Statement:I nearly destroy papers – I soak, beat, crumple, throw and wring sheets, then felt them into a new substrate in order to cast objects from personal memories. Paper felting technique is borrowed from old Korea, called Joomchi, and new substrate created from this laborious process transforms a fragile sheet of paper into a new substrate that is strong as animal hide.  These are various casting series I have been exploring since 2012, I intentionally choose to take shapes of the objects that are strong and I focus on capturing what these objects visually symbolize. The process of casting involves reconstructing psychological space first, then physically draping over a sheet, feeling the shapes with my fingertips, then brushing and stippling over each element. This process creates a three dimensional frottage, similar to what one does when they rub something over a textured surface, like a gravestone, to get an impression.

Bio:

Sammy Lee is an interdisciplinary artist in Denver, Colorado. Her work focuses on spatial, narrative, and sequential qualities in personal history, as Lee incorporate her diverse explorations in art and architecture. Lee was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea and moved to Southern California at the age of sixteen.  Lee studied media art at UCLA and architecture at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.  Her work has been exhibited internationally and can be found in collections at the Getty Research Institute, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Spencer Museum of Art, and the Spanish National Library in Madrid, Spain.  Currently Lee is a resident artist at Redline, serve as Board of Directors for Asian Art Association at Denver Art Museum, and operate a new contemporary Asian art residency and project space, called Collective SML | k in Santa Fe Art District, Denver.

Sammy Seung-min Lee has been an Artnaut since 2018.
Website: www.studiosmlk.com