August 11 – September 11, 2021
Viewing Room

Lee ChiHsiang is one of the most representative young artists in photorealism in Taiwan. His paintings present scenes of window views with delicate brush strokes. The Taiwanese patterned glass panes and screen covered windows, the hazy light, and the blurry silhouettes of objects; Lee’s paintings reveal an invisible poetic awareness in these everyday scenes. However, what this artist pursues is not merely a meticulous production process in the studio. Instead, what Lee is looking for is more like a floating random confrontation. The moments are portrayed as snapshots with photographic features, such as a shallow depth of field. In “Hand Held”(2021), we can see a camera held by anonymous hands attempting to focus through the patterned glass, giving us a visual and tactile sense of the lines on the pane.

While photorealism is often known for depicting clear and bright views, Lee tends to explore dark and abstract features of this style, like in “Lingering Focus”. In this painting, he imitates the optics of a camera: the focus is now on the glass and window; the objects are now out of focus, and have become blurry and silhouetted. In “Through the Gap”(2021), a mysterious and suppressing large black feather challenges the priority of detail and clarity in photorealism; in “White Dot”(2021), unrecognizable books and a human face emerge from the dark, confusing the viewer of their position. Lee adds a degree of abstract imagination to his realistic painting: from inside to outside, the light and the time, the angle of seeing, even the smell and the temperature.

Lee’s painting is momentary, yet it is slow. He describes himself as a camera, printing the scenes and moments he’s captured on a canvas in the darkroom. The immortal flower pattern in “Iron Flower Pattern”(2021) and the momentary cicada wings in “Double Standard”(2021) present a contrast of time. The weak morning, evening light also emphasize the illusion of time. Divided by the window and lingering between the focuses, “Lingering Focus” shows not only Lee’s extraordinary photorealism paintings but also layers of imaginative abstract elements: randomness, the fleeting, and the ever-changing focus of life.

Lee ChiHsiang, born in Nantou, 1983, holds an MFA from Taipei National University of the Arts. His recent solo exhibitions include “Blue and White”(2020) at A Gallery, Taipei; “Soft Sound” at MuMu Gallery ,Tainan; “GIDDINESS” at Project Fulfill Art Space, Taipei. Important group exhibitions include “Fruit, flower, object and others”(2018) at Double Square Gallery, Taipei; “An Ode to Thirty”（2017） at Eslite Gallery, Taipei; “Live Ammo” (2011) at Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei. Lee is also granted with “Chang Hsin-Lung Arts Award” and is selected as the artist of “New Perspective Art in Taiwan Dimensional Creation Serie” and “Taipei National University of the Arts Departmental Oil Painting Exhibition”.