LIFE FANTASY LEE MYUNG SOOK
A journey of aesthetic consciousness in pursuit of the mysterious of life Hang-seob Shin Art critic
Human beings have been unveiling the mysteries of life continuously through the generations. If medical science continues to progress as it does now, the nature of life, which was once considered to remain an unsolvable puzzle, is likely to manifest itself in the near future. Given that secrets of genes have been uncovered with the discovery of the cell, which was once considered to be the smallest biological unit of all living organisms, the mysteries of
2 3 Life fantasy 53.0x45.5cm Acrylic on canvas 2015
Private collection
Life fantasy 91.0x72.7cm x3 Acrylic on canvas 2015
Gunsan Mose Hospital collection
life could be completely unlocked in the near future. This possibility gains support from the fact that we have reached the stage in which genetic manipulation is capable of changing the shapes of living organisms. Myung-sook Lee’s work represents an inquiry into living organisms through her depictions. Her work contains cell-like images, leading us to feel as if we were seeing them through the microscope. Atypical and irregular circular images are arranged at more or less regular distances and in regular patterns. Furthermore, the layout of her paintings which accommodate these images in a round space set on to a canvas gives an illusion that we are seeing the world of the cell through a microscope’s optical lens. The impression gives a closer understanding of her work. It is thus because she pursues the image of the universe as the essence and origin of life in her work. Though the image is not the representation of a real cell, it cannot be denied that the image has originated from a deep knowledge of the cell. The images in her work are the vitalized ones that come to life, not existing solely as fixed shapes. She gave up figurative representation as an expressive technique in order to make the image have a life of its own. Instead, she chose a natural expressive technique that utilized the physicality of the paints. Instead of the depiction technique, she employed the dripping action, akin to a scientist’s pipette, as the expressive technique for her work. The focus in her work is on the accidental images created by the physicality formed by dripping watery paints onto the canvas at a constant height. This makes it possible to obtain the accidental and natural images which are different from the artificial ones made by brush. Life is organic in nature. Like cell divisions, it is incessantly generated in one place and is destroyed in another. That is, two conflicting functions coexist. In this context, the meaning of ‘generating’ is spontaneous, autonomous and active. To be spontaneous means to be natural. Being natural or naturalness is her ultimate expressive technique. Consequently she lets the images come through the action of physicality instead of depicting the intended images with a brush.
Life fantasy 116.7x91.0cm x2 Acrylic on canvas 2015
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Chonnam National University Hospital collection
These images created by the action of physicality embody the magic appeal. Because physicality presides over these images, they differ from artificial, unnatural and synthetic images that are premeditated and planned. It is no wonder that images similar to cells as the smallest unit of life should continue to be the objects of mystery and fascination. They evoke the emotional response that is similar to the awe that we feel when we see the microscopic world beyond our visual perception through the microscope. Her decision to rely on physicality as the expressive technique for her work is nothing other than her willingness to present the microscopic world as one that exceeds the limits of human vision. She comes close to the essence of life through the world of microscopic senses. Life is creating something out of nothing, and the origin of living organisms is both that of nature and the universe. In this sense, her work represents an attempt to integrate the microscopic and the macroscopic world into one angle, a sole plain. The idea that both the macroscopic and the microscopic world are organically connected through life fits well with the pantheistic perspective. It shows the universe as the origin of life and the cell likewise, the smallest unit of life and the vastness of infinity are just the same. The perspective that divinity is present in anything in the world forms the basic principles of the pictorial images in her work as a tenet. Her work consists of an almost perceived infinite set of images like cells. All images have consistent rhythms and regularities although they may not look exactly the same. The shape and the size of the images are not much different from each other and also they are arranged at regular intervals. This makes her work present a formative pattern of the consistent flow premised on the beauty of form, which is akin to the order of life. In a way her work has a few characteristics of “naive art.� It results from the purity in expression, or naturalness, which she presents as the aesthetic value in her work. The image of the color is plain yet diverse. It gives a feeling of transparency that we can appreciate in watercolor paintings. That is a very effective way to reveal the purity and the naturalness of life. However, she has a good command of colorful imagery even though the use of color in each work is simple. That gives the impression that they are gorgeous despite lacking in visual excitement via high brightness and low Chroma.
