SARAH LEE

Sarah Lee (b. 1988, Seoul) lives and works in New York. In 2017 she received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she also received her BFA in 2011. Lee also studied painting at Seoul National University in 2014. Her work has been featured in numerous galleries including PMAM, London (2022), Anat Ebgi, LA (2022), Carl Kostyál, Milan (2022), ATM, New York (2021), Galerie Hussenot, Paris (2021) among others.

Hi Sarah! Thanks for joining me for Mint Tea. To begin, what’s your favorite tea? If you don’t drink tea, what kind of coffee or drink do you enjoy the most?

My favorite is chamomile, which I'm drinking right now. I drink coffee in the morning and then I drink tea throughout the day.

Could you tell me about your background and your practice?

I was born and raised in Korea, and I moved to Toronto, Canada when I was 16 years old. When I was young, I wanted to be a cartoonist for a very simple reason, because I was a really shy kid. I didn't have much presence in my classroom, and the only time that I got attention was when I drew cartoons or characters for my friends. I didn't know that artist can be a real career, because I don't have any artists in my family and I hadn’t seen any around me. I ended up going to college as a pre-veterinary major, just because I love dogs and cats. But obviously, being a vet and liking dogs and cats was so different. I was so bored when I was in college, and I took a studio art class and immediately fell in love with it. That was the first time I did any painting. I loved it so much that I transferred to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, because the instructor of that first class was from SAIC. He was like, “Why are you sitting in my class all day when you're in a science major?” And so he recommended me to transfer to art school. Since then, I was in art school for my entire twenties. I finished my BFA and MFA from SAIC, and then I studied a few years in Seoul National University as well. I moved to New York in 2018, a year before the pandemic. I had two part-time jobs. I worked in a gallery and I worked for private dealers, and then I had to paint at night. So probably that was the hardest time of my life. But I was very lucky that one of the galleries in New York found me on Instagram and gave me a debut show in 2021, and since then I’ve been a full time artist.

I’m a painter. Sometimes I do drawings, but painting is my medium. A lot of people call me a landscape painter, but I'm still not sure I am, because my work gradually changed from abstract to landscape. But I was looking for the exact same emotional experience throughout my entire career. So, I don't know if I'm going to be a landscape painter forever, but the concept behind it is the same. Basically, the complex emotion that I'm looking for is a combination of fear and beauty. I think they work together because it's a fear, coming from unknowingness, and then beauty coming from that fear. In my older series, I was looking for that from the forms and colors, and I was creating atmosphere. Right now, it just became a little more representative. I'm giving just a little more information. So that's why it's hard for me to define myself as a landscape artist, because it's always moving toward that specific emotion. For example, my recent work, “The Night Stars Fell,” it's an image of thousands of stars falling ono the ground. I referenced that from an actual phenomenon that happened in 1883 across the US. It was the Leonid meteor shower, which happened during two days in winter 1833. Back then, people didn't have a camera on them, but I'm pretty sure people were terrified. But there are a lot of drawn records of it, and the drawings are so beautiful. They found it so beautiful, while they were so terrified. They thought that the world was ending. That incident was such the right reference for me, and I had to make that into a painting. Those kinds of moments that are the ones that I'm trying to find through my body of work.

So, what do the falling stars mean to you?

You have to make a wish. But it's hard to see, so it's like a fantasy to me. I've never seen it. But I think it's scary at the same time.

What projects are you working on right now?

I recently put a show up in London. I've been working nonstop since last year, so this is my first time having a break. No plan right now. I don't have anything right now. The emotional experience that I'm trying to find through my work is not going to change. I've been chasing that for all my life. But I think the way I express it could be changed, so I am not sure where it's going. It could be landscape, it could be something else, I could go back to abstract, so I don't know yet.

I am the most familiar with your paintings. Can you talk about how and why you choose to work with the media that you do?

