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Grace Lee:Predate
Grace Lee:Predate
2022
Signed on reverse
Oil on linen
30 1/4 x 44 inches
1. Detail from ‘Predate’
Grace Lee is drawn to contradictions, and their work looks to explore how opposing forces may coexist. Finding in the abrasive border between two states both defiance and ambiguity, Lee states ‘everything is a joke, and everything is completely sincere.’ Frequently using animals and objects as vessels to examine the ambiguity and fluctuation between these poles, Lee leaves the question of agency open. In one sense we as a viewer hold the subject of the painting under our command, but they are also imbued with a self-determination. In this work, Predate, the artist depicts the closely-cropped nose and mouth of a beached shark laid out across the sand.
The title of the painting draws a double meaning from both predate, as in to precede or come before, and also to predate on, as in to hunt – both alluding to the shark, an animal that was around long before us and, perhaps, we fear will be around long after we’re gone. This duality summarises the tension inherent in the work. The tightly cropped composition focuses on the emblem of the shark that holds the most fear, yet in this composition Lee renders it lifeless. Seeking to lay bare the existence of these simultaneous notions, there’s a melancholic quality introduced to the work. In depicting the shark removed from wider context, and seemingly dead, it calls into question how we organise symbolism and place our feelings onto objects, which remain unaware of their role and unable to take responsibility for it. Lee heightens the tension of the work through its formal qualities – the shark’s menacing features are softened by the use of curved lines and a gently textured surface.
THE STUDIO
B. United Kingdom1995
Biography
In an immediate, bold and graphic style, Grace Lee invites their audience to look twice. Using repeated motifs of various instruments, portraits, and animals, Lee’s paintings recreate scenes seemingly pulled from a comic book or medieval manuscript. Taking inspiration from the British Museum’s collection, Japanese artist Utagawa Hiroshige, and the New Testament, Lee’s intricately detailed works continue to reveal new secrets.
Lee, born 1995, received their BA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths, London and their MA in Fine Art from the Slade, London. They have exhibited at Mall Galleries, London; Albert House, London; and Piazza Martiri della Libertà, Chiari. They were awarded the Barto Dos Santos Memorial Award in 2021, as well as the NOA15 East of England Award and shortlisted for The Worshipful Company of Painters-Stainers Award in 2015.
Lee lives and works in London.