IL LEE Ballpoint Drawings at the Queens Museum of Art
September 07, 2007The New York Times
A selection of drawings — striking indigo and black ink abstractions, all done exclusively in ballpoint pen, on paper and canvas — makes up this engrossing show by the veteran Korean artist Il Lee. The centerpiece is a 50-foot drawing that took two and a half months… Read More 
A Few Good Pens - IL LEE
September 01, 2007ARTnews
For a quarter century, the South Korean-born artist has been coaxing massive webs of line from disposable ballpoint pens.... For his solo show "Ballpoint Drawings," on view at the Queens Museum of Art through the 30th of this month, Lee created his largest work yet:… Read More
To See the World in Ballpoint Pen - IL LEE
August 10, 2007The New York Times
What makes this work, and others like it, so alluring is its unexpected suggestiveness. When Mr. Lee's drawings conjure before you a soft, densely inked snowflakelike blob with feathery edges, or a pattern that recalls a distant constellation, or foliage, or even… Read More
IL Lee - Queens Museum of Art
August 07, 2007The New Yorker
“Il Lee.” Hundreds of thousands of disposable ballpoint pens have passed through the Korean-born, Brooklyn-based artist’s hands over the years, and he’s mastered his medium. He knows how the ink will warm to produce a free-flowing line; he’s learned how to build up… Read More
‘No Border’: Zheng Xuewu Solo Exhibition
August 01, 2007Time Out Beijing
Zheng Xuewu is one of the most casually innovative artists in China. His current solo effort includes three separate series. A mind-boggling installation titled... Read More
The Mountain’s Hold
August 01, 2007Living Art Magazine
The mountainous physicality of Japan, Korea and China provides some level of explanation. Living and breathing amongst such magnificent features would make it hard to rid the psyche of mountains, as a recent New York exhibition bore testament. Read More
Il Lee: Ballpoint Drawings - Queens Museum of Art
July 26, 2007Time Out New York
For the past several decades, the Korean-born artist has been fusing minimalist aesthetics and traditional Asian painting techniques into a series of sublime, black-and-blue abstractions. Most works... Read More
IL LEE: Ballpoint Drawings at Queens Museum of Art
July 19, 2007artnet
Large-format blue and black ink drawings, including a 50-foot installation by the Korean-born, Brooklyn-based artist Read More
IL LEE: Ballpoint Abstractions at San Jose Museum of Art
July 07, 2007San Francisco Chronicle
I wish I had seen sooner the stirring show of abstractions by Korean-born New York artist Il Lee at the San Jose Museum of Art. It ends Sunday. More than 20 years ago Lee, now in his mid 50s, began working with one of the few marking tools underrepresented in… Read More
Whirls Enough And Time, IL LEE does wonders with a humble ballpoint pen
April 12, 2007metroactive.com
Artist IL Lee doesn't need sable-hair brushes and hand-ground pigments. The Korean-born artist, who has lived and worked in New York since 1977, chose another path in 1981, when he began to draw exclusively with the humble ballpoint pen—and not just any ballpoint, but… Read More
Beauty in Ballpoint: Distinctive Doodles by Il Lee
April 01, 2007San Jose Mercury News
Lee has played with lines like a composer noodling away on a piano. After more than 20 years of such playing, he has expanded to complex symphonies of powerful visual notes: "BL-060" (2005) is nearly room-sized, spreading across a 7-by-12-foot canvas. His lines shout… Read More
IL LEE: Ballpoint Abstractions (text from catalogue)
February 27, 2007IL LEE: Ballpoint Abstractions
The expressive inky line remains, but Lee’s use of ballpoint pen gives his art a freshness and originality that satisfies the avant-garde craving for the new. In Lee’s hand, line achieves tremendous power and a range of moods and “personalities.” At times it is… Read More
