Ahryun Lee: Fantastical Animals, 2019-2021
When gazing upon Ahryun’s bizarre and curious sculptural works, people are amused by their joyfulness. The metaphysical, biomorphic imagery connotes the realm of dreams; her subconscious mind is reflected in her re-creation of the childlike being which is something imaginative, playful, and joyful with a sense of innocence. Each sculpture called “Fantastical Beasties” (as an example so far) almost looks like being alive as a character in fairy tales or cartoons. Ahryun creates a colorful, tangible fantasy by using her humorous metaphor in ceramics you can investigate in her work how the artist wanted to affect this material realization. The imagery that appears on her ceramics will guide audiences into the La-la land, where people can replace their reality with another type of reality in the exhibition space, with otherworldly experiences.