Venice Biennale artist shuns spotlight

Exhibiting at the Venice Biennale is the dream of many artists. But when Lin Xue was informed he would be one of about 160 artists whose works were chosen for display in the main show of the 55th biennale curated by Massimiliano Gioni, the news barely raised his pulse rate.

Lin is the second Hongkonger to be featured in the primary biennale exhibition (graffiti artist Tsang Tsou-choi, aka the "King of Kowloon", became the first in 2003).

Other artists, especially those new to the global art scene like Lin, might have immediately secured air tickets to Venice and booked an overpriced hotel room to join the hubbub of the opening on June 1. After all, it's a precious opportunity to meet all the major players in the art world in one place and is, for many participants, a once-in-a-lifetime occasion.

Lin preferred to go on his regular hikes in the hills. But then, Lin is an eccentric even by the less conventional standards of artists. He lives in seclusion in the New Territories, seldom attends his own exhibitions and rarely accepts face-to-face or even phone interviews. In fact, he only feels comfortable communicating with the media at a distance. The interview for this story was conducted via e-mail.

At 45, an age when an artist is usually at his or her peak, Lin's profile is as slim as that of a recent art graduate: he has only had a handful of exhibitions, few of which he has attended, and has never won an award. Famously reclusive, he is rumoured to have declared that he would rather cut off his tongue than be required to speak to the public.

"It's true that I don't really like to speak," the low-profile Lin responds. "I hope I can work in a hermitage as [the American Catholic writer] Thomas Merton did."