Yunhee Lee’s work, based on ceramics, creates its own narrative and emits its own light. With intricate patterns meticulously drawn in gold on a smooth white surface, her work is characterized by an abundance of grotesque figures symbolizing life and death, which are arranged and combined to form a unique world of the artist. Combining injection molding, an industrial ceramic technique that allows for mass production, with elaborate and detailed decorative details and coloring, Lee’s work tells a story through a language-like hybrid of images that shape individual narrative scenes.
The Night of Fianna (2017) and La divina commedia (2014) are stories that she has created through a long and intensive process of labor and practice. Images of girls, skeletons, dismembered bodies, flora and fauna are deeply embedded in the frame to produce narratives of desire and deficiency, life and death, sin and introspection that have sedimented in human history. Despite the three-dimensional and relief forms, Lee compresses her narratives within the frames. The moment a viewer encounters them, the flat yet profound sculptures unfold stories engraved on the ceramics, evoking a sense of grandeur and sublimity reminiscent of religious and historical narratives.
Text courtesy THEO.
We partner with the world's leading galleries to showcase their artists, artworks and exhibitions. Vetted by an acclaimed group of industry peers, our gallery membership is by application and invitation only.
Learn more about Ocula MembershipLeaders in art advisory with unparalleled visibility and access to the art world's most influential galleries, collectors and auction houses.
Learn more about our team and servicesCelebrating the people and ideas shaping contemporary art via intelligent and insightful editorial.
Learn more about Ocula Magazine