LEE, Hye Rim
Smooth, from the Birth of Toki series (Print)
Deriving her name from the Korean word for a
rabbit, TOKI is the creation of 49-year-old
Elam graduate Hye Rim Lee. With her huge,
limpid eyes and tiny mouth, TOKI borrows her
looks from the world of cartoons and
computer gaming, and is herself an animated
creation. Despite her associations with
Western bunnies, she is less Thumper than
Bambi, suggesting not goofiness, but a cutesy
innocence and vulnerability with her wide
open gaze. The impression of sweetness in
TOKI’s expression can be quickly dispelled by
some of her behaviours, or by a cleverly
subversive accompanying soundtrack. At the
Gus Fisher Gallery in the exhibition Powder
Room, for example, TOKI appeared in a short
animation entitled Lash, blinking to the
accompaniment of the sound of a whip
cracking each time her lids closed.