Lot Essay
Studied under Bernd and Hilla Becher, the most influential artists and teacher for prominent contemporary photographers including Thomas Ruff, Candider Hofer, and Andreas Gursky, Lee Yoon Jean snaps in a seemingly cool detachment to personal objects, the atmospheric outcome of her subjects are peculiarly romanticized. As Lee constructs reality by capturing architectural lines of the interiors of mundane homes, her stunning and impeccable visual vocabulary become increasingly painterly with oblique perspectives and magnification of areas that refocuses on hidden spaces unnoticed in our daily lives. Still Life. Nr. 7 & Still Life. Nr. 9 (Lot 1583) presents neatly staged geometric structures with insertions of retro patterns and colors saturated to glossy lushness that appear parallel to the conventions of documentary photographs. The camera angle decisively balances on the table-top to present a multiple perspective in looking upwards and downwards. The basic skeleton of the composition is mapped out by strong vertical and horizontal lines of the table and chairs, but with the subtle reflections of light shimmering on plastic chairs, telephones, kitchen apparatus and wooden tables inspire as painterly lines, opening up the otherwise claustrophobic cornered views into spatial dynamism, simultaneously triggering a sense of mutual dialogue between the placed objects. Constantly investigating on her everyday, immediate surroundings, the items in these still life landscapes are rearranged, ordered, and adjusted by Lee to extract the most communicative composition that emanate the lingering aura of human touches despite their evident absence.