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Crystal City
A series of digital print, C-type print
"Crystal City Spun," is a spectacle of sexually charged stimuli, which opens with a cityscape of spinning dildo towers.
Out of the landscape emerges
Dragon YONG, a vehicle for fantasy exploration by, TOKI, a highly stylized curvaceous, warrior-cum-vixen who draws upon
the Japanese tradition of Manga, Korean animamix and Western ideals of sexuality and beauty. TOKI exists in a fantasyland ripe with testosterone-driven
energy. To sadistically erotic effect, YONG taps TOKI’s exposed nipple with the tip of his pointy claw. This titillation sends Toki into a pirouette. She stops
only when YONG whips her with his whiskers which sparks the crystallization of both the landscape and its characters.
The prints that comprise "Crystal City"-images derived from the 3D animation video-have a playful, childlike quality alluding to fantasy and toys such as
pink bunny rabbits and digitally exaggerated reflections. But at the same time, Lee explores sexual innuendo, and plays with varying degrees of sexuality
and sexual expression both with imagery and color. The prints utilize the latest techniques in 3D digital technology creating some characters in "crystal"
structure, lending these prints a delicacy and elegance. Crystal City is a fantasyland where dream and reality mix. While Lee is humorous and nostalgic,
she does not shy away from the darker side of fantasy, the worlds of obsession and addiction.
Although the artist's work is rooted in the challenges facing the community of Asian diaspora who have settled in New Zealand, the work speaks to the
manipulation and perception of female sexual identity worldwide. Furthermore, Lee challenges the conventions of the traditionally male-dominated worlds
of game structure and 3D animation, specifically when it comes to virtualized images of women. "Crystal City" is a project in which cyberculture and
contemporary myth-making intersect.
Hye Rim Lee was born in Seoul, Korea. She immigrated to New Zealand in 1993 where she studied Inter-media at Auckland University’s prestigious Elam
School of Fine Arts. Lee has been widely exhibited in Europe, Asia and New Zealand. She has been the recipient of numerous grants, and was the artist in
residence at the Ssamzie Space Studio Program in Seoul, Korea in 2005 and at the International Studio and Curatorial Program in New York in 2007.
The artist currently lives in New York.
Dimension of the work:
Touch My Tit, 40.132 H x 79 W inch
Like My Tongue? 65 H x 65 W inch
Dragon YONG with Unicorn Horn, 65 H x 65 W inch
Dragon YONG, Pink Bunnies and Yellow Flower Ring, 65 H x 65 W inch
Dragon YONG, TOKI, Pink Bunnies and Yellow Flower Ring, 72 W x 51.53 W inch
Giant Towers, White, 62.82 H x72 W inch
Yellow Flower Ring and Pink Bunny, Red 54.855 H x 72 W inch
Touch My Nipple, Red, 65.65 H x 72 W inch
Dragon YONG Whips TOKI, Black, 68.47 H x 72 W inch
Chess, Black, 60 H x 72 W inch
Whiskers, Unicorn Horn and Curly Spikes, Crystal 72 H x 72 W inch
The Yellow Flower Ring, Crystal, 66.35 H x 72 W inch
Dragon’s Tongue, Crystal 56.12 H x 72 W inch
Dragon YONG Crystal 72 H x 63.53 W inch
Dragon YONG Frost 72 H x 63.53 W inch
Crystal City Frost, Yellow Flower Ring 66.35 H x 72 W inch