LEE JAEHYO SOLO EXHIBITION 2010
THE FORCE OF WILL : THE FORCE OF NATURE
LEE JAEHYO SOLO EXHIBITION 2010 THE FORCE OF WILL : THE FORCE OF NATURE
Sculpture in Woodland, Ireland
THE FORCE OF WILL : THE FORCE OF NATURE
Korean contemporary art has for some decades now revealed a very special sensibility – neither Chinese nor Japanese, but containing elements that are reminiscent of both. Lee Jaehyo’s work shows immense respect for natural materials, but also the will to dominate what nature has provided. One is immediately struck by the perfection of his craftsmanship, and led to reflect on the many long hours of hard physical labour that must have gone into the production of these immaculate, yet also intricate objects. If one knows something about what he has produced previously one also notes that he is no longer content to produce only quasigeometric or, alternatively, biomorphic shapes. Many of the sculptures here are also furniture – couches, a chair, a table, a large dish. This development is in step with something that is happening in the art world in general. The fine arts and the so-called applied arts, having maintained a respectful, if in some cases also rather disdainful distance for years – in the West, you could say for centuries – are slowly starting to come together again. Lee Jaehyo’s contribution to this development displays a quality not usually associated with artists from the Far East: a sly, sophisticated wit. These are domestic items that, for me at least, have an element of parody. Just as Ancient Greek sculpture idealizes the human body, Lee Jaehyo, tongue in cheek, idealizes the image of the chaise longue.
There are several things one can say about this. The first is that the items we encounter in out daily lives, and perhaps most intensely those that we encounter in our own domestic surroundings, have formal qualities that can be thought of in ways quite detached from their actual utility. A sofa is a shape, and that shape can be analysed in terms of visual relationships, not merely in terms of what it feels like to sit on it. A second observation is that Lee Jaehyo is, in addition, what one might describe as an analyst of luxury. Anyone who encounters his work must immediately be struck by the beauty, and also by the tactility of his surfaces. Yet these surfaces are a direct expression of the qualities of very humble materials. They expose the inner nature of these materials, often in a very literal sense – in the way, for example, that the sculptures made entirely of wood make play with the patterns of tree rings. The world of the western crafts, and especially that part of it that descends directly from the Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19th century, has never been able to feel much affection for things that seem to relate too directly to the world of industry. Lee Jaehyo has no such inhibitions. Stainless steel bolts and nails are part of his palette. These metal items are set into burned wood and then polished flat. They offer a myriad of small light reflecting forms
City Seven Hotel, South Korea
against a dark surface. The effects he achieves with this technique are extremely various. Sometimes the patterns look like star maps. Sometimes they look like rippling water. Sometimes they look like spermatozoa seen through a microscope. And sometimes they look like seedlings competing for space and air. The references are not always to nature. Some of his most intriguing works in this category make use of the forms of the western alphabet, all jumbled together. There is an almost irresistible urge to scan them for meaning, to see if one can make out some kind of coded message. There is a message in what he does, but not one that can be read in any literal sense. Lee Jaehyo forms his materials. He respects their inherent qualities but also dominates them, both by force of skill and by force of will. In doing so, he initiates a dialogue, both with them and with us as spectators. He also does something else, which is comparatively rare in the world of contemporary art. He is, in several senses, a playful artist. He is playful in the sense that he likes to juggle with materials, and see what they can be made to do. He is so fully in command of his skills that there is, paradoxically, no sense of the laborious.
He is also playful in a different way. He sees the world in a slightly oblique way, and has a gift for turning the familiar into the unfamiliar. Almost all of us, at one time or another, have had the experience – perhaps when we have just woken up – of feeling completely disassociated from things that, at other moments, are perfectly familiar to us. A chair is not a chair. A table is not a table. It is, instead, a wholly alien object forcefully imported into an entirely unready consciousness. What Lee Jaehyo offers, in fact, are opportunities for seeing the world anew, with the kind of innocence of vision that we associate with children’s play.
