person show with Bonanza), tmoro projects, Santa Clara, CA
2014
DONUT DEPOT (storefront installation), Little Paper Planes, San Francisco, CA
Survival Adaptations (collaboration with Sarah Hotchkiss), Aggregate Space Gallery, Oakland, CA
Thank You For Failing!, Kearny Street Workshop/Asian Resource Center, Oakland, CA
WORKING ON IT, Martina }{ Johnston Gallery, Berkeley, CA
2013
& what have you (solo exhibition), Tartine Bakery, San Francisco, CA
Just Make Something (collaboration with Sarah Hotchkiss), Interface Gallery, Oakland, CA
There is no telling what (2-person show with Greg Ito), Truesilver Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2012
The Home Show, Macarthur B Arthur Gallery, Oakland, CA
Inspiration Station, Little Paper Planes, San Francisco, CA
2011
Hypothesis: An Art/Science Fair (collaboration with Wayne Grim), The Lab, San Francisco, CA
Hardly nothing to do without (solo), Royal NoneSuch Gallery, Oakland, CA
No way that's it (solo exhibition), Zughaus Gallery, Berkeley, CA
Experimental Notations (collaboration with Wayne Grim), Royal NoneSuch Gallery & Macarthur B Arthur Gallery, Oakland, CA
X Marks a Spot, NOMA Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Chain Letter, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Los Angeles, CA & Samson Projects, Boston, MA
2010
That's a crystal ball that nobody has (2-person show with Sarah Hotchkiss), Zughaus Gallery, Berkeley, CA
2010: A Selection from a Decade of Painting, DOVA Temporary, Chicago, IL
2009
WISH U WHERE HERE, Zughaus Gallery, Berkeley, CA
Untitled (Field Work), O'Connor Gallery, Dominican University, Chicago, IL
2008
Some Things (solo exhibition), DOVA Temporary, Chicago, IL
2007
There (Part I), Three Walls SOLO, Chicago, IL
There (Part II), Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
Panels & Lectures
2020
Juror, Fourth Annual Aggregate Animated Shorts Festival, Aggregate Space Gallery,
Oakland, CA
2018
Precipice Fund, Round 6 (selection panel juror), PICA, Portland, OR
Professional Practice (visiting artist lecture), Pacific Northwest College of Design, Portland, OR
2016
TV Club - Out of this World (artist lecture), Royal NoneSuch Gallery, Oakland, CA
Work in Public (visiting artist lecture), California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
2014
Open City/Art City, Institute for the Future and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (panel discussion), San Francisco, CA
Topophilia (visiting artist lecture), California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
2013
Conversations on Sculpture: Alternative Space (guest lecture), Sculpture Department, California College of the Arts, Oakland, CA
Thoughtluck (panel discussion), The Lab, San Francisco, CA
DWoW: L'esprit de l'escalier (lecture), DiverseWorks, Houston, TX
2012
Question and Answer Lab (lecture), Queens Nails Projects, San Francisco, CA
Awards & Residencies
2019
Audience Choice “Best Sound Design” (for Getting Into Shapes), Third Annual Aggregate Animated Shorts, Oakland, CA
2018
Intersect SF Grant (for Stairwell’s), Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Artist Residency, Opossum House, Eugene, OR
2017
Creative Capacity Fund Quick Grant, Center for Cultural Innovation, CA
Fellowship Semifinalist, The Lighthouse Works, Fishers Island, NY
2016
Artist Residency, Hayes Valley Art Works (for Stairwell’s), San Francisco, CA
Artist Residency, Irving Street Projects, San Francisco, CA
Artist Residency, The Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY
Artist Residency, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
2015
Artist Residency (for Stairwell’s), The Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY
Art Space is Your Space Residency (for Stairwell’s), Wave Pool, Cincinnati, OH
2014
Oakland Stock (for Stairwell's), Oakland, CA
2013
LPP+ Residency (for Stairwell's), Little Paper Planes, San Francisco, CA
2012
SECA Art Award Nominee, SECA (Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art), SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA
2011
Alternative Exposure Grant (for Stairwell's), Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA
Tournesol Award Semifinalist, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
2010
Artist Residency, Ox-Bow School of Art, Saugatuck, MI
2008
Artist Residency, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
2007
Teaching Fellowship, Division of the Humanities, University of Chicago
Graduate Fellowship, Division of the Humanities, University of Chicago