Artist Lee Mi-kyung is most famous for her works themed on sparrows and the colors of rainbow-striped Korean garment.
She graduated from Sungshin Women's University College of Art and displayed her works in a number of exhibitions home and
abroad including Seoul Arts Center, Seoul Art Show, Hyōgo Prefecture Gallery (Japan), World Art Fair (Dubai) and art fairs
held in Hong Kong and Singapore. Bringing ‘rest(休)’ to the center of her works, Lee used sparrows as the tool of joy to
remind people of their neighbors and friends living around us who are regarded as insignificant. The cities and people in
her works seem heavy and light at the same time but they are directing towards one goal: comfort. The traditional girl´s
jacket with sleeves of multicolored stripes for Lee symbolizes a variety of people in our society and the sparrows, flowers,
trees, sky, clouds, rooftops and electric power lines overhead raise nostalgia. Lee puts the sparrow on the line for a rest
and observation in a rather abstract layout of the canvas. The sparrow in (Dreaming City), in particular, is metaphor for the
people and their travel, love and contemplation in life and Lee expressed it by contrasting the night and day in black and
white to create a strong impression. (Choir of Spring), on the other hand, enlivened the feeling of the season through cherry
blossom and the greens while (Song of Summer) delivered her lyricism. Dividing the borders on canvas for Lee is very important
to contrast each different color but the background and the objects sometimes merge for free flow and co-existence. In her work
(Rest – Joy of Happiness), Lee used enlarged sparrow as well as dark tone and thick volume to realize 3 dimensional effect of the
sunflower. Lee shifts her ideas onto canvas on a whim but is careful to use oils for realistic expression of the sparrow and acrylic
for fast drying. Appreciating her works, you might get confused whether they are western style or oriental. Yet the charm of her
works lies there like the viewers at an exhibition held at Conrad Hotel in Hong Kong felt the same empathy. Currently, Lee is busy
preparing her solo exhibition in Heyri Art Valley, Paju late this year and also an art fair in Singapore with her plan to create a
large colored cube work this time by attaching small canvases.
