March 19, 2018

So Youn Lee: Marshmallow Mango

So Youn Lee
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curated by YellowMenace (+34 images)

   So Youn Lee is a Korean artist who creates paintings that look like the pastel colored marshmallows in children's breakfast cereal. She focuses on creating iterations of Mango, her colorful, kawaii, androgynous character representing self-acceptance & inner peace.
So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog
   I'm celebrating my favorite Asian female artists in March for Women's History Month, click HERE to see them all.

So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog

“The character Mango told me a lot about myself. When I first came to the U.S. I spoke no English at all & I realized that I had to observe people very carefully to understand their intentions. I used vision as my main tool, this is why Mango’s eyes are so big. They represent my curiosity, strength & hope for the future.”
So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog
So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog

   Over the past 5 years, So Youn has established herself as a young gallery superstar. She has done group exhibitions at all the hippest galleries & events in the US, including Supersonic Invitational at Spoke Art, Miami Basel, Thinkspace, Corey Helford, Gallery Nucleus as well as several shows throughout Asia. She's now graduating to more & more solo exhibits.

So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog
So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog

   You may have noticed some similarities between So Youn's work & Japanese artist Hikari Shimoda. They both explore pop art portrait variations of a childlike, anime influenced character with large, glimmering, mysterious eyes. Hikari's art children are all slightly different with similar defining features & a much darker vibe, while So Youn's, Mango is definitively light, soft & positive.
   
So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog
   Their characters actually met in the collaborative painting "First Contact", created in LA, back in 2015. 

“Meeting Hikari was a fortunate coincidence or even fate. I was in Los Angeles at my agent’s house & it turned out Hikari was staying there for a show. She doesn’t speak in English that much & I don’t speak in Japanese, so we didn’t talk a lot."
So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog


So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog

“I was questioning why I didn’t just draw what I wanted & the answer was because of status. I wanted to be accepted by my peers & be accepted as a certain type of artist that Korea requires based on other people’s values. That was holding me back for almost 10 years.”
So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog

   As some of you already know, one of my favorite aspects of art is witnessing an artist's growth over time. If you check out So Youn's archive you can actually see her character, Mango coming to fruition. Between 2011 & 2014 she experimented with many techniques & forms to achieve her current signature style. She worked a lot in black & white using Pointilism over extensive areas.

   Finally, she realized Mango as we know now by moving to the USA, freeing herself from external expectations. She has spent the last 4 years, building her body of work, exploring Mango in other mediums like sculpture, toys & murals while showing around the world.  

So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog


So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog


So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog

   Surprisingly, it isn't that usual for artists to focus on a single character, churning out countless versions of their personified theme. I'm reminded of Taiwanese street artist Mister OhGay, Chinese painter Zhang Yuxi's, Little Yellow Boy & probably the most famous, Yue Minjun's Laughing Man.

So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog
So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog

So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog
So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog


So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog


So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog
So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog
So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog
So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog


So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog


So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog
So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog
So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog
So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog
So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog
So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog

So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog
So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog


● Check Out My Pinterest: Korean Artboards


So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog
I hope you loved So Youn's pastel paintings. 
> Click HERE to see more Asian female artists!

So Youn Lee - http://www.soyounlee.com/ on YellowMenace Blog