Constructing Fantasies in Sarah Lee's Winter Wonderlands

Constructing Fantasies in Sarah Lee's Winter Wonderlands

Posted on By ART FOR CHANGE
Born in Seoul and based in New York, Sarah Lee regards her paintings and works on paper as stages for storytelling, often adding unexpected details to the environment. The artist blends pigments with one another to create otherworldly and effervescent landscapes that border on the abstract. Using rich hues and delicate details, Lee constructs mystical landscapes with dreamy auras and pristine uses of light. With the solstice behind us and the coldest months well underway for the Northern Hemisphere, ART FOR CHANGE is excited to take a closer look at the inspiration behind artist’s work, and specifically the winter wonderlands that make up both of her limited edition prints.

 

 

from
from

Sarah Lee, Moon and a Star, 2021; Hand-Embellished, Signed, and Numbered Limited Edition Print
from $960.00
from $960.00
The full moon is a frequent motif in Lee’s work, often lighting up her forests after a dusting of snow—emphasizing her signature, minimalist shapes. As seen in the artist’s hand-embellished ART FOR CHANGE edition, Moon and a Star, 2021, the moon peeks through behind a long, thin tree trunk bathing the forest in a luminescent white light, and bringing a sparkle to the gold star ornament. Her use of contrast brings a brightness and sense of hope to these evocative images, placing the viewer in wonder and merriment to fill in her narrative scenes.

 

Inspired by the fairytales and fantasies from her South Korean childhood, Lee evokes these same feelings of wonder and mystery through nocturnal scenes, where lack of light can illuminate more surprising details. The crisp air, nipping breeze and meditative stillness is palpable in compositions like the artist’s most recent ART FOR CHANGE edition The Black Tulip, 2022, where new details like the namesake tulip unveil themselves in the shadows of the bare trees in both signed and numbered and hand-embellished examples.

 

Lee’s emotional atmospheres bring out a childlike sense of wonder through color and light. Inquire with hello@artforchange.com regarding availability.