I like painting because this form has been in human history for so long that people just accept it as a window of imagination. There is no other space where people can immediately fall into the story like that. I'm working with oil paints. I was using acrylic paint with an airbrush a lot for the last four to five years. I love that effect because it's just a perfect tool to make lighting. It just makes everything bright – it feels like there's a light inside of the painting. I really liked it, but I had to give up on that tool because of the potential health issues. I tried pastel, acrylic painting, oil painting, a lot of different mediums to mimic that effect, and the oil paint was the closest one. So that's why I moved on from acrylic with airbrush to oil paint.

What is your painting process like? Do you start the painting with a specific image in mind from the beginning or does it evolve organically as you go?

I don't have a specific image when I start painting, but I premix all my colors before I start. So it kind of creates a mood. Once I have a certain color palette, I just put them on the canvas. I just fill it with color, and the image automatically generates from that. So yeah, the image just comes naturally after I choose the colors.

What inspires the images behind your paintings?

To be honest, there are so many inspirations. I am like constantly exposed to so many things like film and illustration. I especially like 19th century French illustration – I have tons of books about that. I just love the mood they create, it's very similar to my work. Sometimes I look for historical records of natural disasters. I find the backdrop of Disney animations so interesting. I think they're genius at creating mood. When there's a villain, they make such a dark background and I love that. Also some sci-fi novels and children's books. There are so many sources of information around me, so it's hard to pick one.

Can you talk about any imagery or symbols that you like to work with?

I really like elements that trigger my fantasies and imagination, like moons and stars, snow, and really dark night forests. Those images are mysterious, like they're concealing some secrets. I keep bringing them to my paintings. They are always around us, but beyond human. There's nothing we can do about it. I don't know, it just keeps reminding me of my existence. It makes me humble. All kinds of emotion come from those elements. So many people have made stories about them, like fairy tales. I think it just triggers people's emotions, so that's why I like them.

I love how your paintings have this eerie serenity to them. Are these natural scenes inspired by real life or are they purely imaginary?

They don't exist, they are from my imagination. But I do look up a lot of references, for example when I need certain tree shapes, how forests look. Those fragments of references are combined together, but basically that space itself is imaginary.

Are you part of the paintings that you make? Do they ever function as a type of self-portrait, or do you imagine finding yourself inside of them?

Yeah, I actually do insert myself as an observer. But imagine that there's a thunderstorm outside of the window, but you're in your room, you're safe. I want to be distanced from that scene, because it's mysterious and maybe it's dangerous. But I want to be in a safe place observing that scene. So yeah, I have to admit that I am in my scenes.

Is there a specific geographical location that you really like, or feel connected to?

Yes. Snowfields are one, and the water as well. I think I'm really scared of deep dark water where I can’t see the bottom. That makes me fantasize about the water, because I'm scared of it. I always screenshot those dark waters and snowfields that no one has stepped on.

When did you begin working mainly on landscapes?

It's hard to say, because I've never identified myself as a landscape painter. I just think it's like zooming in and zooming out of the same subject matter. But I think during the pandemic, I began painting more representative objects. I think the loneliness from the isolation has to do something with it, because I worked from home and my studio is next door. I don't think I met anyone for about seven or eight months. And that made me paint something that is not here, like exotic landscapes, like moons and waters that I cannot see, but I also didn't want to paint any human in it. I think that’s the point when I started to make landscape paintings.

What kind of emotions do you channel while you paint?

I don't intentionally create a mood for my paintings, I just let my painting lead my emotions. In the end, I'm trying to understand loneliness, not just on a personal level, but on a universal level. I think when these kinds of emotions become a universal thing, it becomes something else. It's not depressing – everyone shares this experience. I want people to witness that in my work, and I hope it consoles people. I paint lonely paintings, but I don't think they are not happy. It's hopeful, there's a hope in it.

I see that you like to use blue a lot in your paintings. What is your favorite shade of blue?

I don't use blue out of the tube, so it's a mixture of blues. My favorite one is somewhere between Prussian blue and a teal. That's the blue that I use the most. I love cobalt too. When you mix white with cobalt, there's a bright blue that’s so pretty.

What are your favorite colors? Do they find their way into your artworks?

