JANE LEE
JANE LEE
WHERE IS PAINTING? SUNDARAM TAGORE SINGAPORE AUGUST 20 – OCTOBER 29, 2022
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WHERE IS PAINTING?
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…painting is essentially, pure space.
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—Jane Lee We are pleased to present new paintings by Jane Lee, the Singaporean artist whose lush, abstract works have garnered international acclaim. The exhibition was curated by Tan Siuli, formerly Head of Collections and Senior Curator at the Singapore Art Museum. Lee’s ongoing interest in examining the essence of a painting has yielded expansive bodies of work exploring the material possibilities of paint. For this exhibition, she focuses on the relationship between a painting and the space it occupies. “This new work explores the white space of the gallery as the ultimate ‘canvas,” she says.
and green among the layers of impasto. There is also variation in size and surface treatment, with large- and medium-scale paintings alongside smaller works, some arranged into uniform rows. Lee has always favored everyday household objects over traditional paint brushes to produce her characteristic textured surfaces. In earlier works she employed tools straight from the kitchen, treating paint like cream, generously slathering on layers as if frosting a cake. Here, she dispenses with tools altogether, opting to use her bare hands. Digging into densely applied layers of paint, Lee reveals chasms of color that are so deep the viewer must lean in to discover their hidden depths.
The works presented are largely rendered in blue and white, a streamlined palette that puts the focus on Lee’s expressive, painterly marks. But on close examination, some of Alongside the paintings are site-specific the paintings reveal tiny flecks of pink, red installations created with the gallery space Left: Painting Is #1 (detail), 2022, acrylic paint and mixed media on fibreglass, 18.1 x 16.5 x 3.7 inches/46 x 42 x 9.5 cm
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in mind. In Where Is Painting #6, for example, Lee punches through the heart of the wall-mounted work, leaving a craterlike void to expose the wall behind. A (nearly) freestanding sculpture, Painting Is — ALLVIEWS (2022), is a block-shaped form seductively smothered in thick, dripping paint. It is reminiscent of Lee’s 2013 Stack series, where small columns of paintings with only their edges exposed challenge conventional notions of how a painting should be viewed. In a carefully curated arrangement, Lee’s paintings and site-specific installations flow into one another creating a playful dialogue that brings all the pieces together— presenting them not only as individual objects but as a cohesive whole greater than the sum of its parts.
Status was acquired for the museum’s permanent collection. In 2015, Lee’s work was prominently featured in the global group exhibition Frontiers Reimagined at the 56th Venice Biennale. Lee has participated in museum and gallery exhibitions across the globe, including Dear Painter, 2015, curated by June Yap, former Guggenheim UBS MAP Curator, South and Southeast Asia, and in the same year, Prudential Singapore Eye, one of the largest surveys of Singaporean contemporary art.
Following a residency at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute, 2016, Lee debuted a solo exhibition there, Freely, Freely, using paper and also forayed into video for the first time. Her defining, mid-career presentation, Red States (2018), at the Hong Kong Arts Centre, included a retrospective selection The exhibition is accompanied by a three- of studies and maquettes tracing the chanel video offering rare insight into Lee’s chronology of her practice. studio practice, produced with support from the National Arts Council Singapore. Lee has received numerous accolades, including the Celeste Prize for Painting in Lee first came to critical attention when her 2011 and inclusion in Vitamin P3: New monumental installation Raw Canvas was Perspectives in Painting, Phaidon Press’s showcased at the Singapore Biennale in authoritative global survey of contemporary 2008. Her work was a highlight of Medium at painting published in 2016. Lee received a Large at the Singapore Art Museum (2014– B.A. with honors from LASALLE College of 15), where her large-scale installation the Arts. She lives and works in Singapore.
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an object “ Is painting hanging on the wall? A solidified medium on a surface? Something stuck between the walls? A physical action? Or something beyond what we can imagine?