Edward Lucie-Smith Ar t Historian, Critic and Writer
1. 0121-1110=110076 wood (big cone pine) 208 x 95 x 77cm 2010
2. 0121-1110=110051 Material wood(big cone pine) 172 x 131 x 101 cm 2010
3. 0121-1110=110064 wood(chestnut & mulberr y) 90 x 90 x 133 cm 2010
4. 0121-1110=110082 wood (chestnut) 100 x 100 x 47 cm 2010
5. 0121-1110=110072 wood (big cone pine) 128 x 112 x 80 cm 2010
6. 0121-1110=1100118 wood (chestnut) 50 x 50 x 210 cm 2010
7. 0121-1110=1100116 wood (chestnut) 91 x 100 x 110 cm 2010
8. 0121-1110=110057 wood (larch) 123 x 123 x 6 cm 2010
10. 0121-1110=1080317 stainless steel bolts, nails & wood 41 x 41 x 12 cm 2008 9. (Left) 0121-1110=1100711 stainless steel bolts, nails & wood 233 x 240 x 7 cm 2010
11. 0121-1110=109103 stainless steel bolts, nails & wood 220 x 95 x 43 cm 2009
12. 0121-1110=109051 stainless steel bolts, nails & wood 136 x 136 x 7 cm 2009
13. 0121-1110=110045 stainless steel bolts, nails & wood 72 x 72 x 32 cm 2010
14. 0121-1110=107075 stainless steel bolts, nails & wood 150 x 20 x 12 cm 2009
15. 0121-1110=1090613 stainless steel bolts, nails & wood 120 x 58 x 10 cm 2009
16. 0121-1110=109055 stainless steel bolts, nails & wood 187x60x6cm 2009
17. 0121-1110=107021 stainless steel bolts, nails & wood 16 x 180 x 16 cm (each) 2007
18. 0121-1110=110085 stainless steel bolts, nails & wood 128 x 60 x 38 cm 2010
19. 0121-1110=1091117 stainless steel bolts, nails & wood 137 x 48 x 36 cm 2009
20. 0121-1110=1090912 stainless steel bolts, nails & wood 158 x 114 x 34 cm 2009
21. 0121-1110=1100712 stainless steel bolts, nails & wood 70 x 70 x 7 cm 2010
22. 0121-1110=1100211 stainless steel bolts, nails & wood 115 x 70 x 8 cm 2010
Intercontinental Hotel, Geneva, Switzerland
BIOGRAPHY
born in 1965, South Korea EDUCATION 1992 B.F.A., Hong-Ik University, Seoul, Korea SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2010 the 20th Solo Exhibition, Albemarle Galler y, London the 19th Solo Exhibition, Kwai Fung Galler y, Hong Kong the 18th Solo Exhibition, REEVES Contemporar y, New York 2009 the 17th Solo Exhibition, Galler y Sol Beach, Korea the 16th Solo Exhibition, Ever Har vest Ar t Galler y, Taiwan the 15th Solo Exhibition, Galler y Keumsan, Japan the 14th Solo Exhibition, Albemarle Galler y, London 2008 the 13th Solo Exhibition, MANAS Ar t Center, Korea the 12th Solo Exhibition, BUNDO Galler y, Korea the 11th Solo Exhibition, DOSI Galler y, Korea the 10th Solo Exhibition, REEVES Contemporar y, New York 2007 the 9th Solo Exhibition, Galler y Keumsan, Japan the 8th Solo Exhibition, Galler y Ar tside, China the 7th Solo Exhibition, Galler y Keumsan, Korea 2006 the 6th Solo Exhibition, Galler y Marin, Korea 2005 the 5th Solo Exhibition, Galler y Ar tside, Korea 2003 the 4th Solo Exhibition, Galler y Won, Korea 2001 the 3rd Solo Exhibition, Vermont Studio Center, USA 2000 the 2nd Solo Exhibition, Ilmin Museum of Ar t, Korea 1996 the 1st Solo Exhibition, Museum of Seoul Ar ts Center, Korea
Selected Group Exhibitions 2009 A Korea& Singapore Joint Sculpture Exhibition(Singapore-Botanic Garden) Yangpyeong Environmental Ar t(South Han River) Touchar t Book Ar tists(Touchar t Galler y) Korea International Ar t Fair (COEX) Ar t Fair Taipei 2009 (Taiwan) Like of Yves Saint Laurent(Galler y Ar tside) Korean Aesthetics (Albemarle Galler y-U.K) Mad for furniture (Nefspace) Hong Kong Ar t Fair (Galler y Keumsan) Korea Galleries Ar t Fair (BEXCO) Step of a Bull (Jang Eun Sun Galler y) The Great Hands (Hyundai Galler y) 2008 Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinar y(Museum of Ar ts and Design-New York) Korea Now: Emerging Korean Ar t(Ar tLink-Israel) Sanghai Contemporar y Ar t Fair(Sanghai) Korea International Ar t Fair(COEX) Daegu Ar t Fair(EXCO)
