MIKE LEE
Under the Lemon Tree
September 1 – October 3, 2021

ATM Gallery NYC is pleased to present Mike Lee’s inaugural New York solo show, Under the Lemon Tree. In this new body of work, the artist revisits memories of a serene suburban childhood seen through the lens of retrospection and a lone child’s overly active imagination. Through these lenses, mundane scenes unfold themselves with a sense of looming strangeness. Lee’s iconic simplified and geometric figures are fragmented as the world they inhabit is overcome by shadows, glitches, jagged edges, and mixed modes of rendering. 

The motif of the lemon tree, present throughout the various paintings, anchors the pieces both narratively and spatially. Without the presence of faces populating the paintings, lemons become stand-ins for watchful eyes, following you throughout the space. In the artist’s own childhood home, a lemon tree served as a backdrop for much of his early life and, as a child of first generation Korean immigrants, whilst his parents were out working, it represented one of the few constants in the household. The sense of comfort and cleansing this motif evokes is simultaneously questioned by the tone set in the lighting and physical mishaps that break up the reality of the painting’s inner world and our expectations.

Cinematic influences – a nod to Lee’s professional roots in the film industry, and art historical references set much of the mood. Sources from modern masters such as Matisse can be found in the interior compositions. In “Secret Trinkets”, bright light entering the frame reveals a still life, as if a door were creaking open, leaving the rest in the shadows. The lighting is both reminiscent of baroque chiaroscuro as well as film noir staged lighting. Similarly, in “Mother and Daughter”, a scene inspired by his parents’ bible circle and the background chatter of adults talking that accompanied, a universal and tender motif reveals stylistic traces from the likes of Hitchcock’s “Psycho”. The duo sits by each other, but the clashing shadows, the faceless, ambiguous poses, and bold and fractured shapes fill the painting with a creeping tension one can’t quite pinpoint. The relationship between the characters is uncertain, left open-ended for the viewer to fill with their own narrative.

With a characteristic monochromatic palette and smooth tonal shifts, but a newfound desire to “show his hand”, Lee pulls from different streams weaving together deliberate and imperfect scenes of chaotic order. A lot of the shapes at play feel tougher, like a thought in progress, or fleshed out from digital imperfections. However, they come together. Lee ties the mundane reality of a suburban upbringing with the uncanny and faulty perception of memory, offering with them dream-like scenes of complex emotional resonance.

Lee was born in 1983 in Placentia, CA, USA. His work has been exhibited in galleries across Los Angeles, New York, Tokyo including exhibitions at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, California, USA, the Honolulu Museum of Art in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, and the Vincent Price Art Museum in Los Angeles, California, USA. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY, USA.