Land scape
CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
Deanna Lee
Lives and works in Brooklyn , New York , USA
An artist ' s statement
M
y work — in the form of paintings , drawings , and site-specific installations — stems from patterns and traces of growth and decay in the natural world and the built environment . I grew up seeing electron micrographs and lab specimens , and I am still engrossed by abstracted images of nature . In my works , masses of lines evoke various influences : organic forms like hair , muscles , and fungi ; natural systems such as waves and wind currents ; geological strata ; and topographical maps . These linear networks are often based on hand-drawn records of physical effects of nature in my immediate surroundings — like a bent plane around a window , a sloping floor , or the decaying walls in my former studio . My process includes making tracings and rubbings of surfaces like plywood and cracking plaster . I think of these marks as the calligraphic signatures of quotidian natural effects and as personal interpretations of the material evidence of time . I am invested in the hand-drawn line for its conveyance of individualism , imperfection , and fragility , and I see my use of line as a tenuous analogy to traditional Asian ink painting . I strive to delineate the emotional resonance that I see in forms made by natural forces .
Deanna Lee
Deanna was born in Carmel , New York , to parents from China and Taiwan , and grew up in suburban Boston . After years of classical music training on several instruments , she received degrees in art from Oberlin College and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago , and she studied at the Rome campus of the Tyler School of Art .
She has had solo exhibitions at Robert Henry Contemporary , Wave Hill , and PS122 in New York City ; and Artemisia Gallery , Chicago . Her work has appeared in group shows at numerous venues , including : The Drawing Center , Abrons Art Center , NURTUREart , and Schema Projects in New York City ; Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago ; SPACES in Cleveland ; and George Mason University , Virginia .
Deanna ’ s public art works include a 700-foot-long mural on bicycle path barriers in Queens , commissioned by the NYC Department of Transportation ; and a design for tree guards in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill in Brooklyn .
Her awards and honors include : a Pollock-Krasner grant , Asia Society travel grant , BRIC Media Fellowship , Manhattan Graphics Center Scholarship , two grants from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs , and Abbey Mural Fellowship , National Academy . She has been an artist-in-residence at the Millay Colony and at Saltonstall Foundation .