“[the internet] can be a creativity killer” – Lin Ke

Dragging around folders, zooming in on random objects and double-clicking around in open space. With computers omnipresent in both work and private lives, idle fiddling via digital interface has become the equivalent of doodling in notebooks. Enter Chinese artist Lin Ke – pronounced similar to “link” – the master of digital procrastination. Guided by music that ranges from meditational ambient to 8-bit dubstep, the BMW Art Journey nominee carries out operations whose aesthetic value is only strengthened by their ultimate fruitlessness. Whether moving around a hard drive icon atop a desert island background image in an imitation of Robinson Crusoe, or using the Photoshop polygon tool to draw stellar constellations into the night sky, Ke’s onscreen actions are mesmerising. Yet despite his obvious talent, the 33-year-old never really planned to become a digital artist. When he enrolled at the China Academy of Art, he did so with the objective of becoming a painter. However, he soon found himself amidst what he describes as a “technological revolution”, whereby students were often taught in computer rooms rather than studios. Unable to afford a working space of his own, he naturally decided to make his computer his atelier – and his visual interface his canvas.

—in Meet the Chinese Creative Turning Digital Procrastination into Works of Art
SLEEK, 13 July, 2017 (read more)

LIN KE’S STUDIO is his 2008 MacBook Pro, preloaded with the Mac OS X 10.6.8 operating system and standard software in- cluding the Safari web browser, Preview image viewer, and Quick- Time 7.0 Pro for video, along with the addition of image editing software Photoshop CS4 and Screenium for screencasting. This is his working environment; the internet provides an endless sup- ply of material. The notebook was the first generation “panda” machine produced by Apple, so nicknamed for its metal case with a black frame around the screen and black keys (now the standard design), which replaced the previous all-white “baby white” model. However you look at it, the 2008 version is already getting old, and Lin’s machine has recently begun to develop problems, the unex- pected effects of which have given him new inspiration.

—in Gallery Yang (Read more)