NOELLE LEE
Milliony Arlekina welcomes Noelle Lee’s first Milan solo exhibition, Nocturnal Visions: A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer. Running from October 24 to December 15, the show transforms esoteric history and folkloric imagination into a reflective, visually arresting tableau. Lee, a New York-based artist born in Seoul, orchestrates her drawings across three thematic series that blend the charm of childhood craft with a forensic attention to cultural symbolism.
The gallery’s walls host the spectral parade of Occultists, nine delicately drawn portraits of historical figures associated with spiritualism and mysticism. Fastened together with golden pins, these paper-doll figures flirt with the whimsical while engaging with the heavy, often misunderstood underpinnings of esoteric thought. Juxtaposed are Lee’s Cryptids, which reinterpret legendary creatures such as the Yeti and Loch Ness Monster through surreal anatomical juxtapositions, creating visual allegories for hidden desires and fears.
Across these works, Lee interrogates the romanticized view of the occult as a subconscious wellspring for art. Her taxonomic precision suggests a counter-narrative, one that frames esotericism as a space for systematic exploration rather than mystical surrender. The tactile, assemblage-based approach invites questions about the fragility of the symbols we rely on to confront the unknown.
The exhibition extends to a series of meticulously drawn album covers, featuring works like Burial’s Untrue and Young Thug’s Beautiful Thugger Girls. Here, music becomes a spiritual cipher, a medium through which Lee explores how art channels intangible forces into material forms. Together with a publication inviting visitors to construct paper dolls from the featured illustrations, the show offers a disarming mix of nostalgia and scholarly provocation.
On view at Milliony Arlekina from October 24 to December 15.
Words by DONALD GJOKA
Photography by TONI BRUGNOLI
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