arthur kwon lee
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Arthur Kwon Lee’s paintings animate archetypal imagery from the collective unconscious through the lens of historical symbolism and mythologies. The work is a combination of philosophical research, martial arts and personal religious experiences. By rendering significant cultural figures under a maelstrom of intense color harmonies both a subjective and objective conversation is created. This, with the diversity of mark making and pixelated rendering technique is where my language is made. In terms of materiality, I paint on large canvasses with acrylic. When entering my studio, one sees a scattering of texts by Barthes, Campbell or Jung at one turn, only to an array of paint splattered across the walls at another. With that in regard my paintings can be described as a marriage between psychoanalytical imagery and fauvism. During my time in George Washington University, I found a predilection towards figure painting and history courses. This, in conjunction to my love of color and regular discourses at the Jung Society of Washington brought forth my voice as a painter. When I was a child my parents told me that the role of the artist is to expand the domain of order onto the world of chaos. This took form as large scale and dramatic figurative work with oblique philosophical influences across the globe.