Life fantasy 72.7x60.6cm Acrylic on canvas 2015 Bosung Gunlip Baekmin Museum collection
Life fantasy 72.7x60.6cm Acrylic on canvas 2015
Life fantasy 53.0x45.5cm x3 Acrylic on canvas 2016
Life fantasy 72.7x60.6cm Acrylic on canvas 2015
That results in the flow of pure emotion. The purity which clean and bright images create may be identical to the sublimity of life that her works pursue. This visual pleasure guides us to appreciate the beauty of mysterious life. However, the beauty of naturalness may not be enough to assign a formative force to her work. It seems that she uses the geometric images in her works out of the judgment that a solid rational force is needed to strongly support organic lives. If the images that are suggestive of the cells express the sensibility, geometric images represent the reason. She opens the possibility of an intellectual analysis of her work by balancing both the reason and the sensibility. The geometric images like triangles, quadrangles, and circles in her work really establish more solid formative 6 7
patterns. In this way she enhances the pictorial complete image. It is one of the formative techniques to build up tension by contrasting the emotional expression with the rational expression.
In a way this can be seen as the combination of yin and yang, which are the essence of oriental philosophy. The visual tension or harmony that results from positioning conflicting images in one space belongs to the area of pictorial techniques. Beauty should never be overlooked in painting under any circumstances. The beauty needs to be materialized. She seems to be well aware where the artistic values in painting lie. Accordingly, her work looks beautiful although she presents nonobjective and abstract images which have nigh on no trace of referring to any recognizable figures.
Life fantasy 116.7x91.0cm x2 Acrylic on canvas 2016
Life fantasy 162.0x130.3cm Acrylic on canvas 2016
Life fantasy 72.7x60.6cm Acrylic on canvas 2016
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Life fantasy 72.7x60.6cm x2 Acrylic on canvas 2016
Life fantasy 72.7x60.6cm Acrylic on canvas 2016
Life fantasy 72.7x60.6cm Acrylic on canvas 2016
Painting the preciousness of life on canvas Myung-sook Lee Jun-Seok Jang Art Critic
Myung-sook Lee is a painter by constitution. Lee has been enjoying painting since childhood. She grew up dreaming to become a painter as she was complimented by people around her about her talent in painting. Lee comes from an artistic family that produced a number of artists. Lee’s talent and interest in painting since childhood is not irrelevant to such an environment. Lee entered Hongik University to study fine arts education,
14 15 Life fantasy 72.7x60.6cm Mixed media 2017
Life fantasy 72.7x60.6cm Acrylic on canvas 2017
Life fantasy 72.7x60.6cm Acrylic on canvas 2017
Life fantasy 72.7x60.6cm Acrylic on canvas 2017
Life fantasy 72.7x60.6cm Mixed media 2017
Life fantasy 72.7x60.6cm Mixed media 2017
which was not common at the time. The department of painting and this is when Lee began focusing on the study on the arts. As an artist who majored in fine arts in Hongik University. Lee was particularly interested in nonobjective painting. Her interest shifted to monochromatic painting and Lee has been nurturing her dream to become a respectable artist. Lee was stricken with cancer. She has been fighting against the disease since six-seven years ago. This brought a huge change to the life of this artist who had been painting passionately. With this as a momentum, Lee developed a new perspective about life and realized the preciousness of life as she fought against the fear of death. Having pulled herself together through a narrow escape from death, Lee endeavored to capture the preciousness of life on her canvas. Surviving a life-or-death crisis, Lee philosophized about the providence of god and nature. This led to her series of works to give shapes to the harmony and providence of life based on her aesthetic imagination together with her artistic experiences.
