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Imprinted on intimacy

A sense of serenity and domestic tranquility permeates Carol Lee Mei-kuen's latest works on paper. In Others, Elsewhere, for instance, the projected stillness in the air is so palpable only the clocks on the wall and mantelpiece hint at the passage of time and the artist's longing; while Dinner II depicts a perfectly laid-out table setting that spells symmetry, harmony and, perhaps, anticipation.

But underneath all that calmness lurks something darker. Intimacy, Lee's new solo show at 10 Chancery Lane Gallery, is more about the 47-year-old's coming to terms with the fragility of life, mortality and separation.

Her mother and parents-in-law died within a year, in 2006, but it was the unexpected passing of her mentor and good friend artist Jerry Kwan Fong two years ago that had the most profound impact on her. Having been alerted to his absence by friends, Lee went to his Fo Tan studio to find his body on the floor.

'I'm still very upset by what happened,' she says. 'His death made me want to return to my family and friends, and to pay more attention to everything around me, no matter how small or trivial.

'Intimacy looks at my relationship with my home, as a woman, a mother, a wife and an artist.'

On show is a series of imprints and drawings on newsprint: a broomstick, a doll, a handkerchief or a sparrow - ordinary objects and living things that Lee can find and see around her Pok Fu Lam flat. However, the creation of these images is anything but ordinary as she chooses two unusual mediums for her work: sunlight and time.

It's an elaborate process: she first 'captures', then traces, the shadow of an object on to a piece of paper. She then makes a very finely detailed stencil in the exact shape of that shadow and places it on a sheet of newsprint under the sun. After a number of hours, the exposed parts of the paper gradually turn yellow or light brown. In time, the masked areas will also turn yellow but the tone will always be lighter than that of the exposed newsprint.

Lee has been experimenting with this method over the past four years because it perfectly suits the themes of her art, she says.

'Newsprint is the ideal material because it is quite fragile, it rips easily, and I want that to reflect the fragility of life itself. It is also an everyday material, which is what all my objects are for this series - ordinary. The fact newsprint changes colour in the sunlight and over time, that makes my work very organic. The prints I made months ago ... their colours are still changing and deepening.'

The captured images serve as records of her memories of herself, her mother and her son, the artist says. So there is an imprint of a second-hand frilly dress that reminds her of her childhood. 'It didn't matter to me that it wasn't new because, like all young girls of that age, I just wanted to look pretty in a dress.'

There are also a number of pieces that express her love for her 15-year-old son who is studying in Britain. One features some childish doodles that Lee has kept ('I've actually kept a lot of his drawings'), while in Others, Elsewhere, the two clocks in the piece show different times.

'Since my son went abroad, it's been like living in two different time zones for me,' says Lee.

According to Katie de Tilly, owner of 10 Chancery Lane Gallery, Lee's work is a time painting or a diary using paper: 'The paper changes with each passing day and through this process records the passing of time. It is not only a visual diary but also a way of collecting time by measurement.

'Time is abstract. It is not visible, it cannot be caught nor does it have form or image. We know of its passing through sunrise and sunset. Marks, lines, voids, shapes and forms create abstract impressions on newsprint. This being the evidence of time that Lee captures.'

A prolific mixed media artist, Lee started her studies in Chinese painting in 1983. She graduated from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University with a BA in fine arts in 2001 and then a master's in fine arts from the same university three years ago. She exhibits in Hong Kong and abroad including Germany, Australia and Ukraine.

Lee is also launching her new book Threads of Luminosity at the exhibition that charts the development of her work over the past five years, including pieces from previous shows such as Contingency ?Transmigration.

Lee says Intimacy is a very personal show. In creating the works, the artist says she has learned more about herself and the people around her, including her husband who she has known for 34 years and been married to for 21.

'He is a very important person in my life,' she says. 'I recently re-read our love letters - people don't write letters these days - and one day I will compile them into a book for myself.'

Lee recalls that once after an overseas trip her husband failed to show up at the airport to pick her up. Calls to his mobile phone went unanswered. She didn't know it at the time but the phone battery was dead and he was at home. 'When I got home, I saw the lights were on. I was totally terrified. I thought something bad had happened and I couldn't even go into the flat by myself, I had to call a friend to go with me,' she says.

Death is a very sad state of affairs, Lee says, but mortality has also made her more aware and sensitive towards things and people close to her.

'The point about this exhibition is communication, how to re-establish that contact with people you may have forgotten because you are caught up with life,' she says.

'This may be a very personal experience but it is also very universal. I'm sure other people can relate to it.'

Intimacy, 10 Chancery Lane Gallery, 10 Chancery Lane, Central, Tue-Sat, 10am-6pm. Inquiries: 2810 0065. Ends Oct 2

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