Over the last three decades, Korean-born painter Young June Lew has become celebrated for her highly personal mixed-media work with its subdued earthly hues uniquely from coffee stain. In September 2008, Andrew Bae Gallery is proud to announce Lew’s fourth solo exhibition,Memory Work, marking her 10th anniversary of representation at the gallery. After 10 years’ relationship, Andrew Bae Gallery became the exclusive dealer for Young June Lew’s work, connecting 300 collectors of her works internationally. Before her representational works with their recurrent motif of empty clothes, Lew was an abstract painter of commanding power and epic scale. In 1994, Lew’s mother passed away and the image of clothes started emerging from her picture plane; sorting through her late mother’s clothing, the painter heard coats and gowns tell her mother’s journey through life, made in the company of others, yet alone. This series has continued in a broadened theme, now being a meditation on memory, time and identity, which construct the basis of human connections. The emotive quality of Lew’s work arises from her layered, rather primordial surface, often accentuated in her bold Abstract Expressionist drips and gestures. Lew applies paint, thickly, over the background patterns like checkerboards, brick walls, floral designs or a network of strokes inspired by the weaving of a Turkish rug maker. The dense texture testifies vigorous physical performance of production and brings the visual impact visceral and intimate.