Every year, different Asian families celebrate the Lunar New Year in their

Every year, different Asian families celebrate the Lunar New Year in their own way. On Feb. 19 this year, one Korean family did something special. The mother, Hee Sung Lee, who lives in New Jersey, showcased her “Om” paintings. The son, Han Chung Eun, who lives in Korea, played a fusion of jazz, blues and traditional music on the Korean flute, and the daughter, Iris You, managed the entire event.

Of note was that the event was held in East Harlem, at a venue called the Poet’s Den Gallery and Theater on East 108th Street, a former school building renovated nearly 30 years ago by a Korean-American.

Hee Sung Lee has been creating her “Om” paintings for more than 30 years, using various colors and representations of the symbol, and forming different shapes with repetitions of the symbol. She went to India to exhibit more than 100 artworks in 2004, and said she was surprised at the positive reception.

Lee didn’t have a formal art education, and doesn’t view herself as a professional artist. Rather, she said, she sees herself as a meditator. She has been meditating for a long time, and says she bows 500 times or more a day. Believing that dead souls wander from 12 am to 3 am, she paints during those hours to be in tune with the spiritual realm.

“I can’t even explain why my works look the way they do. I express what I realize during meditation and dreams, which are the truths of the universe,” Lee said.

In Hinduism, “Om” represents the sound or vibration made at the time of the creation of the universe. Buddhism uses the sound as a mantra and the symbol exists in numerous Asian languages. But Lee said her Om paintings were not just for people of certain religious faiths.

“People in modern society either aren’t religious or believe narrowly in only their own religion. But there is no line in the sky… there is one truth in the world.”

For this exhibit, Lee is showing her “turtle” paintings for the first time. Lee was inspired by the fact that turtles are a symbol of longevity and prosperity in many Asian countries, and also by some dreams she has had since 2004. In one, she said, a turtle transformed into a man and helped a sick woman to recover; in others, Lee says, disasters were foretold.

Also on exhibit were paintings which the artist had designated as “talismans” for the wishes they conveyed.

After the opening of the exhibition, Han Chung Eun performed fusion music in which the sounds of traditional Korean flutes Daegeum and Sogeum were combined with the sounds of Western instruments. In an interview, Han said: “In the 1990s, I used to interact with Korean pop musicians frequently. While musicians in Korea today specialize in a particular form of music, in the past they would study all forms of music. So when we gathered together, I had the chance to play my flutes in various musical genres. I enjoyed and loved the approach a lot.”

http://www.voicesofny.org/2015/02/korean-artists-come-east-harlem/?utm_source=Voices+Newsletter&utm_campaign=e346eac3c9-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ffee07af47-e346eac3c9-32371745