Jun

White Box Plus Inspiration Equals Surreal Dreamscape

by Bruce Goldstone on June 30, 2014

A surreal dreamscape created by Jee Young Lee inside her small studio, revealing how imagination and creativity can expand limitations. (© Jee Young Lee, courtesy of Opiom Gallery)

Panic Room
© Jee Young Lee, courtesy of Opiom Gallery

Jee Young Lee’s Imagination Bursts the Limits of a Tiny Studio

In Jee Young Lee’s talented hands, an empty white box becomes the blank page on which the artist creates a surprising self portrait. Using paint and everyday materials, she transforms the small space into a surreal dreamscape.

When the room is ready, she carefully arranges the lighting, walks into her set, and snaps a single portrait.

Then she clears the space and does it again.

Monsoon Season
© Jee Young Lee, courtesy of Opiom Gallery

Rooms to Grow

Young begins with a 3 m x 6 m space (about 10 feet x 20 feet) consisting of three walls, built within a larger studio space she shares with other artists. Then she paints the plywood walls and begins adding handmade decorations, using anything from paper and Styrofoam to cups and straws.

She works alone, patiently adding detail after detail until her set is ready. A “quick” room might go together in two weeks; others take several months.

Young admits that “it’s grueling work. Needless to say, it kills my back.” Despite the difficulties, she often becomes so immersed in her new worlds that she can lose track of time.

“I enjoy making things so much that I often work through the night without even realizing it.”

Gamer
© Jee Young Lee, courtesy of Opiom Gallery

Piece of Mind

Young calls her spaces “rooms of the mind,” reflecting the origin of her ideas. Each room is a psychological space that reflects the artist’s dreams and memories, as well as universal symbols.

When choosing objects, she aims to “express associations or emotions that anyone may experience, such as ‘sweet’ for candy or ‘disgusting’ for cockroach. I use the original meanings of objects, but I usually also use a second meaning.”

Last Supper
© Jee Young Lee, courtesy of Opiom Gallery

To Young, the colors she chooses “also have symbolic meaning. For instance, I’ll use red to indicate warning or danger, or I’ll use a faded, tarnished color to express a gloomy state of mind.”

Nightmare
© Jee Young Lee, courtesy of Opiom Gallery

Fables also contribute important imagery to many of Young’s works, including Resurrection, which refers to a Korean legend of a girl who throws herself into the sea and is later reincarnated inside of a lotus bloom.

Pushing the Limits

Each work is a unique and resonant portrait, yet they build in depth and significance when you view the series. The fact that the widely divergent images are constructed within the same limited space forces viewers to make connections and ask questions.

For example, does the swarming flock of Black Birds have anything to do with the giant eggs of Broken Heart?

Young’s work leads us to a simple but profound “Oh, I see” moment: Beyond being simply impressive, her use of a small three-walled studio becomes its own metaphor for the infinite possibilities within a blank canvas.

In fact, constraints often spur creativity, as Belle Beth Cooper wrote a fascinating post. Lee’s work is an example— she has found a way to not simply accommodate her limited space, but celebrate it and expand it.