stephanie s. lee · in these paintings, multiple lotus flowers were positioned and set right within...

Stephanie S. Lee

Gga-Chi Horang-i | Paintings of tigers, magpies, and pine trees.

Magpies and tigers are two of the most widely featured animals in Minhwa. In Korean culture, magpie birds are believed to bring good news and are symbols of propitious omens. Thus, they have become the national bird of Korea to represent its people and culture. On the same token, tigers, while representing the animal kingdom, are believed to ward off evil spirits and therefore have been predominately and consistently featured in Minhwa. In conjunction with these two animals, evergreen pine trees often made their appearance, representing the New Year. These types of paintings were displayed in numerous houses for the coming of the New Year in order to distance their households from misfortunes while receiving blessings that were expected to forth come. Although the desires of human kind in modern day society closely resemble those of the ancient people, the wishes of present day people have become a strong yearning that puts more emphasis on materialistic wealth. This idealism has been explicitly portrayed in Lee’s painting where a tiger is placed in the modern day New York City setting, in the center of a luxurious shopping street possessing luxurious jewels resembling its own image. The tiger seems to be very pleased when he sees the magpie bringing a bigger jewel, denoting how the human kind’s lust for wealth is endless.

The artist juxtaposed the materialistic wealth that modern day people yearn for alongside the aspirations of ancient Korean ancestors for wealth and prestigious status in society. Façade of modern day people’s longings and desires may differ from those of the ancient Korean ancestors’, yet the longing for wealth and attainment for prestigious positions in society seems to remain the same. Just as the people of the olden days wished well for others while exchanging these paintings, so does the artist Lee wish the public wealth, success, and blessing through her artwork.

Traditional Wish2015 | Color powder, gold powder, ink on Korean Mulberry paper48˝ (H) x 36˝ (W) x 1 ¾˝ (D)

Stephanie S. Lee

New Peace & Nu Piece

2015 | Color powder, gold powder, ink on Korean Mulberry paper30˝ (H) x 24˝ (W) x 1 ¾˝ (D)

Hopeedo | Tiger Skin pattern paintings.

Tigers symbolize bravery and are believed to deflect misfortunes which in turn explain why the kilns that were used to transport brides were often covered with tiger hides- to protect the bride from the evil spirits. Tiger hides exhibit concrete, yet abstract, decorative and even incantational aspects within them. These aspects undoubtedly contributed to the universal acceptance and use of tiger hide patterns to this day. Furthermore tiger hide patterns, known as leopard prints, are often used to expose luxurious aspects not only in fashion and in accessories, but also in home decorative objects in modern society as well.

The artist attempted to show how dissimilar yet similar human kind’s wishes have been since the ancient times to the mod-ern times by setting the logo of Mercedes-Benz automobiles that closely resemble the peace sign alongside the lotus flower which is known as the “saint blossom” in Asian culture. While our ideal yearns for the “goodness” and “peace,” in reality, we undoubtedly chase after the materialistic wealth to showcase what we possess to others.

However, extravagant objects in Lee’s paintings are not employed to reveal the negative aspects of materialism. Rather, it is an interpretation of how these materialistic yearning of human kind can be a positive element in modern society if they are employed to urge people to do their earnest best to obtain the “it.”

Stephanie S. Lee

Collection & Modern Collection


Changmak Ch’aekkado | Paintings of bookshelves and interiors behind a curtain.

Widely known to ward off evil spirits, drawing of a tiger skin curtain is used as a background that lifts up to reveal artworks of ceramics which are known to be the luxurious collecting hobbies of the elites, as well as the assemblage of scholarly books that represent depth of one’s knowledge. The Changmak Ch’aekkado reveal the deeply embedded wish and yearning for longevity, happiness, and for achieving high class status.

In modern houses, we often encounter display cabinets that showcase plaques of achievements, rare and valuable liquors and souvenirs of various sorts. These habitudes probably showcase the inner desire and aspirations of ancient and modern day people of wishing to lead a better life tomorrow than today.

Stephanie S. Lee

City - day & City - night


Private Collection

Hojõpdo | paintings of butterflies.

Butterfly is a symbol of joy, good fortune, and unity among couples, while strong and enduring rocks represent eternity, endurance, and longevity.

I recommended through this painting that those of us that live in the modern world may also yearn for happiness, harmony, good fortune and longevity, just like our ancestors did.

Stephanie S. Lee

Modern Wish & Venerable Wish


Ch’aekkõri | Paintings of books, stationery, and other personal valuables

This type of painting was used for decorative purposes and composed of various items from bowls, plates, fruits, flowers, vases, scrolls as well as scholarly stationeries that indicated the quality of knowledge and culture of elite scholars in ancient Korea by harmoniously arranging them in a painting. Valuable plates and bowls were almost always found in this type of painting as did the fruits and flowers that symbolized auspicious events, a vase, known to symbolize peace, as well as scrolls that symbolize good fortune and knowledge.

Human being’s desire to flaunt their wealth and their personal possessions seem to be everlasting. This painting affirms the current state of the modern day people’s lives where the long cherished desire and vanity coexist.

