DOOSAN Gallery New York is pleased to present On the Surface by Hoin Lee, a recipient of the 7th DOOSAN Artist Award. As Lee’s New York debut, the exhibition will introduce a series of oil paintings with cityscapes.

Hoin Lee has painted scenes ranging from exotic landscapes to urban cityscapes. While his past work replicates found aerial photos of surreal landscapes, his latest work manifests the artist’s gaze looking out to a metropolis through branches and plants. He explains that the change in perspective shifts focus from fantasy to reality and demands awareness of our surroundings.

In the paintings displayed, scenes from Lee’s walks and hikes around landmarks in Seoul are arranged unto and within the surface. The landscape transferred from reality to a piece of paper symbolizes the habitat of the artist and, further, reminisces the long-forgotten nature. The title On the Surface at once implies the trivial beauty of the urban nightscape and, at the same time, points to the two-dimensional paintings that capture fragments of our time.

The American art critic Arthur Danto once described art to be “a mirror held up to nature.” As such, Lee’s landscapes reflect on specific places and their periphery and demonstrate his point of view along with the emotional connotations that the landmarks carry. This exhibition invites viewers to enter Lee’s interpretation of the city and contemplate their own lives at a time of global urbanization.

Hoin Lee (b.1980) received his M.F.A. from Korea National University of Arts. He has held solo exhibitions at Cake Gallery (2015, Seoul, Korea), 16bungee (2012, Seoul, Korea), and Gallery SUN Contemporary (2009, Seoul, Korea). He showed in group exhibitions at Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art (2016, Seoul, Korea), Cake Gallery (2014, Seoul, Korea), COMMON CENTER (2014, Seoul, Korea), Hite Collection (2012, Seoul, Korea), The Serrone (2011, Monza, Italy), AramNuri Arts Center (2011, Goyang, Korea), Daegu Culture and Arts Center (2010, Daegu, Korea), Space Hamilton (2010, Seoul, Korea), ONE AND J. Gallery (2010, Seoul, Korea), and many more.