Impossible Architecture
Charmaine Lie
The work I have dedicated to the grad show consists of four lithograph prints that focus on constructing abstracted, impossible architectural spaces. These prints are inspired by the visual language of industrial architecture, specifically by exposed beams, skeletal frameworks, and open, warehouse-like spaces. My interest in architectural structures lies in the distortion and the defiance of spatial logic to create structures that would not physically withstand gravity.
In contrast to thinking about the functionality and stability of structures, I am interested in how exposed skeletal frameworks reveal both a sense of vulnerability and the potential for what the structure will eventually become. In doing so, I looked at buildings that are under construction to create imagined spaces that feel similar to what a traditional industrial warehouse would look like if it were altered by multiple intersecting perspectives.
Through my work, I think about how consciousness and perception are shaped by the way time and space are morphed through the fragmentation and reconstruction of architectural structures.
19.5” x 25,” Edition of 3.
Past Works
First Stone Lithos:
R: Home Among Branches, 2024 Stone Lithography on Above Ground paper, 15″ x 22,” Edition of 8.
My passion for Stone Lithography began when I created these two prints. My initial reaction to the process was that it felt complicated and overwhelming to grasp. However, it was my first marks on the limestone that I knew, this was the printmaking medium for me!
What I love about stone lithography is the ability to create tonal values through velvety and rich marks. Stone litho has been the process that challenged me the most. Because of the unpredictable nature of the process and the stone, even if something is slightly off in the etching or printing stage, the entire image can fill in unexpectedly, as seen in the print on the left above. The print on the right is an iteration of the previous print. One of the most important things stone litho has taught me, aside from patience, is that when mistakes are made, you just have to allow them to be part of the print itself.
Whimsical Domestic Homes
Over the last year, I have been creating stone lithographs that explore imagery of houses shaped by childhood memory and nostalgia. Only recently have I begun looking at architectural forms beyond the domestic home as a way of thinking about industrial imagined spaces.
In my work, the relationship between dream and reality emerges through intuition, memory, and spatial transformation. Through these prints, I focus on subtly shifting what is already familiar by exploring the in-between of the tangible and the imagined rather than constructing something that feels entirely surreal.
11” x 15,” Edition of 8.
11” x 15,” Edition of 6.
This was the final piece that concluded the Whimsical Home series. Although I’m unsure whether it belongs in this series, sparked by childhood whimsy and nostalgia, it inspired a different direction in thinking about high-rise buildings.
