The Politics of Classical Aesthetics, Natural Law, and Conflicts in Art

The Institute of World Politics

Mr. Arthur Kwon Lee, Resident Artist at the McLean Project for the Arts, discusses the role of moral relativism and ideological subversion by artists and galleries in the contemporary mass media culture. This event took place at The Institute of World Politics on August 10, 2022. About the Speaker: Arthur Kwon Lee is a Korean American painter whose gestural mark making harmonizes expressive color palettes with world mythologies. His work has won awards from George Washington University, the Korean Artists Association, the Corcoran Gallery of Art and most recently the inaugural title of ‘Artist of the Year’ by the Eileen Kaminsky Family Foundation. Lee draws inspiration from a broad range of sources including Jungian psychoanalysis, local religious traditions, and his lifelong commitment to martial arts. Prior to developing a love for painting, Lee was a Division One athlete who placed in the US Tae Kwon Do Nationals for three consecutive years. Lee has carried this martial intensity into his artwork where it translated into large-scale works and a diversity of dynamic brushstrokes. The resulting compositions attest to an artist who uses his entire body to paint symbolically evocative works that contain oblique references to archetypal myths from around the world. Luminous colors, gestural expressionism, and philosophical acumen bring a refreshing sentiment to art that draws our sometimes compartmentalized and fractured times into a synthetic, representative whole. IWP Admissions: https://www.iwp.edu/admissions/ Support IWP: https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E231090&id=18