Field of Fragments, 2024 – Jeewi Lee x Phillip C. Reiner

"Field of Fragments" marks Lee's first exhibition focused on sand as material system. Two sculptural series anchor the show: "Fragments" (ongoing edition, 100-500x enlarged) and "Fragments Proximity" (ongoing series, ~1000x enlarged). Sand paintings incorporate grains collected from six continents. Each sculpture begins with a single grain scanned via Zeiss X-ray microscopy. The nano-CT process captures surface topology and internal density variations at micron resolution. Lee selects grains for their detritus qualities — evidence of transport, erosion, mineral content. The enlarged grains reveal their histories: angular fragments from recent fracture, rounded forms from millennia of water transport, pitted surfaces from chemical weathering. The Fragments editions sit on individual pedestals at intimate scale while the Proximity works occupy floor space at room height, creating a spatial dialogue between scales. The exhibition places these series in direct proximity, making the leap from grain to sculpture physically present. Sand's dual condition — ubiquitous yet depleting, microscopic yet monumental when scaled — runs through both series and the paintings.