Lee Kuan Lian was born in Taipei. During her doctoral studies at CAFA (Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing), Lee Kuan Lian produced numerous works in the form of east-meets-west fusion.
Lee Kuan Lian is an art creator with abundant thinking and multiple creative languages. Her creative motives are mostly derived from the issues observed in modern day lives. She uses the language of painting to boldly express the significant differences in people's lives. She is committed to using traditional Chinese brush and ink, combined with installation works, to fully express her thoughts and feelings.
Through the medium of traditional Chinese ink painting, and occasionally adding the installation on the space, Lee Kuan-Lian’s depiction on contemporary world affairs are vividly presented. Her views on lost identity youths in “Fragile Series” were conveyed by “Art China” magazine. Allegorical techniques used by Lee Kuan-Lian invoke the audience’s thinking on topics such as AI & Humanity, Social Transformations, and Rich-Poor Inequality. The gold award was bestowed upon Lee Kuan-Lian’s “Who am I?” at the China-Japan International Art Exchange Exhibition held at the National Art Center, Tokyo.
She also received the Bronze award for her work “Switch” in the fine art category of the 2020 China Art Yearbook. Lee Kuan-Lian’s motto is “I just want to cross the one centimeter, between the eye of the brain.” She continues to work hard with the goal of arousing thinking with artistic concepts.
Lee Kuan Lian is represented by ACCA, Beverly Hills.
Browse REFLECTION BY LEE KUAN LIAN Catalogue Raisonné.
Catalogue Raisonné is a comprehensive listing of all the artworks.
Featured work images in GIF: Inner roar and reflection on xuan paper
REFLECTION BY LEE KUAN LIAN
李冠嫾
Curated by: Julienne Johnson & Maya Ito
SUNDAY, JUNE 19, 2022 | SATURDAY, JULY 16, 2022
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This exhibition is an exploration of the philosophical symbols of a 6th Century Chinese philosopher, LAO TZU, through my experience with traditional Chinese culture. A culture richly embedded in the creation of contemporary ink painting. A most important concept of Lao Tzu is one that he identified as, “The Unity of Opposites”.
“REFLECTION” is a visual investigation of the inner and outer sides of people, revealing the“Unity of Opposites”. My ink paintings depict not only each person’s outward appearance, but their inward thoughts – a REFLECTION of their “real” self. With the evolution of our online social world, I have watched people develop more and more obvious multiple personalities. This phenomenon provided the fuel and inspiration for “REFLECTION”. ~ Lee Kuan Lian /June 2022
PETER FRANK / INTERNATIONAL ART CRITIC, CURATOR AND POET
East and West met a long time ago. How does the coexistence of Eastern and Western visual traditions continue to evolve? In the art of Lee Kuan Lien, the graphic languages of Asian and Caucasian are not simply brought together, but interwoven, to the point where a hybrid of traditions – as well as of traditional and contemporary expression – emerges from a single hand. Lee has mastered techniques associated with West and East and found common ground between them. She can create seamless blends of these disparate practices and, often in the very same works, contrast them dramatically. The faces and figures she renders seemingly jump off modern billboards and onto ancient scrolls; the inner turmoil of her human subjects radiates outward and troubles the placid ponds that reflect them. Lee directs the poetry of Asian pictorialism in the theater of Euro-American visual space. Her images suspend between time and place, scene and enactment. The “reflection” Lee seeks is not simply the presence of a figure in water, but a thought in a gesture. It is also the mirroring and merging of artistic traditions from opposite sides of the globe in and into one another. There is a further dimension to Lee’s reflection, an entirely non-objective one brought to life with Xuan paper and pure light – a very modern use for a very old material. But here, it is the drama of the human condition Lee displays, a drama that well predates East and West. ~ Peter Frank / Los Angeles / International Art Critic, Curator and Poet
JULIENNE JOHNSON / CURATOR STATEMENT
LEE KUAN LIAN brush paints her way into the very soul of her subjects. We recognize their expressions of thought because we have seen them staring back at us from our own mirrors. Her monotone palette pays homage to centuries past, satisfying her heartfelt loyalty to ancient tradition. We know where she’s going – but then we don’t. she switches gear, throws in an edgy twist – and we find that East meets West.
~ Julienne Johnson / June 2022
ACCA GALLERY
MAYA ITO / CURATOR STATEMENT
Artist LEE KUAN LIAN -李冠嫾 deals with the new way of creating art. She carries the soul of the philosopher Lao Tzu. She combines traditional Chinese ink painting and meticulous painting to create unique artworks, giving us unlimited imagination and thinking in a limited space, and giving the audience a surprise.
~ Maya Ito / June 2022
ACCA GALLERY
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