Intercontinental Hotel, Geneva, Switzerland
Ar t Museum the Traveling(National Museum of Contemporary Ar t) Living Design fair(COEX) Contemporar y Neo_metaphor 2008(Insa ar t center) Seoul Ar t Fair(BEXCO) Opening 10th Busan Municipal Museum of Ar t(Busan Municipal Museum of Ar t) Changwon Asian Contemporary Ar t Exhibition(Changwon Ar t Hall) Circle & Sqaure(N Galler y Planning Invitation Exhibition) 2007 Lee jaehyo,Park seungmo,Chio taehoon Group Exhibition(Manas ar t center) From Dot to Dot(Whanki Museum) Living Design fair(Designer’s Choice-COEX) Beijing Ar t Fair(China) Tuning Boloni(China) 2006 Simply Beautiful(Centre PasquAr t, Biel-Switzerland) Ar t Canal(River Suze-Switzerland) EHS Project(Cheonggyecheon-Seoul) China International Galler y Exposition 2006(Beijing-China) Alchemy of Daily Life(New Zealand) Vibration(EBS Broadcasting Exhibition Hall) 2005 Vibration(Seoul City Ar t Museum) Hyogo International Competition of Painting(Hyogo Prefecture Museum of Ar t-Japan) Ar t & Mathematics(Savina Museum) 2004 A Open Commemoration the Olympic Museum(Olympic Museum) 100% Propose(Galler y Sea&See) Imjin River(The Side of Imjin River) Alchemy of Daily Life(National Museum of Contemporary Ar t) Wave(Galler y Dosi) 2003 Out of Wood(Kim Chong-Yung Sculpture Museum) The Happy Sympathy Between Human and Wood(Daejeon Municipal Museum of Ar t) Benchmarking Project(Namsan Park) 40`s Ar tist(Galler y Moro) Ar t Bench(Ar t Side) 2002 To Became One with Nature(YungEun Museum) International Environmental Ar t Exhibition a Red-bellied Frog’s Cry”(Seoul Ar ts Center, Seoul) DeulMok Association(Galler y Agio) 2001 Good Design Festival(KOEX)-Seoul The Association of Asian Contemporary Sculpture(YungEun Museum of Contemporary Ar t) Lee Jae-Hyo, Han Sueng-Gon Exhibition(Hotel Lotte) Water, Wood, Metal, Ear th, Live(Insa Ar t Gallery) 1991~2000 Par ticipated in more than 40 Group Exhibitions.
Awards 2008 Prize of Excellence of 2008 Olympic Landscape Sculpture Contest 2005 Prize of Excellence of Hyogo International Competition of Painting 2002 Sculpture in Woodland Award 2000 Kim Sae-Jung Young Ar tist Prize 1998 Grand Prize Winner of Osaka Triennial Winner of Young Ar tist of the Day Presented by the Ministr y of Culture 1997 Grand Prize Winner of Invited Young Ar tist sponsored by Hankook Ilbo 1995 Win Special Recognition at Kongsan Ar t Festival Permanent Collections National Museum of Contemporar y Ar t, Korea Moran Museum, Korea Ilmin Museum of Ar t, Korea Busan Municipal Museum of Ar t, Korea Gyeonggi Museum of Morden Ar t, Korea 63 City Tower, Korea W-Seoul Walker-hill Hotel, Korea Borgata Hotel, USA Park Hyatt Hotel Shanghai, China Osaka Contemporar y Ar t Center of Japan, Japan MGM Hotel, USA Hyogo Prefecture Museum of Ar t, Japan Intercontinental Hotel, Switzerland Briton Place-UMU Restaurant, UK Sculpture in Woodland, Ireland Grand Hyatt Hotel, Taiwan Park Hyatt Hotel Washington D,C, USA Marriott Hotel, Korea Cornell University Herber t F. Johnson Museum, USA Grand Hyatt Hotel Berlin, Germany President Wilson Hotel, Swiss Phoenix Island, Korea Pusan National University Hospital, Korea Industrial Bank, Taiwan Crown Hotel, Australia Park Hyatt Hotel Zurich, Switzerland