My favorite colors are obviously blue and green. That's very apparent in my work.

Is there a new medium that you would like to try or to work in more?

I am interested in soft pastels. It has a very similar effect as the oil painting that I'm doing right now, because it smudges very well. I haven't figured out a way to layer them over and over again, but I'm working on it.

Can you talk about any films, animations, or games that you enjoy and find visually inspiring?

I don't watch Japanese animation, but I just randomly find screenshots of it because their lighting is very, very subtle and beautiful. So I get a lot of references from there. A lot of old illustrations, I find that very helpful. And there's a documentary called “Night on Earth.” I have tons of screenshots from there. And “My Octopus Teacher,” that's so sad. I cried so bad when the octopus died. There are certain things that make me cry, usually something to do with animals.

Where are you located now? Do you think where you are located influences your practice?

I live and work in New York. I don't think I can live like anywhere too sunny, because I'm a big fan of gloomy weather and rainy days. I think New York is very helpful right now for me.

How do you stay connected to your community?

Believe it or not, I'm a very introverted shy person, so I seriously have a hard time going to every single opening. But I have really good friends who go to openings, and I go to openings when I have someone I know there.

What’s your favorite tool?

My favorite tool is a new brush that is just purchased. Every time, the first stroke is the best one. If I had a lot of money, I wish I had a lot of new brushes, then I could just use them and throw them out. But yeah, that's my favorite tool. I use the cheapest brushes, because new brushes are always better than expensive old brushes.

What is the space where you do your work?

I have a studio in the Ukrainian Village. I'm right next to a Japanese artist residency, so I'm meeting new Japanese artists every two months and they're my studio mates. Every time I meet new artists, it's very refreshing. Otherwise I would be very isolated, because I don't see any of my artist friends in the East Village at the moment. It's an office space, so I don't have a sink to wash my brush, but it's affordable.

For inspiration, I like to be at home. I have four fish. I had two. They are different species, they are not supposed to mate with each other, but they made a miracle. So I have two children from them. It's the only living thing in my house other than plants. I just stare at them, every morning I feed them. It's very soothing. And having an aquarium in my house is really soothing. It's my first time having a fish.

Do you have any ritual that helps you get into the zone?

For me, being in the studio for a certain amount of hours is very helpful for me. I try to spend at least seven hours in my studio. I go to work around noon, and then come back home around seven or eight. I don't always paint for seven hours. Sometimes I don't do anything there. But it's really helpful, because inspiration doesn't always come to me, but once I wait for it, really patiently, it comes, and I need to be able to make that physical painting immediately when I have it. So I'm just waiting for that inspiration every day. That's how I spend my time.

When do you know when you are finished with your artwork or a body of work?

I get that question a lot. It's always very hard to answer, because I don't know. It's hard to know when I'm finished. But I really don't want to overwork. So when I feel like I'm close to finishing, like I have enough information in my work, I slow down and make every single move very, very carefully. I think less information is better in my work. I want my painting to be like the tip of an iceberg. Sometimes when you give too much information to the viewers, it limits their imagination. I want people to fall in and imagine their own stories. So I'm trying to give the minimum information possible. So sometimes it looks super empty, but I’d rather have an empty space than full space.

Are there any Korean artists who you especially like?

I’d say Lee Ufan is my favorite so far. It relates to the answer that I just gave. With minimum information, he makes such a big impact on the viewers. I think that's he's just a brilliant painter. Just a few strokes, but it's really powerful.

Who are your favorite practicing artists?

Matthew Wong, Andrew Cranston, and Peter Doig. To me, they all have a similar way of approaching emotion through landscapes. Those three are my all-time favorites.

What gives you the feeling of butterflies in your stomach?

This interview right now. Talking about my work in verbal language or text is really frustrating. I am not good at putting my thoughts into language. I've been like this always, since I was young. I spoke really late, and right now I speak slowly, even in Korean. I always have butterflies when I have to give a public speech or talk in front of a group of people. But maybe that's why I'm a painter.

www.sulhwalee.com | @sarahsrlee