Leeah Joo’s paintings don’t just depict fabric—they elevate it. Through her masterful use of illusionistic detail, she builds on a centuries-long tradition of trompe l’oeil painting, using the curtain as both subject and metaphor. In her hands, folds of cloth become meditations on memory, identity, and the boundaries of perception. Perhaps my favorite example of this is Vermeer's The Art of Painting or Girl Reading a Letter, where the use of the curtain turns the viewer into a voyeur.
The curtain has a storied role in the history of Western painting. In ancient Greek legend, the curtain even marked the origin of painting itself: when the artist Zeuxis painted grapes so lifelike that birds tried to eat them, his rival Parrhasius responded by painting a curtain so convincingly that Zeuxis tried to draw it aside. That story doesn’t just celebrate technical skill—it reflects painting’s power to deceive, to invite us into a reality that doesn’t physically exist.
Leeah Joo’s work picks up that thread and makes it personal. Her Korean-American heritage often informs her choice of fabric—embroidered silks, brocades, and textured materials that allude to both traditional Korean textiles and the aesthetics of domestic life. These painted curtains conceal and reveal, wrap and veil, creating layers of cultural meaning beneath their seemingly simple surfaces. In this way, her work continues the trompe l’oeil tradition not only through visual trickery, but by playing with the emotional and symbolic depth of what we can and can’t see.
Joo isn’t alone in her fascination with the curtain. From Baroque altarpieces to 19th-century academic painting, artists have used drapery to dramatize, to withhold, and to heighten the sense of theatrical spectacle. Leeah’s contribution to this lineage is distinct: she brings the curtain forward into the contemporary moment, grounding it in personal narrative and cross-cultural context while never losing sight of its visual power.
We are thrilled to include Leeah Joo in our upcoming trompe l’oeil exhibition Fool Me Twice, opening this Friday. Her work is a perfect fit for a show that celebrates illusion, revelation, and the cleverness of the painted surface.
