Artist’s Statement


Renowned artist and teacher, Hans Hoffman wrote this about the mystery of creating: “A thing in itself never expresses anything. It is the relation between things that give meaning to them and that formulates a thought”.

Art is that mysterious phenomenon that happens when, to use Hoffman’s words; ‘spiritually projected’ and ‘carefully sensed’ relations between visual elements are expressed through the interpretation of the medium. This is what I strive to do in my own work. I focus primarily on the process of the work, staying open and sensitive to each move; refining and attempting to arrive at that ‘carefully sensed’ relation, which mirrors my emotions and experiences.

Painting became a passion for me when a teacher at the Parsons School of Design, Stephanie Rose, first introduced me to Abstract Expressionism and the works of De Kooning, Kline and Pollock. It reminded me of the Asian art I was familiar with from my childhood in South Korea, such as calligraphic ink painting of the landscapes and Chinese characters. I was struck by the deliberate, fearless, free brush strokes and expressive content of the work. It became apparent to me that the value in these works is the expressive content of the spiritually projected core of the artist. I sensed their fearlessness and faith in working with a process of unknowns in which chance elements play a large role.

I studied the art of acrylic stain painting with Larry Poons and Ronnie Landfield, both artists who played a large role in the Color Field and Lyrical Abstract movements of the 1960’s.
My preference for this medium and method is rooted in the limitless variety of surfaces, color tones, weight and edges that can be achieved as result of successive layers of stain, as well as the excitement of ‘going with the flow’; working with the unexpected and the element of chance that occurs during the process.

I am currently residing and painting in Granada, Nicaragua.




Young Son Lee