Born in China in 1961, Ling came to Australia in 1988 and lives and works in Melbourne. He graduated in 1984 from the China National Academy of Fine Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and was one of several important artists involved with the 1985 New Wave art movement in China. He has been a finalist many prizes including the ABN AMRO Emerging Artist Award (2006, 2007), the Fletcher Jones Arts Prize (2006), the Blake Prize for Religious Art (2007), the Gold Coast Art Prize (2007), the Archibald Prize (2008) and the Sulman Prize (2009).
The modern printing process and digital technologies use the dot to produces images. Ling uses a hand-painted dot to create his works. The colours he uses are often found in Chinese folk art and embroidery, but rather than use all colours in one painting, he selects two or three colours. Contrary to his formal training, he chooses colours which have the strongest contrast to create tension in the work. Old technique v/s new technique, traditional v/s modern; colour v/s colour.
A recent body of work was inspired by Japanese animation and Manga characters. This genre has created its own pop sup-culture and the style is very recognisable. He has taken imagery and re-interpreted it into a different context, including text with messages that directly confront or engage the viewer. Manga-inspired imagery is very prevalent in advertising in magazines etc. The sub-culture from which it is derived is not for children, and there is both an innocence and a worldliness in how characters are presented.
Ling also uses symbolic imagery from traditional culture in his work which has much significance for him personally. But with these new paintings he is not just looking for symbolism and meaning, but also concentrating on the aesthetic to create paintings of colour and beauty.