Featured Artist Tatjana Lee

Artist Tatjana Lee’s large format paintings of human faces are powerful and intense. Visit her website to enjoy more of her work.

 

 

My name is Tatjana Lee and I am a visual artist with a German-Korean background.

 

 

For me, art is a universal medium of communication that has the power to connect people across cultures, time and space.

 

 

Topics such as identity, diversity and intercultural dialogue have a special importance in my work. I focus on the human as a social being and his interaction with his environment.

 

 

The human face is of particular significance in my work. I see it as a symbol for our identity. Externally, the face shows the changes in a person’s inner identity. With make-up, piercings, cosmetic surgery and haircuts we try to change it in order to adapt or differentiate ourselves.

 

 

Like the artist with his canvas, we use our face as a medium for interaction with our fellow human beings, but also with ourselves.

 

 

From our first day in this world, we are trained to interpret facial expressions. This skill is important in order to interact and survive as social beings. Eventually, we become so good at doing this that in a fraction of a second we succeed in assessing and responding to our counterpart. This type of dialogue can hardly be falsified, nor can one really avoid it, since it usually runs subconsciously.

 

 

As human beings, we are inevitably drawn to study everything that appears to look like a face. I use this urge to drive the attention of the viewer deeper into the paintings. This triggers a meta-level of communication in addition to the medium of art.

 

 

I mostly prefer large-format canvases and work with acrylic paint. The large format creates an additional abstraction and a more intense perception, because the viewer’s subconscious is captivated by the size of the face.

 

 

I also love to experiment with new techniques like resin, 3D effects and other methods. It always amazes me how things suddenly work out within one project. Experiments that looked rather like a distraction years ago then interlock like gears in a clockwork.

 

 

It’s important to me to break new ground, not only creatively but also in finding the courage to overcome my personal reservations and to start dialogues with people from other cultures and life situations. In this way I discover diversity and broaden my horizons—appreciating and sharing it with all. That’s what art means to me.

 

Artist Tatjana Lee invites you to follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

 

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