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Take a Dreamy Daytrip into the Pink and Blue 'Venus Mansion’

Korean artist Lee Sol fuses classical iconography with graphic design programs to create enthralling tableaus on his Instagram account.

Don't worry.

A photo posted by Lee Sol (@venusmansion) on

Aug 30, 2015 at 3:09pm PDT

Rehashing classical sculpture and architecture into hallucinatory, surreal concoctions, the images of Korean artist Lee Sol are as intriguing as they are almost excessively vibrant. His 3D renderings, often done in vivacious tones of blue and pink, enthrall you to step into their highly seductive worlds, but are ultimately confined to the virtual, 2D plane of Sol’s Instagram account.

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A photo posted by Lee Sol (@venusmansion) on

Mar 8, 2016 at 12:48pm PST

There is an air of mystery to Sol’s work. After looking at his images of a pink Buddha statue adorned with Hello kitty figurines or an image of a purple and pink locker room filled with floating football helmets and Romanesque busts, you can’t help but wonder what ties these works together, or, on an even more fundamental level, what these images are all about. Sol seems to relish in ambiguity; seeming to purposely conceal contextualizing information through seldom captions and non-existent project descriptions.

Hello!

A photo posted by Lee Sol (@venusmansion) on

Mar 14, 2016 at 2:23pm PDT

Speaking to him partially unravels the enigma, although much still remains uncertain: “I usually start a piece by following my personal emotions and by asking myself a serious of questions regarding how these motions can influence space,” Sol tells The Creators Project. “I use a graphic design program to bring all these objects together, in order to specify locations. Then I start coloring each object based on my emotions.”

A photo posted by Lee Sol (@venusmansion) on

Mar 27, 2016 at 3:57am PDT

“But I don’t go through this same process all the time,” the artist adds. “Sometimes I come up with the entire scene in my mind and I bring my vision to life exactly as I had previously seen it in my mind. Sometimes I get these ideas from magazines or images, but I also get inspired from regular conversations with friends.”

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A photo posted by Lee Sol (@venusmansion) on

May 25, 2015 at 5:25pm PDT

Although his process seems very intuitive and dependent on how he feels at a given moment , his palette seems less incidental and more calculated: “After seeing the Pink and Blue Project by Jeong-Mee Yoon, a famous Korean artist, I realized that the colors blue and pink can be useful to depict messages of extortion and violence,” Sol almost grimly reveals. “Ever since this experience, I’ve started to use a diverse range of colors, especially bright ones.”

A photo posted by Lee Sol (@venusmansion) on

Nov 5, 2015 at 3:30am PST

The lively tones and enticing visuals of the artist seem to have potential to be incredible spatial installations, something the artist could see himself doing in the future: “I’m not against doing special installations or making sculptures. I actually do have quite a few sketches for that purpose on my Instagram,” Sol says. “But for now, I’d like to continue working digitally before making a transition into sculpture and installation.

@venusmansion prints will be available to purchase very soon! Keep your eyes on!

A photo posted by Lee Sol (@venusmansion) on

Nov 12, 2015 at 5:41pm PST

Check out a full archive of Lee Sol’s graphic artwork on his bustling Instagram page.

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