EUN VIVIAN LEE

Biography

Based in New York City and across Asia, Eun Vivian Lee is a contemporary Korean American artist best known for her colorful, bold, and compelling pigment paint dot paintings. Her work contains hundreds of thousands of dots that fill her paper. Her dots are barely half an inch tall and wide. Using pigment paints and a defined grid structure drawn with pencil, Lee displays various emotions and feelings. Lee herself sees the world a chaotic place, finds peace and healing of the mind through the meticulous and repetitive practice of creating dots onto paper. Her search for finding peace is rooted in her desire to both self-improve herself and also improve her interactions with the world. The accumulation of every small dot depicts Lee’s value of appreciating the smaller moments in life. Likewise, her relationship with nature is often an inspiration for her circular structured works, a way of depicting the moon embracing the sun, and its profound influence on individuals. Ultimately, Lee’s approach to her artwork strives to promote hope, love, and peace in humanity. She studied Computer Graphics as an undergraduate from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn New York and has a master’s degree in Interactive Media Telecommunications from the New York University, New York city. She was a programmer for years before becoming a full time artist. You can at times find media/design influences in her work.

Artist Statement

"My creative process revolves around a rigorous and highly disciplined method, including in-depth detail organization and planning. I create various sizes of small droplet-like circles inside hand-drawn grid lined paper that eventually fills my entire canvas. I paint dots on various sizes of paper, each dot confined within a 0.5 inch by 0.5 inch square. By mixing and making my own paint from seashell powders, I’m able to control the exact consistency and color. Each piece of work averages from tens and thousands of dots, at times, hundred thousands and it is crucial to undertake color studies before I start my first dot. Because the aim of my work is to create poetic and subtle visual compositions, I often make countless swatches and variations of each color before embarking on a new piece.

The process is extremely repetitive and time consuming, which is why concentration and focus is needed when I paint small dots over and over. However, this experience is very humbling. The success and achievement felt after finishing a piece comes from finding peace and harmony within these hundreds of thousands of individual dots that form beautiful art. I also believe by repeating the process as my daily ritual helps me to master my artistic skills as a tool to express the emotions I want to explore freely and also this repetitive process is highly calming and meditative. I believe by applying myself to it every day rigorously is the only way to find the answer to my artistic journey. Otherwise, I would not find it.

I have always found myself inspired by my travels and the new people I meet. Experiencing new cultures and locations helps me broaden my artistic perception and understanding of life. I enjoy connecting with different types of people, especially female creative leaders; it's deeply refreshing to understand someone’s journey through their career. Learning about their lives, their creative process, and their motives allows me to better comprehend the meaning of community; thus, I feel that I belong to an emerging society where we can understand each other without the need to define our collective purpose. In turn, my art crafts a community of dots, each individual one supporting each other, whether through designing a gradient or pattern. Just as I am part of a group of artists, especially rising females, I am painting a constellation of dots in order to reinforce this idea of mindfulness. Inviting transformation has been a huge part of my work and I would like to keep seeing my work transform. Although my art is quite disciplined, my dots become more unique when drawn into slightly different shapes and sizes." - Eun Vivian Lee

Exhibitions

Solo

"The Wind, The Earth, The Water and The Moon", Bol Gallery, Singapore, February 2023 (upcoming)
"Transformative 7 - the flow of time", Art OutReach, Singapore, October 2021
"Together or Separate", American Club, Singapore - May 2018
"The Contradictive Notion: Place & Time", The Folk Gallery, Seoul, South Korea - February 2018
"Again", Trump Place Gallery, New York, USA - March 2013
"Fly Away", Trump Place Gallery, New York, USA - March 2012

Group

Annual all women artist show, Isa Art Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia, March 2023 (upcoming)
Affordable Art Fair Singapore, Bol Gallery, November 2022
"Hope from Chaos: Pandemic Reflections", ArtScience Museum, Singapore, February 2022
"Art for Wood", John W. Meagher Rotunda Gallery, Jersey City, New Jersey, November 2021
"Hello World", Trans Cultural Exchange online exhibition, Boston, USA - May 2020
"Time" The Folk Gallery, Seoul, South Korea - November 2019
"Future is Female" Taksu Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - October 2019
"Off the Grid" Susan Eley Fine Art, New York, USA - September 2019
Collaboration with Helen Ficalora Jewelry and Deborah Lippmann Nail Polish, New York, USA - July 2019
"Future is Female" Taksu Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - May 2019
"Dope Show" Taksu Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - January 2019
Affordable Art Fair, Paradise Design Gallery, Singapore - November 2018
Enia Gallery Group Show, Athens, Greece - November 2018
Collection Yang Gallery, Singapore - September 2018 - Ongoing
Reveal Contemporary Art Fair, Susan Eley Fine Arts, Saratoga Springs, New York, USA - August 2018
"Beyond the Surface" Taksu Gallery, Singapore - July 2018
"Art on the Line" AWA, Featured Artist, Hong Kong - March 2017
Blank Space Gallery, Private Collection - May 2016
"Art on the Line" AWA, Hong Kong - March 2016
"One Race" Open Studio, Happy Valley, Hong Kong - May 2015
"Artful Living" Warerfall Mansion, New York, USA - October 2015
"Once Upon a Time" Lotte Gallery, Seoul, Korea - March 2015
"Untouched" Rooster Gallery, New York, USA - October 2014
"My Fair Wedding", Lotte Gallery, Seoul, Korea - March 2014
"The Art Captivity" Susan Eley Fine Arts, New York, USA - September 2013
"The Muse" Blue Door Gallery, Yonkers Library, Yonkers, NY, USA - May 2013
"Lost & Found" Blue Door Gallery, Yonkers, NY, USA - April 2013
"TOAST" Tribeca Open Artist Studio, New York, USA - March 2011
"TOAST" Tribeca Open Artist Studio, New York, USA - March 2010
Christopher Lavallee Brain Tumor Foundation Annual Benefit - Featured Artist - New York, USA - October 2010