Crystal City Spun is a spectacle of sexually charged stimuli.
The video opens with a cityscape of spinning dildo towers. Out of the landscape emerges Dragon YONG, a vehicle for fantasy exploration by TOKI, a highly stylized curvaceous, warrior-cum-vixen who draws upon the Japanese tradition of Manga, Korean animamix and Western ideals of sexuality and beauty. TOKI exists in a fantasyland ripe with testosterone-driven energy.
To sadistically erotic effect, YONG taps TOKI’s exposed nipple with the tip of his pointy claw. This titillation sends TOKI into a pirouette. She stops only when YONG whips her with his whiskers which sparks the crystallization of both the landscape and its characters.
"The video has a playful, childlike quality alluding to fantasy and toys such as pink bunny rabbits and digitally exaggerated reflections. But at the same time, Lee explores sexual innuendo, and plays with varying degrees of sexuality and sexual expression both with imagery and color. While Lee is humorous and nostalgic, she does not shy away from the darker side of fantasy, the worlds of obsession and addiction.
Although the artist’s work is rooted in the challenges facing the Asian diaspora who have settled in New Zealand, the work speaks to the manipulation and perception of female sexual identity worldwide. Furthermore, Lee challenges the conventions of the traditionally male-dominated worlds of game structure and 3D animation, specifically when it comes to virtualized images of women. Crystal City Spun is a project in which cyberculture and contemporary myth-making intersect."