Stephanie S. Lee

Aspiration & Modern Aspiration

2015 | 31˝ (H) x 25˝ (W) x 1 ¾˝ (D)Color powder, gold powder, ink on Korean Mulberry paper




Wish


Private Collection

Stephanie S. Lee




Stephanie S. Lee

Dream City - Night

2014 | 19˝ (H) x 31˝ (W) x 1 ¾˝ (D) Color powder, gold powder, ink on Korean Mulberry paper

Private Collection

Shipchangsaengdo | Paintings for longevity.

This type of traditional Korean folk art comprises sea and an imaginative peach fruit tree which is believed to prolong one’s life for three thousand years if consumed and shows the ancient people’s wish for youth and longevity.

Collating the urban landscape scene with the ideal world that the ancient people have longed for, I suggested that the life that we yearn for may not be too distant but can easily be found near and around us.

Dream City - Day

2014 | 19˝ (H) x 31˝ (W) x 1 ¾˝ (D) Color powder, gold powder, ink on Korean Mulberry paper

Stephanie S. Lee

Lily Pond & City Pond

2015 | Color powder, gold powder, ink on Korean Mulberry paper19˝ (H) x 31˝ (W) x 1 ¾˝ (D) each

Private Collection

Yõnhwado | paintings of lotus.

Ancient people enjoyed portraying lotus flowers onto canvas for they believed that the strong urge of lotus flowers emerging and flourishing from impure muddy water resembled the strong ethics and mindset of saints. Lotus flowers held various symbolic meanings within them. When lone lotus flower was portrayed, it signified innocence and integrity while multiple lotus flowers signified congratulant message for a new business and a wish well for its success. Finally when lotus flower rice wraps were portrayed, they signified prosperous descendants. When lotus flowers were laid onto canvas accompanied by fish or reeds, or birds, they signified abundance and other positive messages such as a passing of high official placement exam-inations. In Buddhism, lotus flowers represented divine transcendence from the mundane affairs for the blossoming of lotus flowers imparted the birth of Buddha. The artist certainly believes that these lotus flowers closely resemble the traits of many Asian cultures that value the unseen inner strength over one’s explicit display of his/her values and beliefs.

In these paintings, multiple lotus flowers were positioned and set right within our city-the uptown, midtown, and downtown of Manhattan cityscape — to compare how our Ideals and our dreams thrive from this complex and entangled city just like the lotus flowers that flourished even from the muddiness in which it came from.

Stephanie S. Lee

Left: Even those most beautiful all trembled as they blossomed. Right: And as they shook, stalks grew firm.


Flowers Shaken While Blooming | Poem by Do Jong-Hwan

Where have flowers bloomed but never trembled?Even those most beautifulall trembled as they blossomed.And as they shook, stalks grew firm.Where is there love which is never shaken?

Where have flowers bloomed though been never wet?Even those most brightly sparklingwere soaked and soaked again as they blossomed.Battered by wind and rain, their petals opened warmly.Where is there a life which is never drenched?

Stephanie S. Lee

Left: Where have flowers bloomed though been never wet? Right: Even those most brightly sparkling were soaked and soaked again as they blossomed.





Stephanie S. Lee

Left: Where have flowers bloomed but never trembled?Right: Where is there a life which is never drenched?





Stephanie S. Lee

Morando | Paintings of peonies.

Famed for its splendid color and beauty, peonies are regarded as symbols of wealth and prosperity and are one of the most prevalent blossoms that appear in traditional Korean folk art. Peonies’ pulchritude epitomizes feminine characteristics and thus were used frequently to decorate wedding halls, rooms prepared for the newly-weds, and embroidered onto wedding gowns of brides. Peonies that were also painted with rocks which were perceived as having masculine qualities often signified conjugal harmony between man and wife.

Just as we become immersed and absorbed in the beauty of peonies, most women, at their most prime age, become immersed and absorbed in love and become unified. Yet, once a woman enters a married life, she no longer has the luxury to beautify herself with fancy high heels but needs to run barefoot, trying to make every aspect in a marriage work. Immersed and absorbed in married life, the wife disremembers to embellish herself.

Nonetheless, through patience, empathy, faith, and understanding which the requisites of a strong marriage, the wife conceives that it is wiser to be true to herself rather than embellishing herself with uncomfortable accessories that hide true self within her which have matured incessantly through trials and obstacles that make the relationship more fortified.

