For 1000 Attempts at a Reconciliation, Lee transfers one thousand sheets of 24 karat gold leaf onto a painted blue surface, trying to maintain the original integrity and flawlessness of the original material. However, this is impossible taking into consideration of how delicate the leaves are, as well as the inevitable human error of handling the gold.
The results mirror the possibilities of love – moments of near perfection, moments of destruction, and moments when the artist has clearly given up. Lee decided to create one thousand squares of these leaves because he grew up listening to the story of the 1000 cranes – a story told to children in Korea, China and Japan which claims that folding 1000 paper cranes will allow the individual to realise one wish.
Supported by Sabrina Amrani