Lee Kit: His gaze has turned into disdain for those who are well-intentioned yet incapable. (A quiet day)

Lee Kit, born in Hong Kong in 1978 and now living in Taiwan, came to prominence in the first several years of this century with paintings that are not just art objects but also everyday items: He painted stripes and checkerboard patterns on materials like textiles to use them temporarily in a domestic environment as curtains and tablecloths or outdoors as picnic blankets or banners. Using materials, especially in this latter form, in the context of the protest movements in Hong Kong, injected a decidedly political aspect—one that is considered a key feature of his works still today. Another central characteristic is the suspension of genre-specific boundaries, something that already came to notable fruition in Lee’s early formulations and still today finds ever-stronger expression in his exhibitions. In his presentations, he melds his paintings, sculptures, films, photography, music, and language to form a single unit. The results are intense, immersive worlds of image, thought, and experience that are as imbued with a delicate poetry as they are with the desire to proclaim a social utopia. The Fridericianum presents Lee’s first solo exhibition in Germany—a walk-on synthesis of the arts.