Flower I

2013 | Color powder, gold powder, ink on Korean Mulberry paper15 ¼˝ (H) x 27 ¼˝ (W) x 2 ¾˝ (D)

Marriage

2014 | Color powder, gold powder, ink on Korean Mulberry paper21 ½˝ (H) x 15 ½˝ (W) x 2 ¾˝ (D) each

Stephanie S. Lee





Stephanie S. Lee

Happy marriage

2014 | Color powder, gold powder, ink on Korean Mulberry paper29 ½˝ (H) x 25 ¼˝ (W) x 2 ¾˝ (D) each





Tribute to sand I

2013 | Color powder, gold powder, ink on Korean Mulberry paper23 ¼˝ (H) x 20 ¼˝ (W) x 2 ¾˝ (D) each

Stephanie S. Lee

In the Tribute to Sand series, Lee wants to symbolically express that shiny moments of happiness are results of shattered dreams from the burdens of our daily lives by using repeated sand kernels and wave patterns. A grand rocky mountain erodes and eventually becomes a tiny sand kernel after weathering all the lashes from nature, and a high rocky cliff that we had to raise our heads to look up to eventually breaks down into small particles and lies underneath us after facing incessant waves. Nevertheless, sand kernels still glitter beautifully under the sun when its time comes. Likewise, even though the high goals and dreams we have been chasing after become shattered from all the challenges from our daily lives, we can still find precious and grateful moments to appreciate when we pay close attention to each part of our daily lives. Even the smallest part of our daily life should not be taken lightly for even a single sand kernel that may not be as significant in the endless beach can be gathered to equal the weight of a mountain, and our small daily moments will ultimately add up to become one’s life.

Stephanie S. Lee

Tribute to sand II

2013 | Color powder, gold powder, ink on Korean Mulberry paper23 ¼˝ (H) x 20 ¼˝ (W) x 2 ¾˝ (D) each

In the Tribute to Sand series, Lee wants to symbolically express that shiny moments of happiness are results of shattered dreams from the burdens of our daily lives by using repeated sand kernels and wave patterns. A grand rocky mountain erodes and eventually becomes a tiny sand kernel after weathering all the lashes from nature, and a high rocky cliff that we had to raise our heads to look up to eventually breaks down into small particles and lies underneath us after facing incessant waves. Nevertheless, sand kernels still glitter beautifully under the sun when its time comes. Likewise, even though the high goals and dreams we have been chasing after become shattered from all the challenges from our daily lives, we can still find precious and grateful moments to appreciate when we pay close attention to each part of our daily lives. Even the smallest part of our daily life should not be taken lightly for even a single sand kernel that may not be as significant in the endless beach can be gathered to equal the weight of a mountain, and our small daily moments will ultimately add up to become one’s life.

Stephanie S. Lee

Connection & Relationship

2014 | Color powder, gold powder, ink on Korean Mulberry paper24˝ (H) x 20˝ (W) x 1 ¾˝ (D) each

Innumerable appearances of circles in Lee’s paintings show the artist’s belief that the circle is the most complete and perfect form which encompasses harmony and reincarnation. The natural phenomena where a rigid cliff breaks down and becomes a round particle of sand, and the fact that all living subjects derive from one round cell all adds onto Lee’s confirmation of the circle’s completeness.

Symmetrical structure setting of two artworks as a set in Lee’s work was done purposefully to represent co-existence of ‘one’ and the identical ‘other one’ which might exist at the same time in a parallel universe.

In use of colors, white is used to denote hope from self-sacrifice while blue denotes artist’s ideal dream.

Stephanie S. Lee

New beginnings


Stephanie S. Lee

Cosmos

2014 | Color powder, gold powder, ink on Korean Mulberry paper29 ½˝ (H) x 25 ¼˝ (W) x 2 ¾˝ (D) each

Time


Stephanie S. Lee

Through works in Everyday series, Lee shows shared feeling of camaraderie among people and tend to evoke profound empathy and familiarity in the observer. However, within that ordinariness she suggests the viewer to discover something extraordinary by linking familiar objects with supernatural and philosophical concepts.

Objects in her painting shows that life is full of paradox, but somehow coexists with balance and harmony. As everything under the sun obeys forces of nature and pursues harmony, all aspects of life reflect ordinary people’s lives. Lee’s work tell that every part of life is vital in maintaining order and harmony in the world and should be valued.

Stephanie S. Lee

Death I2013 | Color powder, gold powder, ink on Korean Mulberry paper13 ¼˝ (H) x 13 ¼˝ (W) x 2 ¾˝ (D)

Stephanie S. Lee

Time II

2013 | Color powder, gold powder, ink on Korean Mulberry paper15 ½˝ (H) x 15 ½˝ (W) x 2 ¾˝ (D)

Self portrait


Stephanie S. Lee

Stephanie S. Lee

Sweet nothings


Leash

2013 | Color powder, gold powder, ink on Korean Mulberry paper16 ¼˝ (H) x 14 ½˝ (W) x 2 ¾˝ (D)

Stephanie S. Lee

Stephanie S. Lee

Fruit

2013 | Color powder, gold powder, ink on Korean Mulberry paper27 ½˝ (H) x 15 ½˝ (W) x 2 ¾˝ (D)

Private Collection

Stephanie S. Lee

Flower


Private Collection

Stephanie S. Lee

Mother and Daughter


Stephanie S. Lee

Happiness and luck


Private Collection

Stephanie S. Lee

Think of me


Private Collection

Stephanie S. Lee

Dandelion Seed


Private Collection

Stephanie S. Lee

Hydrangea


Private Collection

stephanie s. lee · in these paintings, multiple lotus flowers were positioned and set right within...

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