EN

In 2014, Jeewi Lee completed her studies at the Berlin University of the Arts with a series of works titled “Fundament” (Foundation). This final project was a direct retrospective of the artist’s studies in Robert Lucander’s painting class. Her “Fundament” works, however, can be described as paintings only in a broader sense. They reveal Lee’s conceptual ap- proach to this traditional medium. What appear to be abstract images are framed sections of the floor of her former studio. On a linoleum base, paint, lacquer, and dirt—in other words, the incidental traces of her studies—coalesce into a composition that reduces the temporal dimension of her entire six years of study to a single level, namely the picture plane. “Fundament,” in this sense, becomes a metaphorical work that embodies the es- sence of Jeewi Lee’s time at university and thus forms the basis for her further artistic practice.

Text: Lydia Korndörfer