Studio Visit: David Choong Lee

Last weekend while visiting San Francisco I had the pleasure of visiting artist David Choong Lee’s studio to see an amazing body of work coming together for his show at The University of Arizona School of Art. Surrounded by cigar boxes with layers of paint, stacked floor to ceiling, we were a bit overwhelmed by the volume of work.

David told us that he was taking ALL of it to build a massive installation at the U of A’s Joseph Gross Gallery. Trying to describe the layers of his work will just not do it justice as trying to see it all was nearly impossible…even though his studio was quite large. Choong Lee paints on a series of cigar boxes, wine crates and wooden panels all garnered from a nearby store, though apparently many of the boxes have been getting painted and repainted over years.

There were several pieces simply coated with built up layers of cascading paint that were incredibly beautiful in their simplicity, especially knowing how much patience actually went in to carefully layering think coat after coat of multi-colored paint.

I wish I could see the final display in Arizona, but I will have to get by with pictures, and will hopefully have some to post. Thanks for the hospitality David!

Make sure to keep an eye out…

David Choong Lee
Sunshine on Cast Shadow
University of Arizona School of Art
Joseph Gross Gallery
June 26 – July 29