After three years of research, experimentation and personal exploration, Hyunmee Lee’s artistic path has blossomed into this new series of vibrant paintings. While these paintings draw on her past series, she unleashes a powerful sense of newfound freedom in the abstract shapes, lines and meditative gestures that emerge from these canvases. The dominant shape, often a vivid yellow, stands alongside her traditional use of black and reflects the dongbaek, a Korean camellia. Black has multiple dimensions for me: it reflects my artistic heritage and reverence for Asian calligraphy. Having grown up in a monochromatic society with the tones of the “white-clad people” (as Koreans were historically known), black has always held an essential place in my work. Yellow, however, now serves as a source of illumination that complements the symbolic use of black. Together, they create harmony and contrast. My use of yellow began in 2008, in my previous series, “Inland Island”; and over time, its significance and importance in my work has deepened, becoming increasingly expressive.
Hyunmee Lee received her BFA in painting from Hongik University, Seoul Korea and earned MA and MFA degrees from the Sydney College of Arts, University of Sydney. After returning to South Korea from Sydney, she taught at Hongik University while exhibiting in shows in major art galleries and museums. In 1997, Lee emigrated to the United States, where she first settled in Utah and then, in 2016, moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she currently lives and works as a full-time artist.
Lee has conducted numerous solo exhibits across three continents, including Sydney, Seoul, New York, Salt Lake City and Santa Fe. She has been featured in major solo exhibitions at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts and the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum, and her recent works have been exhibited in the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art and the University of Missouri-Kansas City Gallery. Her work is displayed in collections at the University of New Mexico, Utah State University, the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah Valley University, the Springville Museum of Art, the Utah Division of Arts & Museums, the Pleasant Valley Library, Weber Public Libraries, and the Moran Open Art Museum. In 2015, Lee was honored with the prestigious Fellowship for Visual Arts Excellence from the Utah Division of Arts and Museums.
