Seung Sook Lee

2022 Solo Exhibition

“Heart of Flowers,” Material: Cotton, Size: 85″ x 85″

Riverside Gallery opens a second solo exhibition by the artist Seung Sook Lee, from December 21st to 29th, 2022 in the gallery 1 space. It is curated by Sei Ryun Chun. The opening reception is on Thursday, December 22nd, from 5 to 7 pm.

Like a chorus singer, the artist made works by imbuing a sense of rhythm with cloth and needle. The quilt piece will cause the viewer’s garden of mind to ruminate on their affectionate childhood years.

Although Lee studied music and singing in Japan, it cannot be denied that Japanese quilts may have influenced in terms of her imagery, color, and materials (Her work “Japanese Garden” acknowledges this influence). Lee’s quilts may also be influenced by her exposure to America as quilts were also popular historically in Colonial America and among the Native Americans. Modern aesthetics, hybridity, and appropriation of diverse influences and cultures may be the key attributes of Lee’s quilts; for example, “Land of Honeycomb,” which must reference Israel as a ‘land of honey,’ Lee utilizes the Star of David in juxtaposition with hexagons as if to suggest an impenetrable defense (hexagons are used as honeycombs in aircraft design to reduce weight and create structural strength). “Flower Whirlwind” is a work that references the folk art of Europeans and the early Americans (who were white settlers). And the Streets of Manhattan break down the New York City skyline into a never-ending, isometric repetition of skyscrapers upon skyscrapers as if to suggest the psychologically uncanny and infinite spaces of M. C. Escher. It can be argued that quilts were the first to deal with the approximation of a continuous universe (made of curvilinear and organic shapes) into the discrete form of pixels (or squares). Lee’s use of highly detailed and colorful fabrics within each subdividing unit of small fabrics reverse this hierarchical relationship of a discrete pixel to a larger continuous image, perhaps reflecting the lessons of quantum physics that there are mini universes inside each atom and inside each spectrum of a particle-wave duality.

“Japanese Garden,” Material: Cotton, Size: 85″ x 100″

According to Lee, quilting is a lifelong calling and a great friend with whom the artist shares her deepest thoughts and emotions. Becoming a quilt artist was a turning point in Lee’s life. She initially turned to quilting as a hobby when she was terrified by an incident that happened in the neighborhood, and this art form helped her focus her mind and heal from emotional distress. Upon returning to Korea in 1990 after living in the United States, Lee took an introductory course on quilting taught by Yoon Hye-Kyung. She spent 8 hours a day quilting, discovering the joy of knitting together the pieces of cloth that were already beautiful on their own, into new combinations. Lee also experimented with collaging various materials and objects into her quilts, such as fragments of a flower. Lee devoted her quilts to depicts flowers in her “Chan Son de Jurdin” series, with the realization that her mother loved flowers so much, and the warm memories of her childhood.

“I want to be a Star,” Material: Cotton, Size: 77″ x 86″

Lee came to America in 1986 after graduating from Musashino Academia Musicae in Japan. In 2002, Lee won second place at the Brown Stone Quilters Guild competition.  In Lee’s art, there is a lingering image of scent as if to evoke a field of flowers in one’s mind. With needle and scissor, she recreated the aesthetics of a sculpture with a piece of cloth.