about Sae A (pronounced Say-Ah)...
as known as 새아리
Born in South Korea, Lee spent her childhood in both Korea and United States. She identifies herself as a "confused 1.5 generation" Korean American. Educated in the United States since moving to the United States, she earned her BFA from Rhode Island School of Design, and MFA in Painting/Printmaking from Yale University in 2012. She has exhibited in various places in the United States such as the greater Washington DC area, Staunton, VA, Providence, RI, New Haven, CT, and New York and Korea. She resides and works in South Korea and the United States. Lee is currently a doctoral candidate at Columbia University,
She is known for manipulating space, light, and form through her language of painting. Currently expanding her medium to the shaped canvas, she is playing with the perception of form. She creates and contorts the form with light and depth either through paint, or shaping the canvas- physically breaking out from the restrictive rectangular canvas. In her works, Sae A expresses an unaltered confession of doubt and vulnerability, toying with her perception of beauty. She seeks and speaks beauty indirectly and describes her painting process as “a happy discomfort.” She does not speak directly to the audience, but she communicates through her witty treatment of painting with a twisted sense of humor.
새아리 작가는 보수적이고 보편적인 미의 기준에서 벗어나 그림을 “Play” 하자고 초대하듯 가볍고 경쾌하면서도 과감하게 풀어낸다. 새아리의 작업방식은 평면 추상회화와 캔버스를 변형해 틀에서 벗어난 변형추상 (shaped Canvas, 2가지 방향으로 작업된 작품들이 전시된다. 그리고 두 가지 방식에서 공통적으로 제한적인 틀 (form)을 만든다. 추상화에서는 평면에 가둬지는 공간이라는 틀을 만들고 변형 캔버스에서는 정형적 캔버스의 형태를 벗어나 비정형적인 틀을 만듬으로 그 틀을 벗어나며 물감으로 입체적인 공간과 빛을 표현한다. 대구에서 태어나 미국으로 어릴적 이주한 미주 교포 작가로 회화로 Rhode Island School of Design에서 학사를, Yale University에서 석사를 마치고 Columbia University에서 EdDCT 박사과정을 마무리하고 있다. 현재 한국과 미국을 오가며 활발히 전시 활동을 하고 있다.
Education:
Rhode Island School of Design BFA in Painting 2010
Yale School of Art MFA in Painting/Printmaking 2012
Doctoral Candidate of Columbia Teachers College EDDCT degree in Art Education
CV available upon request