The Inner Sanctum of JeeYoung Lee.
by Jamie Finn (@jamiefinn2209)
JeeYoung Lee is a visual artist who blurs the lines between mind and matter. Her engrossing pieces act as manifestations of her introspective analysis.
In a small studio in Seoul, the artist builds elaborate installations that represent a surrealist combination of her "psychological landscape" with fragments of folklore and literature. The artefacts in the installation are entirely hand-crafted by the artist. Once constructed, JeeYoung Lee takes photographs of herself as part of the piece. Doing this adds a layer of kinetic drama and narrative to her work. Her work acts as a stage that is recorded and presented through still images.
Broken Heart (2011) 96x120cm pigment print
JeeYoung Lee mixes surrealism and romanticism, crafting immersive dreamscapes. Through conceptual psychoanalysis, the artist explores the notion of memories, phobia and abandoned youth. Unlike many artists concerned with exploring these themes, JeeYoung Lee can step physically into her imagination. Through her installations, she places herself in the centre of her dreamscapes and experiences them immersively. "My scenescapes are inspired by various relationships and circumstances, experiences and memories, as well as emotions such as heartbreak, anxiety, hope and frustration," she says. "They also reflect the challenges I have experienced as an artist and my effort to overcome them."
Resurrection (2011) 96x120cm pigment print
Lee incorporates style and imagery from the kind of stories that reflect her surrealist vision. In her 2015-2019 piece Alice's Garden, the artist created an installation that reinterpreted the CS Lewis novel. Her piece entitled Resurrection (2011) is a reimagining of the Simcheongjeon. The story is about Sim Cheong, a young girl who throws herself into the sea to cure her father's blindness. She is later resurrected and, because of her sacrifice, is made an empress. "I wanted to portray rebirth in my photo, which is why I appear inside a lotus," Lee said. "It shows how one can achieve new birth by overcoming negativity. I wanted to empower my spirit and rise above my emotions through this piece."
Black Birds (2009) 96x120cm pigment print
JeeYoung Lee's structures tread the line between dreamlike wonderment and the nightmarish uncanny. Her exaggerated metaphors and animated visual style often create a soothingly attractive aesthetic. The artist, however, is not afraid of exploring darker visual themes in her work. Pieces like the Black Birds (2009) and Toxic Boy (2008) invoke a macabre, Edgar Allan Poe-esque aesthetic. Her distorted and fantastical interpretation of the material world makes her work feel like a live-action Surrealist painting. Lee places herself in exaggerated manifestations of nature to examine her fears and anxieties about the tangible world.
For more information on JeeYoung Lee, click here.
