Myung-Hi Cha and Dom Lee at Murakami Gallery

invitation card design by Rosa Phoenix
click on the image above to see detail

"Purest Forms: Landscape and the Abstract"
Myung-Hi Cha + Dom Lee at Murakami Gallery

(press release written for Murakami Gallery in 1996)

NEW YORK – The paintings of Myung-Hi Cha and Dom Lee will be shown at the Murakami Gallery, located in an elegant historic townhouse on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, at 17 East 71st Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10021, from September 11th to October 5th, 1996.

Myung-Hi Cha’s work has been represented in solo exhibitions at the Seoul Art Center Museum, as well as in the most respected private galleries of Korea. Cha uses a minimalistic, refined palette to create her dramatic mixed media paintings. Shadowy, dreamy colors give definition and power to the forms of her abstract landscapes. The artist’s masterfully expressive brushwork further adds to the visual and emotional impact of her paintings. Her unique interpretation of the landscape is moody, intense and visually provocative.

The space has infinite depth and dimensions. The air is replete with the strength and energy of life. There are lively changes continuing perpetually. The world is mysterious, sublime and solemn.

—Lim Young-Bang, art critic

“Try to find beauty, not only in luxurious and well-known places, but in ordinary and unknown places,” writes Dom Lee in his book Urbanscapes.  His extraordinary urban New York cityscapes, rendered in rich sepia tones, portray the meditative, contemplative moments of city life. Lee is a renowned artist who has won many prestigious illustration awards. His wax painting process involves spreading pigmented wax onto paper and then scraping the surface. This results in a richly colored surface and unique painterly texture that perfectly complement Lee’s vision of New York. Lee, who is originally from Korea, creates spare, minimalist compositions which are evocative and intimate; there exists in his pieces an effortless balance of light, shadow and texture.

He speaks of the abandoned, indigent souls in the big city. Perhaps because he came from far away, the fresh perspectives of Dom Lee show us our own city in a new way.

—Moe Forner

The Murakami Gallery was founded in 1993 by Hiroko Murakami, who has assembled an eclectic salon of international artists linked by classic taste and Japanese sensibility.

Dom Lee