Kyung-Lim Lee, Circle and Ellipse, Violet and Red, 2009
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Squares of wood assembled in a grid pattern form an irregular, graduated T-shape against one wall, impartial to the minimal space of the Devin Borden Hiram Butler Gallery. In this work, patterns from nature are drawn in pencil on a grid of squares, replicating the simplicity of a mountainous Korean landscape painting. Works on paper convey geometric forms that extend to the papers’ edges, filling the space with a colorful or monochrome playfulness. Images gesture to one another in a communicative fabric and materials articulate the physicality of form. Vivid pastel cross hatch marks and textures in some works combine with slickly painted surfaces and subtle images drawn on juxtaposed squares in others to yield a varied yet cohesive exhibition.

Artist Kyung-Lim Lee describes her work this way in the press release: “The subject of my work continues to be about the relationship between thought and image. An image drawn on paper can be of a metaphysical existence or an archetypal state of being. Drawing makes it possible to imagine such a time and space.” Lee’s statement is indicative of the idea that historical landscape painting in Korea held a “sacred” place above other forms of art that depicted human activity or humanity. Landscape depicts an expansive space for reflection that is still revered above images of daily Korean life. Organic forms in nature are discerned with a geometric order that is apparent in Lee’s work. The forms within it evoke magnified details of a larger schematic view of mountains or sky

The largest work in the show is comprised of a small grid system with each a gray scale variation of an ellipse represented in each square. These ellipses float amidst a muddied charcoal background in a gradual progression from dark to light and light to dark. Layers of oil and wax create a slick background surface smoothly painted with alternate textures of graphite added atop depicting varied surface textures. Hand rubbed surfaces, patterns of light and dark, the artist’s delicate use of line and neutral tones, make this the most dynamic piece in the exhibition.

Having grown up in Seoul, Korea, Lee moved to the United States at the age of fifteen. In these works, traditional Korean landscape imagery combined with abstract geometry mark Lee’s journey from East to West. Modern Korean painters often step into the past role of a master, not only to conceptualize what has gone before but to experience the development of their own particular style. Lee’s work returns the formal elements of Korean landscape adding a sensual bold geometry that formulates her own modern expression. Playfulness, physicality and sheer beauty compel the viewer to further contemplation of thought and image in Lee’s work.

Stacey Holzer is a freelance writer, and publisher of VisualSeen.