M Mar2011 Whit Box

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Review

Gil Woo LeeWhite Box, New York

By Mychal Lopez

Staring down Gil Woo Lee’s larger than life portraitsbrings a sensation much like the feeling of watch-

ing images behind the lens of 3D-glasses. Though thehuge canvases are two-dimensional, flattened fields,there is a sense of seeing planes constantly shift,where forms and faces are able to come forward orrecede depending on where attention is given. For ex-ample, in Dance in Nature Michael Jackson I (2010)the outstretched snapping hand of the pop singer sud-denly appears over a playing tambourine, or in Dance in Nature V Obama (2010) where from beneath afrontal, cropped image of the President’s face emergesthe full body of a posed Korean dancer dressed in tra-ditional garb. No matter where you stand in relation

to Lee’s composite paintings, the images fully consumeone’s field of vision.

Opening Reception for Gil Woo Lee at White Box, New York.Photo: Macinnis, 2011.




This solo exhibition is Korean born Woo’s first showin the U.S. Appropriately titled New York State of Mind , the show suggests an ode to the city andculture that his paintings are sourced from. Lee fea-tures works that layers images of grand icons syn-onymous with American culture (Marilyn Monroe,Audrey Hepburn, Barbie dolls, President Obama,Michael Jackson, aerial views of New York City)atop images of traditional Korean dancers andKorean landscapes. Though the artist literally layerscontrasting images of Western and Eastern culture,particularly that of Korea, what we ultimately see inthe works are rich, informed references to theartist’s own heritage meeting a distinctly flattenedview of American iconography. The result is a post-Pop Art, post-digital reconsideration of image andicon making, through the guise of an artist whoseperspective is distinctly non-American.

The work effectively showcases Lee’s signaturemontage painting technique wherein he creates in-dividual screens of traditional Korean Hanji paperby carefully perforating small holes on each sheetusing an incense burner and a soldering iron. Hethen layers and mounts multiple screens together tocreate one whole new, composite painting. The re-sulting dots are a cross between Seurat’s all-over

pointillism and Lichtenstein’s animated comic bookBen-Day dots, thereby giving us the oscillatingviewing effect. Though references to such Westernartists can be inferred, these tech-heavy images arehave Lee’s distinct look. If Seurat was breakingdown forms into pure dabs of color and Lichten-stein was using a comic book style as a means ofcommenting on the redundancy and reduction ofpopular imagery, we see Lee using these burneddots as a means of imbuing his figures with a ritu-alistic charge, to the point where he declares hisprocess as ceremonial and purifying. Rather thanjust deconstructing painted forms, Lee takes care tophysically create the dots on the actual surface.

Yet there is the sense that Lee is also working to-

wards contemporary modes of seeing, as suchlarge-scale images comprised of thousands of dotsGil Woo Lee Manhattan Michael Jackson, 2010 . Diptych. Hanji paper, India Ink, coloring, emulsion, coating, 120 x 386 cm.

Courtesy: White Box, New York.



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begin to look distinctly pixilated. In Dance of Na- ture III Audrey (2010), he captures the soft shad-ows of the actress’ delicate features through thecontrast of holes made on green, red, and yellowHanji paper. These dots render the subtle color gra-dients and shifts, an effect similar to the ways dig-ital color pixels can achieve the nuances andtransitions of skin tones.

Rather than staying in any realistic or representa-tional color palette to render flesh, Lee douses hisfigures in an intense pallete of warm colors (red,

yellow, green, orange, pink) that become evenmore vivid when layered against one another. Thesaturated tones applied to reproduced images ofreal people have a Warholian twang to them, atwist considering Lee uses the likeness of the Popartist in one of his pieces. While Warhol used sucheye catching colors for their presence in advertisingand commodity culture, this Korean artist anchorshis fiery colors with a more personal experience.

While one can easily make connections betweenPop and a technology-induced way of seeing (3Dand pixilation), Lee’s imagery and treatment effec-tively move beyond such straightforward associa-tion. They releal a perspective that is decisivelynon-Western or non-American. Take Manhattan

Michael Jackson (2010), a large-scale diptych thatlayers the images of the sloping landscape ofKorea’s Tiger Mountain, a street view of a Man-hattan crosswalk, and twenty-two mini Michael Jackson figures in iconic dance position floating allacross the picture plane. Though the artist refers tothe King of Pop and makes use of the skyscrapersand sharp grids of New York City, these becomemerely superficial aspects to the transcendent, hulk-ing mountains hiding in the background. The mul-t iple Michael Jackson images start to look likedecorative patterns, and the Manhattan street viewbecomes an indistinct, generalized scene of build-ings, cabs, and tall buildings that seems like itcould have been taken off of Google Earth Images.

In comparison to Lee’s more imagined view ofAmerica, he informs his pieces with rich detailsGil Woo Lee Barbie X, 2010 . Diptych. Hanji paper, Indian ink, coloring, emulsion, coating, 167 x 125 cm.


“The resulting dots are a cross between Seurat’sall-over pointillism and Lichtenstein’s animatedcomic book Ben-Day dots, thereby giving us theoscillating viewing effect”




from his own cultural background. In addition to re-ferring to Buddhist ideology and Taoist philoso-phers such as Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu in hispaintings, Lee embraces contemporary fact in hisBarbie series. Korea has become renowned for itsadvances in plastic surgery. One popular form ofcosmetic transformation gives the participant addi-tional height through the installation of poles in theknees. Accordingly, Lee crops his paintings of whiteBarbie dolls and contemporary Korean women

right where such surgery would hurt the most — rightat the knees. This embedded social commentaryon Eastern/Western concepts of beauty, cosmeticperfection, and the resulting pain exceeds the flat,surface depictions of American icons. We evenstart to question the purpose in selecting certainsubjects, l ike the random image of PresidentAbraham Lincoln.

What ends up happening in Lee’s paintings is atake on global perceptions of American culturalidentity. From the other ends of the world, we be-come identifiable only through our celebrities,musicians, and politicians — arguably our venera-ble consumerist icons. Such emblematic images be-come fleeting and superficial myths, only becoming

decorative compliments against more local, andnational concerns and issues. Lee’s paintings com-ment on the ways in which global artists and citi-zens alike can fall prey to the trap of presumingwhat “America” is by looking only at the consumerculture, instead of focusing on the rich possibilitiesexisting in their own traditions and customs.

Though New York State of Mind is very much adreamy representation of American ideals, it’s stilla far removed dream. The Hanji paper, the incenseburning, the experiential quality, and images ofKorean dancers, landscapes, and people compisethe bulk of the meaning in Lee’s paintings. Whatbecomes apparent within the mesh of dots andscreens in Gil Woo Lee’s paintings is a deepened

contemplation of Korean culture and spiritual phi-losophy — not America. MGil Woo Lee Dance in Nature III Audrey, 2010 . Diptych. Hanji paper, Indian ink, coloring, emulsion, coating, 120 x 95 cm.


“This embedded social commentary onEastern/Western concepts of beauty, cosmeticperfection, and the resulting pain exceeds theflat, surface depictions of American icons.”

M Mar2011 Whit Box

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