Lee’s paintings, as such, are an outcome of giving shapes to life. As much as so, they create an illusion for the viewers to be enticed into the purity of the nature. In addition, with her exuberant imagination, these paintings uniquely and aesthetically capture even the mysteries of life. Her paintings, which have a tranquil force of life, are gentle and beautiful as if an accomplishment of harmony between humanistic emotions and the nature although one cannot readily or clearly see what shapes or images are described in them. This sense of life is one of the new expression methodologies applied to the contemporary fine arts and is an issue of the concept of new order that needs to be pursued by fine arts circles around the world in this era of globalization. Although the force of life in her works has come from her own life where she once hovered between life and death, this is an important issue from a perspective of the sociology of art, which is to discuss a new order and to find a directivity for human survival and life. This holds a significant meaning with which to realize recovery of the identity of all organisms. Therefore, Lee’s works, which are about recovery of life and of the order of nature that is being destroyed, lead to the realization of the importance of life. The artist who received a considerable amount of aesthetic aspiration from the harmony with the nature of mysterious force of life and communication for the human nature about death, intends to express image of sustainable life using bright and transparent colors. While drawing amorphous shapes, she is immersed in expressing certain elements of life, the concept of which is not clearly defined, using clear and bright colors. As much as so, Lee’s paintings express the force of life, which is based on the aesthetic communication, and the mysteries that come from the harmony between the nature and the humanity. To the artist, the nature’s force of life is not only natural, but also is humane, warm and tender. The life, which began as a study of death based on the artist’s aspiration and while the artist stood at a crossroad between life and death, was interpreted into paintings that are humanistic, natural and lyrical. Her paintings filled with life are a center of her work and have become one of Korea’s leading contemporary abstract paintings full of originality and passion for life, which are different from the general abstract paintings of the West. At the same tine, with contemporary expression and formative techiniques added, these paintings even have the power to console the wounded hearts of modern people weary and worn out in the desolate world.
16 17 Life fantasy 72.7x60.6cm Mixed media 2018
Life fantasy 72.7x60.6cm Mixed media 2017
Life fantasy 72.7x60.6cm Mixed media 2018
Life fantasy 72.7x60.6cm Mixed media 2018
Lee’s formative practice seems to have been set against the backdrop of her life of long-suffering and she tried to show the limited, yet detailed message of the “life of long-suffering” in clear colors full of the force of life by building up layers of different or contrasting colors while restraining the number of colors used so as to express this message in formative art. By expressing the creation of the nature as well as futility, death and extinction in colors and forms, Lee gives shape to the uncertainty of life and the aspect of being, which can disappear in a moment, as a formative idea of her own. The artist’s formative communication and a series of endeavors, as such, are not simply to appreciate the beauty of the nature or out of aspiration from her daily life or aesthetic aspiration, but are regarded as a message to express preciousness of life in this world of confusion and the era of vulnerability and uncertainty.
Life fantasy 53.0x45.5cm x2 Acrylic on canvas 2017
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Life fantasy 116.7x91.0cm x2 Acrylic on canvas 2017
Artist in Focus - Myung-sook Lee Hyung-won Ji Publisher of Moonhwatong
Delves deeper into abstract expressionism using ‘dripping technique’ with themes of ‘Life and Universe’ Pursues the beauty of form that shapes itself naturally as the ultimate aesthetic value Moves toward Minimalism painting after experimenting with ‘Objet’ and ‘Obangsaek’ The first item on Myung-Sook Lee’s ‘Bucket List’ is to take out her heart onto the canvas. Such a dominant desire involves the moment of life or death that she faced. It has since been the driving force behind her artistic practice. It leads her to devote her whole energies entirely to painting with the desperate wish to leave behind at least one memorable work of art. She must be a real artist as she has kept drawing for over fifty years since she was in elementary school. Myungsook Lee was so serious about painting that she decided to go to Hongik University when she was a middle school student. She was absorbed in painting even when she was working briefly as a teacher at a middle school.
22 23 Life fantasy 53.0x45.5cm x3 Mixed media 2018
Life fantasy 53.0x45.5cm Mixed media 2018
While Lee was attending a university in the 1970s, she made a decision on which means she would use for her artistic practice after experimenting with different theories ranging from Hyper-Realism to Abstract Expressionism. During this period she came to the realization that abstract expressionism is the most effective approach to painting because art comes from the unconscious mind. Her turn to abstraction seems to have been intensified while she was staying in the U.S. ‘The Universe and Life’ has been her constant concerns and ongoing themes in her works. Myung-sook Lee’s works created after a long period of practice have evolved, taking three major forms progressively. Her works in the early years present a lot of beautiful flowers on the canvas giving the impression that we are looking at stars twinkling up in the night sky. Later she made the form of those stars concealed and then captured their momentary images which were created while the stars were drifting, colliding and embracing each other. In her works painted later, Lee has produced a sense of tension by using a technique of ‘Objet’ or using geometric forms such as triangles, circles, and quadrangles. This progression, however, has been made within the theme of ‘The Universe and Life.’
