Gallery Openings

  • Art,  Features,  Galleries,  Gallery Openings,  Interviews

    Hui Chi Lee’s Artwork: Calligraphy in Motion

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    Hui Chi Lee’s solo show “Lian: Lian” is now on display until May at Fitzgerald Fine Arts in Soho, New York.

    The big apple is a place where art meets culture, and no better places can this be truer than downtown Soho, the East Village, and of course, the Chelsea area. Back in March, we visited FitzGerald Fine Arts (a Soho gallery which showcase contemporary Chinese porcelain and ink painting), and had the opportunity to meet Taiwanese artist Hui Chi Lee. This was Ms. Lee’s first show in New York, where she presented a new body of hand drawn graphite pen and colored pencil works on paper, as well as a soaring site specific sculptural installation, entitled “Lian, Lian.’ The exhibit was filled with energy, and a modern spirit, which reflected her abstract paintings that can somehow be compared to “Calligraphy in Motion”. In part, her latest series is a true reflection on Taiwanese cultural traditions that can seem oppressive in contemporary society.

    High End Weekly™: How was it growing up in Taiwan? And what were your early influences as an artist?

    Hui Chi Lee: I essentially grew up in my mother’s design studio. She inspired my eye with every details from the fabric on the floor to the mannequins mounted high above. Her painstaking attention to detail never left me. Art and hand craft informed my desire to become a painter, artist and sculptor. “Lian: Lian”, my current show at Fitzgerald Fine Arts, is in homage to her and my large family.

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    Hui Chi Lee

    HEW: Your body of work is heavily compiled with metaphoric messages. Is that purposeful or is it part of your consciousness?

    Hui Chi Lee: Part of it is a spiritual meditation on reincarnation, part and parcel of my culture.
    The use of hair is metaphorical for long-lasting values and questions about life on earth.
    The tension between the physical and spiritual realms, if you will.

    HEW: You currently have a show at FitzGerald, a contemporary fine arts gallery in Soho where you’re showcasing a new body of hand drawn graphite pen and colored pencil works on paper, as well as an impeccable sculptural installation, entitled “Lian, Lian.’. Tell us about this project.

    Hui Chi Lee: The title of series “Lián; Liàn,” derives from a pair of Chinese homophones which, depending on the context, mean “to connect” and “to enchain.” On one hand, these large-scale drawings explore the tensions and dynamics within human relationships. On the other, they explore how these same forces may constrict or enchain humans when negative forces come into play. While this series is in part a reflection on Taiwanese cultural traditions that can seem oppressive,I believe it can be applied more broadly to the human experience.

    Lian #9
    Hui Chi Lee

    Hair and chopsticks are evident motifs in this series. In Chinese tradition, lengthy hair symbolizes longevity. Hair signifies the duration of a life span, an expanse of time of which we are often hardly aware. While we may acknowledge the finitude of life, time is envisioned as somehow endless. Humans favor stability and continuity. Thus, even when one’s comfort and status is threatened or entangled by a chaotic environment, ambivalence seems inevitable. Color is introduced here in a symbolic, metaphorical way. Red symbolizes both a warning and an awakening moment in life.

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    Hui Chi Lee

    HEW: Are hand drawn graphite pen and colored pencil works on paper an investment? By its nature, paper is fragile, how should collectors care for that type of work?

    Hui Chi Lee: All of my work is 100% archival, from paper to plexiglass. As with all artwork, placing it out of direct sunlight is always a good idea.

    HEW: This is another two-part question … Can you shed some light on what you meant regarding your earlier work “Moving Corpse and Walking Flesh” when you said “Regardless of differences between nations and social structures, the disproportionate emphasis on consumerism and a lack of consideration given to spiritual dimensions have placed a heavy burden on contemporary life. Humans seem trapped in a never-ending spiral of materialistic desires and endless wants, and our craving to consume now turns on the subject to consume the spirit”. Can this, in part, be also said about the current state of the art market?

    Hui Chi Lee: I have selected the qualities we associate with mannequins—plastic and figure-like, but inanimate and anonymous–as a vehicle to prompt a discourse on these seemingly contradictory but connected conditions. The randomly amassed mannequin-like figures in these drawings lack self-determination and appear powerless, much like many vulnerable and immobile human beings in today’s society. I want to encourage the viewer to consider this human condition in a critical and holistic manner.

    Hui Chi Lee's "Lian" Lian".
    Hui Chi Lee’s “Lian” Lian”.

