- Artist Seung Ae Lee
The Monstrum
2011
Installation View
The Monstrum
Seung Ae Lee
Feb. 17 ~ Mar. 19, 2011
Opening Reception: Thursday, February 17th, 6~8 pm
DOOSAN Gallery New York is pleased to announce The Monstrum, the US debut exhibition of Korean-born artist Seung Ae Lee. This exhibition comprises of two sets of Lee’s drawings: large-scale pencil drawings and her Mummy series, drawings that are meticulously mounted in twelve insect boxes.
Lee is known for her large scale works in pencil on paper, which delicately portray mysterious unknown creatures that she calls “monsters.” Lee has created these monsters since 2005. While in the beginning they appeared more threatening, their forms have gradually evolved, becoming less frightening and more approachable and attractive. The artist gives each monster a specific lifestyle, history, and survival strategy. The monsters are a manifestation of the inner conflicts that she encounters in her everyday life. Whether trivial or significant, these conflicts constantly torment her. They can be normally treated as vice, yet Lee embraces these inevitable inner struggles by perceiving them helpful. She believes she will overcome them in the end and sees them as critical aspects that assist her survival.
The title of the exhibition, The Monstrum, suggests that the fantasy Lee creates is representative of malfunctioned nature that disrupts order but is eerily close to reality. The unknown creatures that represent her inner conflicts and ambivalence seem to make the acquaintance of other familiar creatures of nature, or reality, and appear to be fragile and vulnerable as they make compromises. Lee’s relationship with the creatures remains complex and is not easily resolved. Lee’s Mummy series is her homage to these creatures. Found after having lived their entire lives contributing to Lee’s life but also having been forgotten and abandoned, they are now carefully preserved and mounted in insect boxes. The smaller creatures reflect minor conflicts that have surely affected the artist in every way, perhaps without her noticing. Her own guilt and negligence of the monsters’ death soaked into her being, and the process of making this series has become her symbolic salvation.
Seung Ae Lee was born in 1979 in Seoul, Korea. She received her B.F.A. from Sungshin Woman’s University in Seoul, Korea. Lee has had solo exhibitions at ARARIO Gallery in Seoul, Korea (2008), and DoArt Gallery in Seoul (2006). Her work has also included in many group exhibitions: Soma Museum of Art in Seoul (2011), Ilmin Museum of Art in Seoul (2009), Coreana Museum of Art in Seoul (2009), Seoul Museum of Art in Seoul (2009), Live & Moris Gallery in Tokyo, Japan (2008), ZAIM in Yokohama, Japan (2007) and Ssamzie Space in Seoul (2006).