CAIS Gallery Hong Kong is pleased to present a 7th solo exhibition of Lee So Yeun. Her paintings mainly focus on self-portraits which create a subtle theatrical atmosphere. So Yeun Lee continues to work on expanding her own imaginations by entering into the actual places she has visited or the certain scenery stamped in her head or by projecting the image she wants to be. The motif of the works shown in this exhibition, My Garden, came from her dream that she wishes to have her own garden, and in the background of an imaginary garden, painting works full of her unique rich and beautiful colour senses spread out.
Her canvases contain the wide fields and mountains she experienced staying in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, a number of nameless caves and fragrant plants, parrots in various colours, insects of which shells shine beautifully, and even a gorgeous and nice yellow snake that wander around them vividly as they are. The garden in her imagination taken into the canvases is the most primitive and comfortable place of her own in the land she dreams, where she seems to get rest and vigour.
The most characteristic part of So Yeun Lee’s works may be the fact that the character has somewhat scary sharp eyes. This character is an Asian woman that consistently appears in So Yeun Lee's works. This women in fact is So Yeun Lee herself. So Yeun Lee’s works may be simply interpreted with the elements of characters, background and props, but the mood the works give out is indescribably mysterious. The elements that add to create this effect are light and perspective. The character’s face looks as if shone from below, while the other parts feel natural like falling from above. Also, the perspective looks at the object to the front at the level of the neck, but the landscape that shows the horizon is described at a lower viewpoint. The direction of light and perspective mixed in one canvas is delicate and fantastic since they are not that outstanding. The space in the works allow the artist to exquisitely present to observers an experience of unfamiliar mentality that they cannot experience in their daily lives.
