The TCNJ Art Gallery celebrated the opening of Something between air and light, an exhibition featuring the works of New York City based artists Juyon Lee and Simona Prives.
The event on Oct. 30 began with a talk from the artists followed by a reception. This exhibition features mesmerizing video installation and densely-layered prints by Prives, and unique sculptural installations by Lee that combine photographic images encased in resin or glass, with metal pieces and neon lights interwoven in the pieces.
Though the artists work in very different media, their work shares a similar palette (mostly black and white, with hints of color), and an attention to detail and experience of time and space that rewards close and extended attention.
“I think when we started thinking about this exhibition, I was really struck by some of the visual connections between the works, especially in the palette of colors and textures and things like that,” said Art Gallery Director Margaret Pezalla-Granlund. “Having been in the gallery with the artists and the work, I’m getting really interested in how they’re both kind of looking at very human things and on very, very different scales.”
Juyon Lee is a South Korea-born artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Growing up between Seoul and the greater Boston area, Lee developed her interest in dissonance in space and time and ephemeral nature of being. Her pieces explore the idea of transience and fluidity in perception and meaning-making process by weaving images into multidimensional works composed of architectural elements, functional and nonfunctional objects, along with ethereal materials like light and air.
Simona Prives is a Brooklyn-based visual artist whose work includes painting, drawing, and time-based media. Having received her MFA from Pratt Institute, Prives creates animated collages that incorporate a variety of themes and materials. Her work explores the dialectic of growth and decay and examines our complex relationship between the organic and the man-made.
Most of Lee’s pieces display literal use of air by having some pieces suspended from the ceiling, while another piece is mounted to a wall in a way that gives the illusion of floating.
Prives has several pieces that are projected and feature small unique animations that one has to pay attention closely to catch all the details. With every viewing of these pieces there is always something to see that was not noticed before.
Something Between Air and Light is open now through Dec. 6.
TCNJ Art Gallery is located on the first floor of the AIMM Building. Gallery hours can be found on the TCNJ Art Gallery page.
– Ashley Peng ’25