Lee Kit

Skin

September 15 - October 29, 2016

‘I only wonder what would someone feel if his/her secrets and guilt have been revealed. And how do we feel when we see everything ‘underneath the skin?’

–Lee Kit

Jane Lombard Gallery is pleased to present Lee Kit’s third solo exhibition in New York. The exhibition, entitled Skin, will feature new works by the artist, including paintings, projections, and objects, that continue a reflection on the quiet intimacy and privacy of domestic space.

Skin is inspired by Lee Kit’s work entitled Skin (the secret) included in his first US solo museum exhibition Hold your breath, dance slowly, currently on view at the Walker Art Center (through October 9, 2016). The familiar ‘stuff’ of daily life become silent foils for the individual experience. Throughout his practice, Lee Kit engages the quotidian in order to evoke the transcendent and unspeakable: desire, loss, and vulnerability.

Recently, Lee Kit has been intuitively examining negative emotions and desire, perhaps stemming from a sense of helplessness in the wake of a troubled global situation and the profound uncertainty in his native Hong Kong. However, this show is decidedly apolitical. Instead, Lee Kit calmly exposes the small moments that occur between and within, yet resolutely distinct from, catastrophe. He peels back the ‘skin’ of the day-to-day, a disclosure at once violent, slow, and poignant.

Lee Kit’s work does not permit pretension, easy answers, or simple summaries. Rather, these seemingly unassuming works haunt the space, veiling and unveiling in equal measure. They draw our attention, gently and urgently, to the connections that exist beneath the surface of our world, our lives, our bodies, and our relationships.

Lee Kit (b. 1978, Hong Kong) studied painting at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His work premiered in New York in 2011 at Lombard Freid Gallery with his solo exhibition ‘1, 2, 3, 4…’ He has been exhibited at The New Museum, New York; Tate Modern, London; Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE; and The Museum of Modern Art, New York. In 2013, he was selected to represent Hong Kong at the 55th Venice Biennale with his exhibition ‘You (you),’ which he reprised in 2014 in an exhibition curated by M+ and West Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong. Recent solo exhibitions include Lee Kit, Mother’s Tankstation, Dublin; Lee Kit: Hold your breath, dance slowly, The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and Lee Kit: A small sound in your head, S.M.A.K., Ghent. Lee Kit lives and works in Taipei, Taiwan and Hong Kong.