FreePort [No.005]: Michael Lin

The Peabody Essex Museum presents artist's Michael Lin's collection of Asian export art.

Artist Michael Lin spotlights PEM's renowned collection of Asian export art, particularly Mr. Nobody, one of the first representations of a European gentleman in Chinese porcelain. Animating the history of trade between China and the West, Lin creates a large-scale installation composed of hundreds of Chinese-produced replicas of Mr. Nobody in PEM's Asian Export galleries. Climbing up the walls of the Mellon Staircase and along the floor of the Export Silver Galleries, Lin - who is internationally recognized for his oversized paintings of ornamental design - creates a sprawling mural of original armorial and heraldic motifs that will be echoed in a pair of specially commissioned Bernardaud vases.