Kakyoung Lee, Dance, Dance, Dance, 2011
KAKYOUNG LEE
Dance, Dance, Dance, 2011
Suite of 10 drypoints and HD single channel video with sound, RT 2:20; dimensions (prints): 21.125in x 15.25in (unframed)
(c) Kakyoung Lee; courtesy of the artist and RYAN LEE, New York
CURRENTLY ON VIEW: Stairway across from Student Involvement Suite (5 of 10 prints)
Dance, Dance, Dance is a video accompanied by a set of prints that represent stages in the work’s making. The work provides a crucial insight into the importance of self-love and self-care. Both the process and the cathartic result of this work reflect a pattern of intense study and relief, and suggest the necessity for meditation and creative action to support mental health. To create the animation, which the artist refers to as “moving images,” Lee uses the technique of drypoint printing. Her technique consists of etching onto a Plexiglas plate, which she then covers in pigment and presses onto archival paper. To make the video, Lee etched and printed 348 prints, one for each frame. Lee used the same plate for all impressions, adding the next frame of the animation to the already etched surface. The process of drypoint is painstaking and unforgiving. Lee’s meticulous mark-making takes hours, and the finished work displays the profound results that can be produced through mundane action. Lee makes the separation between her labor-intensive process and free-wheeling final work tangible, and this exposition of tedious and physical work is contrasted with the immaterial format of the video.
Text written by Nick Duque
Student Committee Selection 2016–2017
Adele H. Stamp Student Union—Center for Campus Life