Claire Lee (U.S)
@leeyih

Claire Lee draws inspiration from the Pronk Still Life genre of Dutch Golden Age. Pronk still life when loosely translated, means 'to show off.' She is drawn toward the glamour, sumptuousness, and extravagance in them. Her current series of works embark on a journey of responding and retelling these narratives from a feminist perspective. Flowers hold a central role in her exploration, she is often fascinated by the various ways of how flowers attract and reproduce. She refers flowers to the powerful metaphor of beauty, delicacy, lust, and desire. 
In Claire’s painting process she borrows various elements, from Old Masters of Still Life, to contemporary literature. She tends to arrange found objects and flowers in her studio and paint them from real-life observation. Through this recontextualization, her paintings aim to serve as contemporary reinterpretations, by adopting this feminist lens, she seeks to introspect our perception towards beauty, power, and desire.