Spotlight Artist

Kyungmin Jean Lee

Northeast
Artist profile photo

Hi, My Dear

Blue-toned abstract painting of a seated Buddha surrounded by floating hands and faces.

oil on canvas

Inter-Being

Sink filled with apples, faucet above, ethereal blue scene, statue and pagoda visible outside window.

oil on canvas

Missing or In Missing

Blue-toned still life with flowers, tea set, glasses, bread slices, and a striped fan.

oil on canvas

Featured in New American Paintings1 / 3

Artist Statement

 Kyungmin Jean Lee’s paintings explore the fluid boundaries between life and death, where the lines between internal and external worlds blur. Rooted in a contemplative philosophy, her work reflects a deep interest in the transient nature of existence. The color blue plays a central role, evoking the vastness of the sky and depths of the oceans and creating a sense of calm and reflection that transcends everyday experience.

Using layered imagery and recurrent symbolism, her compositions navigate spaces where time, identity, and memory merge. The work seeks possibilities through an awareness of self in these liminal spaces, sometimes revealed through shadows. Water, reflections, and symbolic objects appear throughout, connecting the physical with the intangible and the present with the fleeting.

This exploration dissolves boundaries and embraces the continuous flow of existence in a meditative atmosphere. Lee’s art suggests a state of flux where permanence and impermanence coexist, allowing her paintings to serve as portals into a world where meaning is fluid and ever-evolving.

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