Whojeong Lee

Korean painter Whojeong Lee conveys an enveloping sense of balance and poise in each of her superbly layered compositions. Deploying one or two strong tones to set the temperature of a piece, she then textures that palette with softening details and popping highlights. Painted text, usually a simple word describing an emotion, occupies the center of certain acrylic compositions, its meaning creating an intriguing contrast to the feeling of the abstract surroundings. The Atlanta-based artist’s motif of equilibrium between two hues or textures is always hard-won, as many pieces stage collision-like encounters of contrasting forms and styles, but this only makes the end result more impressive.

Her visual repertoire shifts dramatically between canvases – Cubist silhouettes embrace, areas of abstract color vie for compositional dominance, diffuse fields coalesce into organic patterns – but in every case there is a sense of reconciliation, of rougher or more chaotic forces calming into smooth lines and gentler gradients. Lee cites the influence of Eastern philosophies on her spiritual and aesthetic development, and this is apparent in every sensitive and transformative painting.