About Yeun Hee Lee

Web Site: www.yeunheeleeart.com

Email: yeunhee@yeunheeleeart.com

My life’s experience has been filled with observations of multicultural experiences due to frequent moves in life. My journey began in a small town called Sanju, South Korea where I spent most of my youth. I moved to Seoul, the big capital city of South Korea, where I began my college years. When I got married, my family moved to Los Angeles, California in the United States of America. We then had to relocate to San Francisco when my husband decided to continue to study there. Later, we moved to Seattle to start up his ministry. Finally, my journey ended in El Paso, Texas. These numerous moves and their unsettling experiences have allowed me to encounter various cultures and traditions first hand and helped me to have a deeper understanding of how it is conceivable for these cultures to coexist. In addition, I came to the realization that my adaptation to these coexisting cultures has provided multiple platforms to depict different dreams and portray opposing realities in my painted works. As a result, often these experiences resonate and manifest themselves in my work.

Observation of diverse cultures and the resulting adjustment in my life’s experiences has provided important elements and the creative spark for my work. For example, I am a Korean immigrant who currently resides in a heavily Hispanic neighborhood in the El Paso suburbs. I refer to myself as a Korean-American because I had to adjust and adapt to new traditions, new values, and a new language. Yet, I still believe that I hold many traditions and values that are true to Koreans. However, I feel out of place at times because when I’m with Americans, I’m so Korean. My identity tends to shift and overlap, which strongly affects the imagery of my work.

My recent work explores the expression of my inner world by creating abstract imagery using suggestion and simplification in my painting. I wanted to pursue the literal interpretation of the natural beauty of space, its pureness, and powerful energy involving balance, movement and stillness. A meditative quality and a sense of quiet are common responses to my work related to my Eastern roots. I am interested in giving suggestions of nature in my paintings by using images with vibrant colors, forms, and patterns that are particular to the elements. Along with my color choices, my line is characterized by free flowing lines, giving it a sense of movement and balance, resulting in an exaggerated line, it is also the framework of my composition.

I usually bring my personal experiences into each piece. Each painting reflects something of my visual history. In the forms, patterns, and colors that come to my mind, I often visualize a place I know well. It’s part memory and part imagination. I do not wish to have a relationship with an art that only describes reality. I look for spiritual quality and abstract quality in my work. I want to express the mood or to depict the essence and spirit of the object. My work is the result of the physical and emotional response to the immediate environment. I respond, internalize and encapsulate my personal reality on to the canvas. I believe that I can reveal my own inner world on my canvas, truthfully and with understanding, I will touch that area shared by all humanity, and create works of art that can be appreciated and enjoyed by all.

Artwork