Biography

BIOGRAPHY
(as of 1 Oct 2008)

BRIEF VERSION

Michael Lee Hong Hwee is a Singapore-born artist based in Hong Kong and Singapore. He explores his concern with desire and space through different art forms especially model, book, photography, video, installation, text and exhibition. International events in which he has participated include: The 3rd Guangzhou Triennial 2008 (Independent Projects section; Guangdong Museum of Art), The 2005 World Exposition (Singapore Pavilion; Nagoya) and International Film & Video Association Film Award & Festival 1997 (Winner, Experimental Category; Texas). He was the curator of architect Daniel Libeskind's first solo exhibition in Asia: Between, Beside, Beyond: Reflections & Key Works, 1989-2014 (Singapore Art Museum, 2007). He was a recipient of Young Artist Award (Visual Arts) 2005, conferred by National Arts Council, Singapore.

FULL VERSION

Michael Lee Hong Hwee is a Singapore-born artist who divides his time between Hong Kong and Singapore. He obtained his Master and Bachelor of Communication Studies from the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore in 2001 and 1997 respectively. Previously the Pathway Leader at the School of Visual Arts in the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore, he has worked as an Academic Associate at the School of Technology for the Arts, Republic Polytechnic, Singapore, and part-time Lecturer at the Faculty of Fine Arts, LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts, Singapore. He was a Visiting Scholar to the Fine Arts Department at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2007, and a part-time Lecturer at the Department of Communication at the University of Macau in 2007-2008.

Concerned with desire and space, Lee is intrigued by how human psychology may reflect, inspire and interact with the architectural environment – a focus he has been developing through various art forms, especially model, book, photography, installation, video, text and exhibition. He was a Hong Kong / Singapore representative in The 3rd Guangzhou Triennial 2008 (Independent Projects section, Guangdong Museum of Art), and a Singapore representative in city_Net Asia 2007 (Singapore Pavilion, Seoul Museum of Art), and The 2005 World Exposition (Singapore Pavilion, Nagoya) and Asian Traffic (Jendela, the Esplanade, Singapore, 2005). He has also exhibited internationally including in Philadelphia, London, São Paulo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Nagoya, Beijing and Bangkok. His artworks are in various private and public collections, including Singapore Art Museum, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and activated C Studio. He is the founder of Studio Bibliothèque, in Hong Kong (estd. 2007) and Singapore (estd. 2008), which facilitates experiments in making, writing, curating and learning. In 2004, he held his acclaimed inaugural solo exhibition entitled When a Body Meets a Building, at the Alliance Française de Singapour. His second solo exhibition, A Psychotaxonomy of Home, was the opening show for the newly conserved heritage building Baba House, Singapore, in Sep 2008.

His writings span a variety of genres: critical reviews, informal essays, curatorial notes, aphorisms and experimental narratives. They have been published in Asian Cinema, Asian Art News, Singapore Architect, Manazine, vehicle, Meta, iSh, realtime and numerous exhibition catalogues. He was the Faculty Advisor of On The Haus, the campus publication of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. He has also done editorial work for various exhibitions' companion publication: Drawing Out Conversations: Eight Slangs (Singapore: activated C Studio, 2008), Send Me An Angel (Singapore: Tang Ling Nah, 2007) and Nature/Nuture (Singapore: Lim Soo Ngee, 2003). With artist Cornelia Erdmann, he co-edited Preoccupations: Things Artists Do Anyway, an anthology of 111 artists' revelation about their obsessions, published by ni ren laiyan PROJECTS and Studio Bibliothèque in Jul 2008.

His curatorial portfolio includes the first solo exhibition of renowned architect Daniel Libeskind in Asia: Between, Beside, Beyond: Daniel Libeskind’s Reflections and Key Works, 1989-2014 (Singapore Art Museum, 2007). Under the Things Artists Do series, he has curated Hong Kong Anarchitecture Bananas: Artists Who Reclaim Space (with Lee Chun Fung, Artist Commune, Hong Kong, 2008); Eniminiminimos: Artists Who Make Things Small (2008) and Autobiobliophiles: Artists Who Make or Use Books (2007; the last two in Studio Bibliothèque, Hong Kong). He was also the curator of Appetites for Litter: 8th Emerging Artists Show (Plastique Kinetic Worms, 2006) and Txtrapolis: Contemporary Text-Based Art from Singapore (Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Gallery, 2005). Various projects in which he was co-curator when he was based in Singapore were variously held at the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and Woodlands Regional Library. He is currently planning various projects on the contemporary takes on drawing, paper and model.

He has won awards for his creative practice in painting, photography, sculpture design, calligraphy and collaborative videos, particularly the First Prize (with William Phuan and Tan Cheet Tat) for the Experimental Category in the University Film & Video Association Student Short Film Competition 1997 in Texas, U.S.A., and the United Television International Award for Distinction 1996 (with Chong Siew Hong) in Singapore. He is an honoured recipient of the Young Artist Award (Visual Arts) 2005, conferred by the National Arts Council, Singapore.