Waterfall Mansion & Gallery
at San Clemente Palace Kempinski Venice
Welcome to Waterfall Mansion & Gallery!
Waterfall Mansion & Gallery is a prominent gallery located at the center of Manhattan, NY and also a cultural hub of community for leading artists and entrepreneurs to pioneer in culture care. Waterfall Mansion & Gallery dedicates in developing platforms and programming for artist’s creativity and careers and in the inventive art collaborations with over 400 international contemporary artists and is a respected brand for its authenticity, hospitality, and steady commitment to excellence.
Waterfall Mansion & Gallery is honored to be partnered with the San Clemente Palace Kempinski Venice to participate in the Biennale Architettura 2021 presenting artists of current 2021 Art/Act Exhibition <LIGHT HOUSE+> in NYC.
ARTIST | HYE RIM LEE
Featured Artwork
Black Rose, 2021
3D animation (4k), stereo sound
5:22:00 Loop
Edition 1/7
25,000 USD
For any artwork inquiries, please contact gun@waterfallmansion.com
Hye Rim Lee’s 3D animation series invites the viewers to become enveloped by the world of TOKI, a magical and mythical 3D character that has been Lee’s creation and practice for over 20 years. When Lee experienced personal trauma from losing her sister from cancer, her works had a turning point as her interest moved into themes of life and death. Hence in 2014, TOKI has evolved into Black Rose Queen character, who resists the playful and passive readings of TOKI and connects to a more personal narrative, exploring ideas of isolation, oppression, lost love, hopelessness, and darkness of human mortality with the sensibility of imagination. Black Rose shows an artist’s journey into various personas, telling a narrative of constant transformation and identity mutation resulting from the contemporary demands. The reflection and refraction of one’s never-ending search for paradise - eternity, is multiplied and mirrored in her work.
Black Rose begins with the electronic and experimental sound embellished with a pensive and dreamy mood. The artist and the sound artist, Lady Fish intended to leave the viewer in a “blurry mind” with the ambiguous murmuring singing. Symbols, colors, and textures depict the richness and diverse characteristics of TOKI’s transformation from The Princess to The Rose and to The Queen. The black rose symbolizes death and lost love. By placing a large diamond in the background, Lee intends to create a sense of overwhelming emotion aroused by the reflection and refraction of the diamond textures in the animation. The angles and facets of the diamond symbolize the reflective nature of people’s lives. The artist believes that only an enlightened soul is able to refract its light from inside out and serve as a beacon to the outer world. Through the motif of the diamond, Lee expresses ideas about creation, life, and eternity.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Hye Rim Lee is a Korean artist currently working in Seoul, New York, and Auckland. As an intermedia artist, she works across digital, sculptural, and performance platforms. Through the creation and development of animated character TOKI, Lee discusses the changing roles of women, particularly Asian women, focusing on the rise of new technology and contemporary myth making, which in turn leads to a heightened interest in Western consumerism and beauty ideals.
Music Pick
Béla Bartók Second Rhapsody for Violin and Piano
Pianist, Kyung Sun Lee
Music curated by Korea Music Foundation for each artists represented by Waterfall at the San Clemente Palace Kempinksi Venice for further appreciation of the artworks.