BBG Presents Its Second Artist in Residence, Sandra Eula Lee

Two Waters (Seeds in a Wild Garden) Exhibit Opening: March 27 | 1–3 p.m.

Release Date: March 25, 2011

Brooklyn, NY—Shaped by her experiences of gardens and altered landscapes in Korea, China, and the U.S., Korean-American artist Sandra Eula Lee presents Two Waters (Seeds in a Wild Garden) at the Steinhardt Gallery at Brooklyn Botanic Garden through June 5, 2011. Lee is currently BBG’s artist-in-residence; using her access to the Garden’s archives and curatorial staff, Lee expanded her research to include Japanese garden traditions as well as the “defiant gardens” that emerge in rapidly industrializing areas.

In Two Waters, Lee examines the cultural assumptions people bring to gardens, no matter where in the world they are, and investigates the complex relationships communities have with landscape. As natural spaces are reshaped for urban purposes, Lee discovers how gardens can provide spaces of contemplation can provide amid rapid construction and often irrevocable change. As a result of her travels and research of her heritage in Korea, Lee has created a sculptural garden installation within BBG’s Steinhardt Conservatory, composed of handmade objects, found materials, and photographs. Using industrial materials from Korea and China, including sea-weathered construction rubble, PVC tubes, and aluminum roofing, Lee’s garden is a meditation on history, nonhistory, and memory.

Accompanying the installation is a series of photographic works entitled Pursuing the Horizon, including images of constructed landscapes ranging from temple rock gardens to ornamental residential gardens, vegetable gardens, and small potted window gardens. Lee feels they are an expression of philosophy and attitudes towards the landscape; gardens reflect our need to relate to and extend our connection with our surroundings in an intimate and personal way.

Lee’s residency at BBG will continue through June 5, as she expands the exhibition with a new drawing series inspired by BBG’s C.V. Starr Bonsai Museum and her research into the dry landscape tradition.

An earlier form of this project was exhibited at the Chinese-European Art Center in Xiamen, China. Two Waters will travel to Art Space Pool in Seoul, Korea, in June 2011.

By displaying art that explores the connections between humans and plants, BBG's Steinhardt Conservatory Gallery advances the Garden’s mission through a different lens. BBG’s residency program invites artists to collaborate with staff and find inspiration in on-site natural spaces and the diverse plant collections that occupy them. The Steinhardt Gallery is a multiuse space on the lower level of the Steinhardt Conservatory and is equipped to display two-dimensional works and small installations. The gallery is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m.