Asia
Lee Kit
Tender
2012
Lee Kit, Tender, 2012. Installation.
The work Tender is composed of several elements: a porcelain spoon, a florescent lamp box, a small portable night light, a shelf with nearly invisible embossments of flowers, and a jar of jam resting on a black plastic tray. The cardboard painting is made of acrylic and inkjet ink on which we can read Tender. Tender is a brand of extra soft tissue paper, it refers to an intimate comfort but results in a sentiment of melancholy and absence. This installation is made of universal elements. Nothing is context-specific however, it’s always site-specific, in the sense that Lee Kit uses very small gestures to alter the situation of a given space.
Lee Kit represented the Honk Kong pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2013 where the exhibition was turned into a half functional private space. The visitor entered a neutral room, open and loose but precisely organized. The artist was searching to deliver both an atmosphere and a still image. In fact, the artist uses the term “setting” to define his paintings, ready-mades or performances. His work comments on the long-term dialectic between form and function. Once made, his hand-painted pieces of cloth are used for picnics and diners and his monochrome sheets of linen serve as blankets, pillows or tablecloths in exhibitions. He says, “I am not expressing an emotion: I am expressing my attitude through my paintings”. These objects are clues of his biography as they express a form of life, his daily life in Honk Kong. And if the name of a brand appears on his cardboard paintings, it is less a reference to consumerism (i.e. Pop art) than a love for details. If there is a reference to art history, it would be the 17th century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer for his depiction of middle class interiors, his attention to details and light. Nothing is really happening in his paintings, but you have the feeling that something important is going to happen.