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Ann Su
Professor Simonsen
Introduction to Visual Art
29 October 2015
Art Research Paper – Lee Ming-Wei
This summer vacation, I walked into The Taipei Fine Art Museum without knowing there was an exhibition of Lee Ming-Wei. I accidentally encountered his works and was deeply moved by them. That’s why he is my chosen artist. I have organized my paper into four main sections.
In the first section, I briefly introduce Lee Ming-Wei and characteristics of his art works. In the second section, I explain what kinds of art he engages in. I end my paper with a third section that analyze one of his works – “Moving Garden” and make a conclusion in the fourth section.
Introduction of Lee Ming-Wei
Lee Ming-Wei was born in Taiwan in 1964, but currently lives and works in New York.
Before he received the MFA from Yale, he had studied Textile Engineering and Architecture in university. ; We can see that from the way he arranges the space in his works and the medium he chooses. Stays in U.S for such a long time, he is familiar with both western and eastern cultures.
And I think it’s one of the reasons that makes his art works so special. He can express eastern philosophy in a western way. He is also one of the few Taiwanese artists who has held multiple

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solo exhibitions in many famous museums, like the Whitney Museum.
There are some special characteristics about his art works. First, most of his works are based on basic human activities, like eating, sleeping, walking and giving. Besides the media, he uses are almost all from our daily life. For example letters, bed, thread, and flowers. The last one and also the most interesting one is that most of his art works are invisible. Because his real art work is the relationship triggered by the item he places in the exhibition, not the item itself. Take his “Dining Project” for example. He arranges to