Vase+with+Landscape+and+Dinosaurs

Date: 2014
 * [[image:http://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=http://americanart.si.edu/images/2015/2015.17_13a.jpg&max=460 width="281" height="374" link="@http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=109624"]] || Title: **Vase with Landscape and Dinosaurs**

Artist: **Steven Young Lee** Born: Chicago, Illinois 1975

Medium: porcelain with pigment and glaze Dimensions: 20 1/2 × 13 1/2 × 12 3/4 in. (52.1 × 34.3 × 32.4 cm) Smithsonian American Art Museum Gift of Richard Fryklund, Giselle and Ben Huberman, David and Clemmer Montague, and museum purchase through the Howard Kottler Endowment for Ceramic Art © 2014, Steven Young Lee

Accession: 2015.17 || //Vase with Landscape and Dinosaurs// is a vessel with one of the upper-body sides budging and broken. This type of vase Lee refers to as a “deconstructed” piece. Blue paint on a white porcelain body recalls traditional Asian ceramics. However, the patches of smudged paint and depiction of dinosaurs in what appears to be a traditional landscape scene is unusual. Notably, there is a triceratops walking, brontosaurus eating tree leaves, and another dinosaur (possibly also a brontosaurus) eating leaves on a tall stocky plant.
 * About the Artwork: **

Lee utilizes both traditional and innovative imagery. Inspirational for him are pieces from the Korean Joseon Dynasty and the Chinese Han dynasty. Sometimes the artist creates cartoon-like versions of traditional Chinese landscapes, in which he depicts such popular cereal mascots as Tony the Tiger and the Trix Rabbit. Lee also hires professional auto body painters to execute his designs in high-end automotive paint on ceramic jars. His work incorporates a variety of imagery derived from historical and modern as well as Eastern and Western sources.

The pieces I create appropriate and incorporate elements of form, decoration, color, image and material that are distinct to particular cultures and time periods. They are a reflection of my love for historical ceramic objects and their ability to provide a unique view of the past. I am fascinated by the effect of environment and resources in the evolution of these objects and the imprint of the cultures in which they were created.
 * Artist’s Statement: **

The forms and decorative motifs I use in my work are appropriated from historical references from various cultural origins–Chinese, Korean, French, Dutch, English, etc. These evolve from their original source, simulating an organic development of form and pattern as a visual language. Through my work, I enjoy challenging preconceptions of identity and systems of belief leaving the viewer to construct the context and/or narrative of the object based on their own perspective and experience. This includes questioning the role that intent and context play in determining the value of an object.

Steven Young Lee is a contemporary artist working in ceramics and mixed media. He is currently the Resident Artist Director of the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Helena, Montana. He received his MFA in Ceramics from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 2004.
 * About the Artist: **

Steve has lectured and taught extensively in North America and Asia and in 2004-5 lived and worked in China while on a cultural and educational exchange. In 2005-6 he was a visiting professor at Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver, B.C. In March 2013 he lectured and participated on a panel, “Americans in the Porcelain City,” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Also in 2013, he was invited to participate in “New Blue and White,” an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston that featured contemporary artists working in the blue-and-white tradition of ceramic production.

Steve has exhibited work at the Duane Reed Gallery (St. Louis), Ferrin Contemporary (Massachusetts), Foster White Gallery (Seattle), Stremmel Gallery (Reno) and the Archie Bray Foundation (Helena) among others. He has had six solo exhibitions including “Steven Young Lee: //Red, Blue and White//,” at the Jane Hartsook Gallery in New York. His work has been collected by several museums including the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian Museum and appears in many private collections. He has juried or curated many exhibitions throughout the country and each year since 2007 he has juried the Archie Bray residency program.

Originally from Chicago he lives in Helena with his wife, Lisa, their son, Gavin, and daughter Florence.

Atkinson, Nora. //Craft for a Modern World: The Renwick Gallery Collection// (Washington, D.C.: Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum; London: D Giles Limited, 2015), 41.

Ruble, Cassey. “West to East and Back Again: The Ceramics of Steven Young Lee.” //Ceramics Monthly// 58, Issue 7 (September 2010), 42-45.

Steven Young Lee’s Artist Statement, @http://stevenyounglee.com/about/artist-statement/

Steven Young Lee’s Deconstructed Vases, @http://stevenyounglee.com/work/deconstructed/vases/

"Steven Young Lee Crafts Perfectly..." - Smithsonian Magazine
 * Resources: **

SAAM Collections Page Artist Biography
 * Links: **