    The answer depends on the viewer’s own perceptions and projections. My work serves as a visual riddle for each viewer to decipher. The elements in each drawing seek to convey the imperceptible influence that an inherited tradition can have on one’s mentality, forming core beliefs that are difficult to break.

    HEW: I understand that you are currently teaching applied arts at the North Carolina Appalachian University. What do you tell your students about the future of contemporary art?

    Hui Chi Lee: My students are always working within the context of their generation. I encourage them to explore the world and their place in it.

    HEW: When you travel around the world, what do you look for in these different cultures? What are your go-to museums, monuments, and galleries around the globe?

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    A recent installation by Hui Chi Lee, showing at Fitzgerald Fine Arts in Soho, New York.

    Hui Chi Lee: It is the moments that I least expect to happen that I become more inspired by. In short, it is in the small moments and details that we experience things in a new way. This is what I hope to capture in my new body of work.

  • Culture,  ETOS,  Gallery Openings,  Interior Design,  Life and Style,  Nina Reeves,  Showrooms,  Vyna St Phard

    Autumn Fête at ETOS with Contemporary Artist William Witenberg

    William Witenberg, Mercedes Desio, Alberto Villalobos
    On Tuesday October 15th, Mercedes Desio and Alberto Villalobos hosted the New York launch event of a show by contemporary artist William Witenberg at their chic downtown home furniture gallery ETOS. The show represented the first time Witenberg has formally exhibited his new collection which blends ancient watercolor techniques with contemporary digital manipulation to create mixed media pieces that broaden the definitions of what the eye sees.
    The evening was well-attended and guests included Chappy and Melissa Morris, Di Mondo, Lorren Miller, Peter Benedek, Michele Gerber Klein, Evelyn Lorentzen-Bell, Margot Takian, Anna Saucedo, Kyle Marshall, Brooks Huston, Peter von Schlossberg, Nell and Hayley Kucich, Nuria de la Fuente, Carolina Davila, Dina Toak, Charles Pavarini III, Randall Tarasuk, Eric Hilton, Garrow Kedigian, Vyna St. Phard, Brett Beldock, Suzanne Eason, Joshua Green, Stephanie Richmond, Christine D’Ascoli, Ambria Miscia, Anki and Victoria Leeds, Nicole Holt, Jennifer Roberts, Karen Tompkins, Karen Dorothee Peters, Maggie Norris, Amy Porter, Violeta Lekutanoy, Linette Semino and Nelly Espinal.

    Eric Hilton, William Witenberg
    Chappy Morris, Melissa Morris
    Randall Tarasuk, Alberto Villalobos, Charles Pavarini III
    Jennifer Roberts, William Witenberg, Suzanne Eason

    Alberto Villalobos, Vyna St Phard, Mercedes Desio

    Stephanie Richmond, Ambria Miscia
    Alberto Villalobos, Kyle Marshall
    Anna Witenberg, Madeleine Witenberg
    Alberto Villalobos, Di Mondo, Mercedes Desio
    Photos courtesy Patrick McMullan
  • Art,  Decorative Arts,  Friedman and Vallois,  Gallery Openings,  Philippe Brodzki

    Amazing Mythologies From Around The World

    Sitting on Fish
    If one of the figures carries a fish they carry the symbol of the cycle of life. From the first day of life, each evolves in a marine and aquatic world. A poetic way to symbolize 
    the unique character of every person.” 
    Philippe Brodzi
    Beginning Thursday, October 10th, Friedman & Vallois will present the whimsical world of mythology by Belgian artist, Philippe Brodzki. The exhibition “Mythologies”, which consists of some 30 sculptural works in bronze and ceramic will run at the 2nd Floor Gallery until November 23rd, 2013. Busts and figures, with distant facial expressions, are typical of Brodzki’s work in ceramics and evoke the aesthetic of Etruscan mythology. Brodzki celebrates Greek and Roman mythology as he reveals clearly in “The Abduction of Europa” (pictured below). This celebrated, and global artist has been winning the hearts of international critics, and was awarded in 1996 by the International Contemporary Art Prize of the Foundation Prince Pierre of Monaco for his outstanding work.

    Philippe’s technique of bronze casting, namely the lost wax technique and sophisticated patinations in the manner of ancient classical sculptors is fascinating and moving, at the same time. In addition his aesthetic and style is often reminiscent of the ancient Chinese art found in Xi’an some years ago.
    Friedman & Vallois is located at 27 East 67th Street, New York City. The Opening is on Thursday, October 10th from 5-8PM.
    Caroline in turban
    Brodzki bird
    The abduction of Europa
    Copyright images from Philippe Brodzki