Lee Jinju Such, 2023-2024

Such is a powdered pigment, animal skin glue, and water painting on unbleached cotton.

The painting is a still life composed of pruning shears, a yellow band with velcro, blue tape, a white sheet of paper, and two tree branches. The central branch is quite large in comparison to the rest of the composition and stands straight as if somehow screwed into the paper. The smaller branch is similarly standing up but is thin and full of delicate leaves.

Jinju Lee often includes a combination of unusual everyday items and plants or trees in her paintings. The compositions and particular objects relate to personal memories or moments from her life. For this work, Lee was inspired by the hackberry tree in front of her studio at Hongik University College of Fine Arts, saying “observing the changes in this tree over the years naturally led me to contemplate events related to subjective and branching time.”