Il Lee, Untitled 302, 2002. Ballpoint pen on paper, 30 x 22-½", Courtesy of the Artist and Art Projects International (API), New York.

Il Lee, Untitled 978 Q, 1997-1998. Ballpoint pen on paper, 82 x 61", Courtesy of the Artist and Art Projects International (API), New York.

Queens Museum of Art
New York City Building
Flushing Meadows Corona Park
718-592-9700
Queens
Il Lee: Ballpoint Drawings
July 19-September 30, 2007

Using disposable ballpoint pens, Lee creates dramatic ink fields on surfaces of canvas and paper. For this exhibition, he will present a selection of large format blue and black ink drawings, including early experimental studies and an impressive 50-foot installation — his largest work to date.

Among other recent and historical artistic influences, Lee (b. 1952) is largely inspired by Minimalism and the Asian practice of Sumukhwa (ink and wash painting). By combining an inclination toward austerely controlled forms with the distinctive fluidity of ink, he melds Eastern and Western cultural aesthetics into abstractions that are contemporary, yet firmly rooted in tradition. His expressive strokes — characterized by rhythmic, physically demanding arm gestures — leave behind a record of intersecting orbits, undulating lines, and frenetic swirls. When viewed en masse, these discrete movements amount to objects with monumental presence; like wide-open landscapes or perfectly preserved fossils, their auras are imposing and serene, provoking awe and inviting meditation.

A palpable impression of harnessed chaos emanates from the intense voids in drawings like Untitled 901 (2001) and Untitled 978 Q (1997-98), and similarly builds from the more fragmented, starry patterns of BL 071 (2006) and BL 081 (2006). The vast power and poise of these abstract forms sends the mind in search of figurative equivalents from the natural world, but though the crests of mountains, swaths of woodlands, and the stones of a riverbed can all be found in the depths of the works, ultimately their beauty is derived from their ineffability — and the electrified mystery that surrounds them.

Over several decades Lee has developed a pioneering style that has garnered him a worldwide audience. What he accomplishes with a monochromatic palate and a single, utilitarian instrument are boundless renderings that encourage different ways of seeing.

Followers of Il Lee’s art — as well as newcomers to his masterful, nuanced renderings — will find particular satisfaction in his new large format works. In some of the works on canvas Il Lee incorporates subtle colorings and in all he continues his practice of creating carefully balanced compositions with fields of forms, or a single monolithic form, constructed out of and unified by teeming ballpoint pen lines.

Il Lee, born in Korea, has been active in New York as an artist for nearly 30 years. In the last few years interest in Il Lee’s work has accelerated. Increasingly, this interest is being shared with larger audiences through book and magazine publications and extensive gallery and national and international museum exhibitions. In short, he is being recognized on a number of fronts as one of the important artists of his generation.

The pioneering work with ballpoint pens that Il Lee has continued over several decades has been broadly acknowledged. In 1981 his work was selected for the exhibition Korean Drawing Now at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. In 2002 his work was presented in New Acquisitions 2001 at the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Kwachon, Korea. In addition, the editors of the Fifth Edition of Drawing: A Contemporary Approach, 2004, the "best-selling drawing text in the market," have included a discussion of Il Lee’s contributions to the practice of drawing. The book, widely used in college art departments, places Il Lee's work in the context of 20th Century trends in drawing and of major contemporary artists working today.

Il Lee: Ballpoint Drawings reveals Il Lee’s recent works as standouts for their mastery, unfettered experimentation, and exceptional contribution to contemporary art making. With this exhibition being the largest survey of Lee’s work in recent years, it will be easy for viewers to appreciated the timelessness of his honed aesthetic, contemporary yet existing outside of any easily described genre. API is pleased to announce that the exhibition also marks the 8th year the artist has worked with the gallery..