A statement in the third person

Luke Warme is Matte Lim.

Matte is a multi-disciplinary artist, designer, and technologist who works across physical and digital media to discover the intersections of conceptual binaries and the transitions between ostensible dichotomies. Through his practice, Matte seeks to bridge the gaps between the subjective and the objective, the abstract and the tangible, the social and the personal.

Matte is currently based in sunny & muggy Singapore.

For more information regarding his design practice and writing, please visit www.mattelim.com.
If you are interested in his student work at RISD, check out his Behance page.

For full CV or to say hi, send an email to warmeluke[at]gmail[dot]com

Residencies & Fellowships

2021 | BeFantastic Together Fellowship [more info ↗]

Education

2020 | National University of Singapore
Graduate Certificate in Computing

2017 | National Institute of Education
Post Graduate Degree in Education (Secondary/JC) in Art

2016 | Rhode Island School of Design
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Industrial Design (with Honors)

Group Exhibitions

2020 | aedge: ; , SOTA Gallery

2019 | aedge: Time and Space, SOTA Gallery [interview ↗]

2019 | In Between, NIE Art Gallery

Curation

2019 | Art Elective Programme Exhibition 2019, SCCC
Where We Water, Grass Grows Greener

Workshops

2021 | Arts Fest, SOTA Gallery
Programs Lead

2020 | Arts Fest, SOTA Gallery
Camera Rolling… Untitled Film (un)Stills: Using video to teach art

What’s in a name?

Hi, my name is Matte Lim, Matthew at birth (and throughout much of my life). The alias Luke Warme was chosen by me as a label for my artistic work. “Why?”, you may ask. A name is useful in its ability to identify a particular individual from others. While Matthew Lim is useful in my daily life, I realized that it is not very useful in serving its purpose on the internet. You can try googling to see how many Matthew Lims you get. Another reason is that the word lukewarm does seem to fit nicely with the ideas that I have been toying with for a while. The term brings up the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears; it is associated with subjectivity and specificity. To me, lukewarm refers to an active state of negotiation in attempting to make good ‘things’ and make ‘things’ well (‘things’ because I’m not quite sure what to call my work, and substituting them with ‘work’ sounds out of place; same reason for not using the word ‘right’). “Why an additional E?” Luke Warme is expanded from the acronym LKWME, which constitutes my full name. I didn’t want to leave the ‘E’ out. Diverting my work away from myself also allows Luke Warme to have a certain level of detachment from me as an individual, that leaves room for Luke Warme to become something bigger than myself.

I’ve probably explained too much by now. Sorry, I used to be a teacher.