Claire Lee: Under Pressure

Under Pressure features the latest collection of ink drawings and photographs by Hong Kong artist, poet and curator Claire Lee.

The series explores the theme of ‘pressure’, expressing the tension between harmony and violence, inherent to all human, animal and natural forms. During her research, the artist was profoundly touched and inspired by her readings about people suffering from different degrees of pressure from body anomalies to depression or mental disorders.
For Claire Lee, where pressure is taking place, life manifests a great survival desire and energy, which she depicts in simple yet intense artworks.

“For a very long time, there has been an unsettling feeling that touches my heart; it is a universal, unintentional yet earnest calling from the spirit and the soul. I still remember visits to the Space Museum when I was little. I enjoyed lying down in darkness feeling pressured by the planets pushing in or pulling away from one another. It was frightening, along with an enigmatic pleasure of awe and wonder. This planetary pressure appears like a white giant sphere over the sky. I have no idea why this pressure, suffocating as it is, enchants me at the same time.” stated the artist.

Claire Lee (1976, Hong Kong) lives and works in Hong Kong. She is a poet, curator and visual artist working across the media of painting, mixed media and photography. A graphic designer by training, she also studied curatorship at the Hong Kong Art School.
Claire Lee has been publishing her poetry and giving readings at forums and collaborative music performances since 2008. She has exhibited in solo and group shows. Among her recent solo exhibitions there are Tofu & Violence, PubArt Gallery, Hong Kong; Sacrifice, New Gallery on Old Bailey, Hong Kong; Sacrifice, Cattle Depot Artist Village, Hong Kong; Calm Before the Storm, Fringe Club, Hong Kong; Weight of a Feather, The Studio, Hong Kong; Muse, Temple Bar, Hong Kong.