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Student Profile
Michael Lee: From Architect to Artist in a Single Year A few weeks before the opening of his September group show in Olive Tjaden Gallery, Michael Lee (B.Arch. ’11) revealed that he “doesn’t really know what we are going to put in the exhibit. But we [Lee, Eric Bernstein (B.Arch. ’11), and Danny Salomon (B.Arch. ’11) have a month to figure it out—I’m sure we’ll be fine!” The approach may seem cavalier, especially for a young man who until last fall considered himself an architect in training, not an artist. But after a year that included three successful gallery shows in Italy, an internship with a well-known working artist, and earning top grades in a 15credit semester abroad, it’s easy to see where Lee’s confidence comes from. “There aren’t many students who decide to spend a full year in Rome, and even fewer who are able to make it a productive experience,” says Margherita Fabrizio, director of the Cornell in Rome program. “But when I first met Michael, I knew he was someone who would make the most of every minute he had there. That he accomplished everything he did in a new discipline (art) makes his success even more compelling … but not really surprising, knowing what a driven and talented person he is.” Lee, who is at once humble, charming, and completely focused, decided to try his hand at art after arriving in Italy in the fall of 2009 for the Cornell in Rome program. “Just being in the community of artists in Rome, plus influence from professors Shara Wasserman and Luana Perilli, all motivated me to give it a try,” says Lee. He spent an enormous amount of time in the studio in the early fall, developing his newly found passion. After trying a variety of media, Lee focused on ink on paper. “It’s all about a development of a place and idea,” Lee says of his work. “I almost always use a technical Rapidograph pen, and incorporate many architectural forms such as sections and axonometrics into my drawings.” After getting comfortable with his artwork, Lee further immersed himself in the art world by pursuing an internship. With the assistance of Wasserman, Lee secured an interview with Pietro Ruffo, a contemporary artist well known in Italy and beginning to gain recognition internationally. He set off to meet Ruffo, who lives 45 minutes
away from the Cornell in Rome palazzo, carrying a portfolio of some of the only art he had ever created. And what seemed like a long shot became an immediate success. “We just clicked during the interview,” says Lee. “Ruffo started out as an architect, and his work is still very focused on construction.” Once at work, the two became quite a team, working together on a series of drawings that Ruffo used in several publications, and a series of sculptural installations presented in Rome’s Contemporary Art Museum, MACRO, and other art foundations around Italy. At the same time that Lee was working with Ruffo, he stayed focused on his own work and created a series of drawings for Perilli’s fall semester course, Special Topics: Painting and Drawing. Ruffo was immediately taken in by them, and showed them to a gallerist friend. The result was an invitation to 22 Rooms, a group show of 22 artists, including Enzo Cucchi and Alessandro Mendini, which took place at the Casa Testori in Milan in June. Lee, the youngest artist in the show, exhibited a continuation of the original drawings done for Perilli’s class. “22 Rooms was really exciting,” says Lee, “but it was also sort of a fluke—a big-time opportunity that just fell into my lap. I was expecting to go through the usual process of looking into galleries and building a relationship with one to develop a show in the future. That was something I really wanted to try.” Perilli agreed to work with him on an independent study during the spring semester with the goal of creating a portfolio of work that he could take to gallerists. Lee developed four larger, more detailed works (6' x 3' in size compared to his earlier 18" x 24" pieces), and then, “I bugged Luana to plunge me into the art world of Italy,” he says, laughing. Along with three other Cornell students, Lee worked with Perilli and her gallery contacts and was eventually invited to display in Multi-Meda, an exhibition featuring five Sundays of contemporary art. (See “Rome Students Invited to Gallery Exhibit” on this page for the full story.) But Lee wasn’t finished in Italy yet. During the spring semester, at the suggestion of former instructor Gabriele Mastrigli, Lee took his
portfolio to the Z20 Galleria of Sara Zanin. Lee knew that Wasserman was acquainted with the gallery owner, but decided not to mention the connection. Instead, he presented himself to the manager simply as a young artist, not a student. “The idea to approach the gallery was completely personal—I thought I would have more success if I showed no affiliation to schools,” says Lee. “It was my first step in becoming completely autonomous in dealing with and promoting my work professionally.” The result of his unannounced visit was an invitation to exhibit his work at Transience, a show including five other artists, in September and October 2010. Lee’s participation in that group show was such a success that plans are underway for a solo show at Z20 Galleria sometime in the spring of 2011. Lee credits a large amount of his success in Italy to being able to converse with industry people in their native language. In addition to classroom study of Italian before coming to Rome, Lee took the time to practice his conversational skills regularly with a group of Italian students. “It really sets me apart,” he claims. “It shows professionals that I’ve made arduous preparations and am serious about setting up shop in the country despite my age.” After the success in Italy, Lee and his fellow Rome scholars Bernstein and Salomon thought it would be fun to have an exhibit in Ithaca.
“The idea to show in the AAP galleries was a thought brewing in each of our heads from way back, and it was sparked into collective existence after we had so much fun participating in the art class and gallery visits in Rome,” reveals Lee. “We chose Tjaden over Hartell so that we could continue to mingle with art students—we were able to do that for the first time last semester in Rome, and thought it would be great to physically continue the dialogue between the fields of art and architecture.” After the Tjaden Gallery exhibit, Lee set off immediately for his next adventure, a three-month RAUM 142 fellowship in Berlin, where he will work and live with six other artists. After Berlin, he plans to complete his final semester at Cornell in the spring of 2011. Lee’s long-term plans are somewhat less clear. “I want to work hard enough before graduation to be able to call myself an artist. After that, I’d love to spend a few years in Europe doing some residencies and meeting interesting people and doing interesting things. But who knows!” —Rebecca Bowes
01 View of Eric Bernstein’s The Tourist Series (2010), postcards on cardboard, 60 cm x 85 cm each. From Multi-Meda exhibit.
Rome Students Invited to Gallery Exhibit
Four Cornell in Rome students were invited to show their work at Parco Meda, a local Roman gallery, on two Sundays in May. The students, Eric Bernstein (B.Arch. ’11), Emily Soo Mi Choi (B.F.A. ’11), Taery Kim (B.F.A. ’11), and Michael Lee (B.Arch. ’11), and their professor Luana Perilli organized the show called Multi-Meda with Micol Di Veroli, an independent curator. The exhibition’s goal was to break down the social and cultural barriers that often permeate the work of contemporary art, and to try to bring a broad view of today’s work into the eye of the local public. “It is very important for Cornell students to step out into the Roman art scene and get feedback from the professionals involved,” says Perilli. “Rome is more and more becoming an active city for contemporary art, with many museums, galleries, and foundations to support these artists. This experience is proof that Rome, besides its rich historical side, brings real opportunities to young artists.” The students expressed enthusiasm about the show and their semester in the Rome program. “I’m hoping this is the first step of something bigger, but either way I’ve met amazing people and learned valuable lessons about the life of an artist,” says Bernstein.AAP
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