Interview 2 – On Imagery and Color

6 October 2009

Below is a transcript of a short conversation with Ruth Lee (RL). While this was an informal conversation and not a formal interview, it is presented here in interview format for ease of reading.

Int.: Could you talk to us about some of the imagery we see in your later work? It seems you have been leaning toward a more traditional kind of “landscape” painting, in which people appear in a natural scene. In your more recent work, you also seem to be using more “abstract” – rather than realistic images.

RL: In my work, I try to create a “primitive” environment that speaks to all viewers regardless of their cultural background. I do that by reducing things to their simplest forms. I want to remind viewers of their essential nature. Also, because most people have been over-stimulated visually with advertisements, signs, and computer screens, I need to create a new language or visual style to attract them, to draw them into my work.

My painting style is nurtured by, but limited by, my training in classical Chinese painting techniques. In my trees, for example, even though I use traditional brushes, you will see that I use non-traditional brushwork in rendering a tree image that is not traditional. I focus on the “energy” or “vibe” the images project rather than on accuracy of representation. A good example of that might be my use of square patches in creating the ground of many of my most recent works. I use the verticals and horizontals formed by these patches to lend a special energy to the free-flowing lines of the tree branches.

My human figures are simplified, as well, as are my architectural structures. I have reduced these to two-degree representation (without depth) to remove the image from our “reality.” I don’t want the viewer to think of the accuracy of the structural design. The viewer knows that it is a house or a tree or a flower even though it is not an identifiable style of architecture, or species of tree or flower. It is a structure or a tree or a flower more in the Platonic “forms” sense. By simplifying I remove distinction, and thereby remove conflict arising from intellectual, spiritual, and emotional “noise.” What is left is not empty, though, because it retains the “warmth” or “essence” of a tree, structure, or flower.

Human figures are also simplified forms – they are still recognizably people, but without the cultural, emotional, political, or intellectual baggage. I paint mostly female figures perhaps because as a woman that is what I relate best to. I am by no means a “feminist” painter, however. My goal is to remove all that baggage and retain the individual’s essential humanity. My figures have no facial features because they are representative of all humanity – of what in each of us makes us human. Just as I don’t want the viewer to be burdened with thinking about what kind of tree or flower it is, I don’t want them to be burdened with trying to identify the human figure’s gender, age, mood, personal or political story. That human figure is me; it’s you – it is that within each of us that defines our common humanity.

You will also notice that my human figures are not recognizably of one culture or another. Earlier in my career, as I was trying to find a place for myself in the continuing history of Chinese painting, I thought I could keep a foot in either world – east-west, tradition-modern – and I tried to develop my own visual language. Now I don’t do that … I just open myself to the experience of creating the image and what comes out comes out. If there are identifiable elements of classical, modern, eastern, or western art, it is because my personal and social environment has created this person, me, who expresses herself in this way. It is part and parcel of who I am.

Int.: Looking at your work over the past 20 years or so, even as your style has evolved, what is most identifiably Ruth Lee is your use of color. Could you talk a bit about that?

RL: My training was primarily in traditional Chinese painting, and in classical Chinese painting … well, in Chinese we have a saying: “The five colors blind, and the five tones deafen.” This shows how in classical Chinese aesthetics, the emphasis has been on not indulging the senses – the Chinese aesthetic pooh-poohs that as superficial.

After the T’ang Dynasty (a dynasty seen by many as the “Golden Age” of Chinese culture because of its abundance – economical, social, and cultural) the emphasis was on being more frugal and reserved. And this was very evident in the visual arts. The colors became more and more muted until the Sung Dynasty, when color virtually disappeared (leaving only black ink washes) in a Zen and Taoist aesthetic expression. Therefore, in my training, it was an accepted rule that use of color should be limited because of this traditional view that what is important is not accurate depiction but the expression of an ideal.

Int: So, where did your palette come from? Why this range of colors?

RL: In my use of color, perhaps I am not only not traditional, but a bit of a radical. I don’t believe all color should be sacrificed to avoid the dangers of over-indulgence. On the contrary, color, in its variety and flexibility, is kind of magical. It opens up a different world – almost like in the movie where Dorothy opens the door of her house and looks out on the land of OZ.

Int: So, you are not afraid of color. In fact your paintings are very colorful. But what I mean is the particular colors you use seem to be as recognizably you as those of Van Gogh or Matisse.

RL: Part of it is just there from birth, I think – a sensitivity to colors. Part is also learned. I have studied (and taught) color theory, and this informs what color I choose to create a certain mood. I am very careful, very deliberate in my choice and use of color. Each color has its own personality. There is no color I especially like or dislike. There is only the best color – the most appropriate color – for the image, the mood, I am creating. When I use a color, it goes from being itself, just a color in the spectrum, to being an element that contributes its energy to and plays it part in creating an overall energy for the piece. I choose the colors I use not primarily for how they affect your eyes, but for how after entering your eyes they reach in and touch your heart.

Int.: It seems that the range of your palette leans toward “earth colors” – not pastels, but muted colors. There seems to rarely be any striking colors in your work.

RL: Perhaps that is because I prefer more complex, as opposed to pure, colors, colors that are more subtle. These colors complement my images in that they promote a calming “vibe” free of extremes – the kind of extremes that come with an individual, rather than a universal, human experience.