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–Jane Lee
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Where Is Painting #1, 2022 acrylic paint and mixed media on fibreglass, 71 x 59 x 3.1 inches/180 x 150 x 8 cm 11
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Where Is Painting #2, 2022 acrylic paint and mixed media on fibreglass, 71 x 102.4 x 3.1 inches/180 x 260 x 8 cm 15
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Where Is Painting #3, 2022 acrylic paint and mixed media on fibreglass, 71 x 59 x 3.3 inches/180 x 150 x 8.5 cm 17
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Where Is Painting #5, 2022 acrylic paint and mixed media on fibreglass, 71 x 59 x 3.3 inches/180 x 150 x 8.5 cm 19
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Where Is Painting #6, 2022 acrylic paint and mixed media on fibreglass, 41.3 x 41.3 x 3.1 inches/105 x 105 x 8 cm 21
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Painting Is #1, 2022 acrylic paint and mixed media on fibreglass, 18.1 x 16.5 x 3.7 inches/46 x 42 x 9.5 cm 23
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Painting Is #2, 2022 acrylic paint and mixed media on fibreglass, 18.9 x 20.9 x 3.5 inches/51 x 45 x 9 cm 25
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Painting Is #2, 2022 acrylic paint and mixed media on fibreglass, 20.5 x 21.3 x 3.3 inches/52 x 54 x 8.5 cm 27
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Painting Is #5, 2022 acrylic paint and mixed media on fibreglass, 20.1 x 18.9 x 3.3 inches/51 x 48 x 8.5 cm 29
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Painting Is #6, 2022 acrylic paint and mixed media on fibreglass, 24 x 24 x 2.4 inches/61 x 61 x 6 cm 31
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Painting Is #8, 2022 acrylic paint and mixed media on fibreglass, 14.2 x 14.2 x 2.8 inches/36 x 36 x 7 cm each 33
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Painting Is #9, 2022 acrylic paint and mixed media on fibreglass, 6.1 x 6.1 x 2.2 inches/15.5 x 15.5 x 5.5 cm each 37
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Where Is Painting #10, 2022 acrylic paint and mixed media on fibreglass, 71 x 59 x 3.1 inches/180 x 150 x 8 cm 41
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Where Is Painting #9, 2022 acrylic paint and mixed media on fibreglass, 71 x 59 x 3.1 inches/180 x 150 x 8 cm 43
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WHERE IS PAINTING #8, 2022 acrylic paint and mixed media on fibreglass, 71 x 59 x 3.1 inches/180 x 150 x 8 cm 45
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Painting is - ALLVIEWS, 2022 acrylic paint and glitter 12 x 8.7 x 1.6 inches / 30.5 x 22 x 4 cm 14.2 x 8.3 x 12.6 inches / 36 x 21 x 32 cm 12 x 8.3 x 1.2 inches / 30.5 x 21 x 3 cm 47
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Painting is - 3 Phases, 2022 acrylic paint and mixed media on wood and canvas 21.3 x 18.9 x 2 inches / 54 x 48 x 5 cm 25.6 x 25.6 x 2.8 inches / 65 x 65 x 7 cm 17.7 x 18.1 x 3.5 inches / 45 x 46 x 9 cm 49
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JANE LEE Paint, canvas, frame, orientation and dimension—all are variables in Jane Lee’s hands. Through assiduous processes of layering, mixing, winding, wrapping, kneading, daubing and other acts of physical transformation, the renowned Singaporean artist redefines paint and painting to produce dynamic and bold forms. Operating in a post-colonial Southeast Asian context, Lee re-examines the significance of Western painting practices while asserting her own culture. Pushing the boundaries of the medium, her work echoes the breakdown of cultural barriers in the era of globalization and affirms the universality of contemporary art. Lee first gained critical acclaim when her work Raw Canvas was showcased at the Singapore Biennale in 2008, curated by Fumio Nanjo. Her work was then featured at Collectors’ Stage at the Singapore Art Museum in 2011 and in the Southeast Asia Platform, an exhibition of cutting-edge work from across the region at Art Stage Singapore in 2014. The following year, Lee’s work was selected for Prudential Singapore Eye, one of the largest surveys of Singapore’s contemporary art to date, held at the ArtScience Museum and Medium at Large, a year-long exhibition at the Singapore Art Museum, where her largescale installation Status, 2009, was acquired for the museum’s permanent collection. In 2015, Lee also participated in Frontiers Reimagined, at the 56th Venice Biennale. Jane Lee has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and a Diploma in Fashion from LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore. Lee has participated in numerous art fairs and exhibitions across the globe. Notable exhibitions include Jane Lee: Red States, a critically acclaimed solo exhibition at the Hong Kong Arts Centre in 2018; Meld, a solo Sundaram Tagore Gallery presentation at Art Basel in 2017; and Jane Lee: Freely, Freely at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute in 2016, which followed her 2015 residency.
Born in Singapore, 1963 | Lives and works in Singapore
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S U N DA RA M TAG O R E GA L L E R I E S We have been representing established and emerging artists from around the world since 2000. We champion work that is aesthetically and intellectually rigorous, infused with humanism and art historically significant. We specialize in paintings, drawings, sculptures and installations with a strong emphasis on materiality. Our artists cross cultural and national boundaries, synthesizing Western visual language with forms, techniques and philosophies from Asia, the Subcontinent and the Middle East. We show this work alongside important work by overlooked women from the New York School. The gallery also has a robust photography program that includes some of the world’s most noted photographers.
N EW YOR K Chelsea: 542 West 26th Street, New York, NY 10001 • tel 212 677 4520 gallery@sundaramtagore.com
SI NGAPOR E 5 Lock Road 01-05, Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108933 • tel 65 6694 3378 singapore@sundaramtagore.com
LON DON 4 Cromwell Place, London, SW7 2JE President and curator: Sundaram Tagore Senior Director, New York: Susan McCaffrey Director, Singapore: Melanie Taylor Director, New York: Kathryn McSweeney Registrar: Julia Occhiogrosso Designer: Russell Whitehead Editorial support: Kieran Doherty
WWW.SU N DARAMTAGOR E.COM Text © 2022 Sundaram Tagore Gallery Photographs © 2022 Jane Lee All rights reserved under international copyright conventions. No part of this catalogue may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Cover: Where Is Painting #2 (detail), 2022, acrylic paint and mixed media on fibreglass, 71 x 102.4 x 3.1 inches/180 x 260 x 8 cm