STATEMENT
In my work, I reinterpret the traditional Korean Folk Art (Minhwa) by connecting it with a modern perspective. I depict the never-ending aspirations and desires of human beings with outlays and compositions similar to those used in traditional Korean folk art.
By portraying a luxurious, modern context in a traditional Korean setting, using Minhwa’s satirical and humorous aspects, I symbolize the essence of life – the pursuit of happiness – which transcends time and era in my paintings. By integrating Korean tradition with New York’s modern life, tradition and modern, old and new, east and west, material and ideal all coexist harmoniously in my painting.
People in modern days often seem to confuse the pursuit of happiness with materialistic desire. But I believe that the substance of life is seeking one’s happiness, thus human being’s life journey is an interaction between these essential desires with its environment. While the objects and its appearance may have changed over time, one’s immortal passions—wealth, health, beauty, knowledge, and accumulation of fame—have never withered, and are everlasting.
However, the objects in my paintings are not employed to critique the negative aspects of materialism. Rather, the painting is an interpretation of how the materialistic yearnings of humankind can be a positive element in modern society if such energies are directed to urge people to do their earnest best to obtain their desires. I hope my paintings let viewers see through this fundamental human philosophy beyond the materialistic substances.
BIOGRAPHY
Korean-American artist Stephanie S. Lee received both MS and BFA from Pratt Institute and studied Korean Folk Art painting at Busan National University, South Korea. As a founder of KoreanFolkArt.org, she teaches and promotes Korean Folk Art painting (Minhwa) to the public through workshops and exhibitions since 2013. While serving as a NY regional director of Korea Minhwa Association and a teaching artist of the Flushing Town Hall, she is currently working at the Godwin-Ternbach Museum. She is a member of New York Society of Women Artists, Edward Hopper House Museum & Study Center and Korean American Contemporary Arts, Ltd. and was a juror of art contest held by Weill Cornell Medicine and The Korea Times.
As an artist-curator, Lee displayed at many art fairs including Scope Art, Spectrum Miami Art Show, Fountain Art Fair, and Affordable Art Fairs. Her works have been selected for many group exhibitions in public venues including the National Museum of Korea, Indang Museum, Islip Art Museum, Edward Hopper House Museum & Study Center, Charles B. Wang Center, Queens College Art Center, Belskie Museum of Art, Flushing Town Hall and Western Kentucky University. Lee also had solo exhibitions in public libraries including Piermont Library, Ridgewood library, and Closter library.
She received New Work grant from Queens Council on the Arts and was a winner of the ‘Call for Chelsea’, and an ‘artist of the month’ at Edward Hopper House Museum & Study Center. Her work has been reviewed and published in the Wall Street Journal, Asia Week, The Korean Times, TKC TV and ‘Chaekgeori: The Power and Pleasure of Possessions in Korean Painted Screens.’