Dark, Light, Dark

Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new works by John Hyen Lee. This is the artist’s first solo show at the gallery. John Hyen Lee’s paintings explore the effects of repeated mark-making and layered gestures. Drawing from the structure of the Korean writing system Hangul, he treats language as a vocabulary of paint, where consecutive marks mimic the act of committing form to memory. Through a cycle of application and erasure, letters dissolve into abstraction, positioning painting as an act of both remembering and forgetting, and blurring the line between seeing and understanding. Lee handcrafts the wooden panels that act as grounds for his paintings, reflecting his deep engagement with woodworking. Growing up with a father who built their family home, Lee only picked up an interest in exploring the material of wood himself in adulthood. In addition to being selective with lumber choices, color, construction and finish, the hand-formed wood becomes an image element in the paintings. Certain works in the show present the panel frame as a part of the painting surface, incorporating it into the compositions as a primary painterly mark. Together, the collection forms a multi-lingual dialogue that dissociates letters from literal meaning and wood from mere utility. John Hyen Lee (b.1994, Los Angeles, CA) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Recent exhibitions include a solo exhibition at Harper’s Gallery (New York, NY); a solo OVR project with Nathalie Karg Gallery (New York, NY); a two-person show at Latitude Gallery (New York, NY); and group shows at Adler Beatty (New York, NY), David Castillo Gallery (Miami, FL), Klaus con Nichtssagend Gallery (New York, NY), Scroll NYC (New York, NY), and Nathalie Karg Gallery (New York, NY). His work has been reviewed in Artforum Magazine, and he holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design.