Lee, Young ji : Cosmos with Dancing Green Particles

Cosmos with Dancing Green Particles

                                                                                                 Written by Lee, Sun young(Art Critic)

The tree painted by Lee, Young ji is inadequate since it doesn’t show the unique Monumentality of the tree, lofty to the sky and rooted deeply on the ground, for instance. The weak trunk stretching out thinly under the greenish spots only alludes to the tree. Seeming to be tree, the expression of Lee, Young ji doesn’t look specific. The leaves spreading out indefinitely with different brightness emphasize the richness.

Each subject itself refers to a little cosmos. The thing filling up this little cosmos is other little cosmos. In a drawing, each separately drawn leave is not blended each other. Indicating the independence, each leave simultaneously implies the coexistent and harmonious world. Each leave likes and beach is preciously treated and cautiously woven.  It is evident that it will take a lot of time to draw these uncountable, several leaves meticulously. Expressing the three-dimensional effect, the leaves with over ten affiliated greenish colors are simply the abstract three-dimensional rather than reproductive. The shape of leaves looks like a grain of rice. The discerned brightness of each leave reflects the light and shade of our life like a tiny mirror. These densely populated leaves happen to mirror each other. Forming complimentary color with the greenish colors, the unidentified fruits whether they are mandarins or trifoliate oranges, present the vividness to the drawing.

The profound drawing foundation repeats background, coloring and shadowing. Due to the impossible correction, even the small mistakes can be inadmissible. Comparing with the computer technology feasible to reenact the image anytime, this laborious, traditional drawing technique seems to be foolhardy. However, the drawing can give strong, unique impression impossible with any other computer technology with the expression of Zeitlichkeit on drawing.

Lee, Young ji’s drawing develops the story inside and outside of the tree. The tree is defined as a little cosmos and the story-telling stage set, as well. In addition, the story-telling elements imply the bird and the ordinary props. The tree have traditionally been the symbol of the space and the human beings, and this concept was continuously maintained on Lee, Young ji’s drawing, but only the main characters of the story got transferred to the animals on the side. The commonly features of the bird include the sharp nose and the unfolded wings. The birds express themselves in gesture, and the interpretation of the expressionless depends on our judge. The birds give us the impression of friends, lovers and couples. The harmony of the bird and the tree let us imagine the east of Eden. The trees, the birds and the harmony of the trees and the trees emphasize ‘company’ the concept of this exhibition.

The tree can be the unusual subject which shows the uniqueness and signify all of other subjects at the same time. Jacques de la Brosse on [History and Myth on the Plant] mentions that the inside of the tree keeps the perpetual fire and one individual alone can create the world. The tree on the drawing of Lee, Young ji is described as the first living things on earth and close to the symbolic status, the embodiment of the tree itself. The reason that the tree can stand on that location is because of its own reaction, the photosynthesis. Each alive, green particle on the drawing of Lee, Young ji is not just the reproduction of leaves, but it appears to be directly connected to the inside elements of the leaves photosynthesized.

Each element looks very busy for performing its own duty in place
The greenish particles on the drawing directly deliver the fresh oxygen to the other organic matters. The bunch of greenish particles is feasible to survive on the earth by reacting to the light from heaven. This plant, the fundamental energy source, grows and finally become the tree, the biggest and the oldest living entity on the earth. The tree offered the first food source to human beings. The fruits on the drawing of Lee, Young ji are also as much important as the leaves are. Looking at the complementary color contrast, the visual importance is also great.

On the drawing of Lee, Young ji, the anthropomorphized characters or houses surrounding trees foreshadow the history of the plants which are deeply involved in the society and the history of human beings. The bountiful leaves and fruits on the drawing are connected with the status of the tree, the fundamental energy source to the human beings. The tree on the drawing of Lee, Young ji is feminine. Jacques de la Brosse points out that the ancients regarded the prolificacy of the tree as the maternal instinct, contrary to the modern recognition of the tree as the phallus.

The tree of Lee, Young ji focuses on the chaotic affluence rather than the hierarchical system related to clarified order of the rank. The tree of Lee, Young ji rather resembles the cloud from the perspective of the fact that the tree consists of the basic element and their boundaries are indistinctive, The outer lines of the cluster of the greenish particles maintain the unique of Zeitlichkeit, not because of the weather effect. In the summary, the tree on the drawing keeps the whole consistency according to the autonomous generation and extinction, rather than following the physical Zeitlichkeit. This tree, as Eliade pointed out, concentrates on the images of not only bountifulness and fecundity, but also immortality and forever youth. The cosmos regenerates periodically like the trees do. All regeneration is regarded as the new creation each time and a return to the beginning, the mythical period. People just keep repeating the basic deeds of universe creation. Human beings have found the symbol of the everlasting transformation and regeneration from the trees.

Starting from the tree comprised of the various sections, the body of tree on the drawing of Lee, Young ji is consisted of the numerous particles to maintain the clear outer lines. These colored grains vibrate like dancing and are blended with each other in front of the people. The particles, the basic unit of the object itself, are connected with each other and might be present independently. Each bordered particle implies the symbolic element to compos the universe which is condensed to the trees. It can be defined as the monad from the perspective of the fundamental entity that moves according to the will and the ambition, rather than the simple physical particle to locate on the objective coordinates of the space-time.

The leaves to look like the accumulation of the seeds, the beginning of all creation, of the tree on the drawing of Lee, Young ji are in the process of the continuous creation, rather than staying at the beginning or the end. This tree, the whole entity of monad, is densely packed in time and space like nature. Nature is always crammed and fills up the blank instantly. The tree on the drawing of Lee, Young ji leads us to think of the existence of diligent God and satisfy the abundance of the nature and the art simultaneously.

Lee, Sun young(Art Critic)
Kimbokjin Art Theory Award(2005), Korean Association of Art Critics Award(2009)

 

Lee, Young ji

Education
1997 B.F.A Dept. of oriental Painting Fine Arts, Sungshin Women`s University
1999 M.A. Oriental Painting, Sungshin Graduated School

Solo Exhibitions
six times

Group Exhibition
2009 '2009 Young Artists Collection', Gallery JINSUN, Seoul
 Seoul Open Art Fair, COEX, Seoul
2008 '11 doors' Exhibition, Artspace-hyun, Seoul
 'Picture Puzzle' Exhibition, Artspace YUL, Seoul
2006 'Christmas In August', LOTTE Art Gallery, Seoul
 Sungshin Women`s Oriental Painting Exhibition, Gongpyeong Gallery, Seoul
2005 'The meeting of Flower and Art', LOTTE Art Gallery, Seoul