To understand tradition requires following tradition, and as such, Lee’s practice has been rooted in using traditional methods of making to address contemporary concerns. He incorporates gold into many of his works because of the material’s historic and contemporary symbol as a token that transcends us from earthly concerns - most notably that of death. Gold was used to line that sarcophagi of wealthy Egyptians; gold coins were often placed in the mouth of the deceased in Ancient Greece as a token for Charon, the ferryman who crossed the river that divided the land of the dead with that of the living. Even in Western Christianity, Jesus Christ – the son of God purported to save humanity from eternal damnation – was given a gift of gold by one of the three Wise Men. In contemporary society, however, the immortality of gold is used to imbue immortality to mortal sentiments such as love. But how can love be immortal when the two lovers will eventually die?

The artist pays special attention to the materiality and fragility of gold leaf – each sheet is incredibly beautiful and pristine until it is disturbed, at which point it creases and rips permanently. When the artist handles gold leaf, he’s constantly in dialogue with the material, compromising when the material rips and feeling rewarded when the sheet lays down perfectly onto a surface. Using gold leaf in this way reminds the artist of love – something that is so beautiful, but so fragile; something that shines through the dark when the material agrees with you, but it is also something that can never be repaired once destroyed; only repaired to a certain extent. The interaction of the artist to this material mimics the dynamism of love.

For 1000 Attempts at a reconciliation, Lee transfers one thousand sheets of 24 karat gold leaf onto a painted blue surface, trying to maintain the original integrity and flawlessness of the original material. However, this is impossible taking into consideration of how delicate the leaves are, as well as the inevitable human error of handling the gold. The results mirror the possibilities of love – moments of near perfection, moments of destruction, and moments when the artist has clearly given up. The artist decided to create one thousand squares of these leaves because he grew up listening to the story of the 1000 cranes – a story told to children in Korea, China and Japan that claims that folding 1000 paper cranes will allow the individual to realize one wish. The hope of the artist in completing this project is to come closer in understanding the many complexities, nuances, pains, and joys of love – to come closer to fulfilling the artist’s wish of seeing, and feeling, true love.

Sabrina Amrani will also display at her booth at India Art Fair a solo presentation by Timothy Hyunsoo Lee titled Of Softness and Hardness. Of Softness and Hardness consists of watercolor paintings, sculptures, and installations that use symbolic objects and spaces and distort them to imbue a “existential urgency” as Dali often did. The prevalence of a celestial, limbo-like cloud imagery sets the viewer in a purgatory: an environment of spatial ambiguity and temporal arrest. A space where time essentially stops.