Jiyung Lee's artistic journey is a captivating exploration of the interplay between words, images, and the everyday. Her work, a unique blend of illustration, design, and fine art, challenges the boundaries of these disciplines, offering a fresh perspective on the familiar. What makes Lee's practice truly intriguing is her methodical approach to creativity, where a single word becomes the catalyst for a visual odyssey. This process, she explains, is almost like a catalogue layout, but it's more than just a collection of objects; it's a poem in the making.
Lee's background in South Korea and France has played a significant role in shaping her artistic style. In South Korea, she studied fine art, and later, in France, she delved into Communication Design, driven by curiosity. This educational path, she reflects, provided her with a versatile skill set, allowing her to translate ideas into visual languages using various mediums. Drawing, however, remained her constant companion, a foundation she continues to explore.
One of the most fascinating aspects of Lee's work is her interest in symbols and the fluidity of images. She is drawn to the way everyday objects are organized and presented, finding beauty in the chaos and order of market stalls, supermarket flyers, and catalogues. This fascination with structure and organization is evident in her art, where she creates intricate grids and carefully arranges objects, each with its own space. The process, she describes, is like a dance between restriction and creativity, using rulers, circle templates, and ellipse guides to push and pull forms towards the abstract while maintaining legibility.
Lee's bread series is a testament to her unique approach. She collaborated with Quintal Studio in Paris to create a taxonomy of carbohydrates, where croissants, baguettes, and buns are arranged in warm golds and yellows, forming silhouettes against a dark background. This series, she explains, is a love letter to the boulangerie, a celebration of the everyday through the lens of visual language. Similarly, her insect Riso print, made with RFI Gallery in Hamburg, is a wild and vivid exploration of nature, where beetles, moths, and butterflies are pinned across a black base in vibrant colors.
What ties all of Lee's work together is her belief in the human presence behind every object. She sees traces of intention and everyday life in even the most ordinary items, whether it's the design, creation, or arrangement of a coffee cup or a teapot. This perspective adds a layer of depth and meaning to her art, making it more than just a visual treat.
In my opinion, Jiyung Lee's work is a testament to the power of curiosity and the beauty of the everyday. Her ability to transform a single word into a visual poem is a remarkable talent. What makes her art particularly fascinating is the way she challenges our perceptions of illustration, design, and fine art, inviting us to see the world through a new lens. From my perspective, Lee's work is a celebration of the human touch in art, a reminder that even the most mundane objects can be transformed into something extraordinary through the power of creativity and imagination.