24 25 Life fantasy 53.0x45.5cm Mixed media 2018
Life fantasy 72.7x60.6cm & 35.0x27.0cm & 27.3x22.0cm Acrylic on canvas 2018
Life fantasy 53.0x45.5cm & 35.0x27.0cm Acrylic on canvas 2017
Life fantasy 53.0x45.5cm & 35.0x27.0cm Acrylic on canvas 2017
Why does she delve deeper into the theme of ‘The Universe and Life?’ Lee writes in her catalogue notes: “The Universe and Life are the key issues addressed in my works. In my own fantastic imagery world, I enjoy breathing life into my works, Saeng-Myung No-Ri.” Her playful practice as an artist, Saeng-Myung No-Ri, does not seem to be just luxurious. Lee’s retrospective memory of overcoming the fear of death and her compassion for the days gone by are living and breathing in her works as a joy of life. First of all, her painting has a life of its own. Life in her works continuously moves, changes and evolves in a new form. From the early years of her career as an artist, she has been expressing spontaneity by ‘dripping’ paint onto the canvas rather than representing obvious forms. Her works present hidden happiness coming from the feeling of floating in the wind like a bird. It seems to reflect her free soul achieved by emptying her mind. Accordingly, Lee seldom sticks to an accurate representation or a deliberate alteration in depicting reality. She purses the beauty of forms created spontaneously and naturally as the ultimate aesthetic value. This results from her painstaking struggles to hold an empty mind. 26 27
At first appearance, the images in her works look like objects observed through a microscope and sometimes like the structure of human brain, or the story of cosmic order. They eventually reveal the harmony of yin and yang. Whatever it is, it stems from her feeling of happiness and gratitude while producing an artwork for having another day. Secondly, the theme of her works is ’Life Fantasy.’ Lee variously transforms beings into pictorial images as a traveller exploring the mystery of life with aesthetic consciousness. Through her actions of dripping or splattering paint, unintended images are made in her works. Lee maximizes the aesthetic pleasant sensation working on the creation of natural images, not artificial ones. Hang-seop Shin, an art critic, makes remarks about Lee’s works: “Life is to forge something from nothing and it originates from nature and the universe.” “Lee’s painting is combining microscopic and macroscopic worlds into one perspective.”
Life fantasy 72.7x60.6cm x2 Mixed media 2018
Thirdly, Lee shows a dynamic process of creating paintings which encompass all the works that she has produced. ‘Life and the Universe’ are still ongoing themes. Lee demonstrates experimental techniques in her works, employing ‘drip painting’ in which paint is dripped onto the canvas, working with ‘Objet’ composed of a variety of materials like threads, plastic, or another extra canvas attached to a canvas. That reminds us of Jackson Pollock (1912-1956), an American abstract expressionist. The change of the colors in her works, from soft pastel colors to intense fluorescent ones adapted from the traditional Korean color spectrum, Obangsaek, manifests her ideas developed over her 50-year career as an artist. Lee’s paintings can be summarized as “The keys to Korean art lie in the Korean ethnicity.” It means that individuality or distinctiveness as an artist specializing in western paining is attainable only when the artist is faithful to Korean sentiments. Based on Lee’s progression, she seems to move forward to Minimalism. Her works containing more simplified forms and colors can be named as ‘philosophical action painting.’
28 29 Life fantasy 72.7x60.6cm & 35.0x27.0cm & 27.3x22.0cm Acrylic on canvas 2017
Life fantasy 72.7x60.6cm & 35.0x27.0cm &27.3x22.0cm Acrylic on canvas 2018
Life fantasy 35.0x27.0cm & 27.3x22.0cm Acrylic on canvas 2018
Life fantasy 35.0x27.0cm & 27.3x22.0cm Acrylic on canvas 2018
Profile
Group Exhibition 2018 2018 Hello! New york (Able fine art gallery, NY) 1.26-2.6 Hongik Root Exhibition(Misulsegyei gallery) 6.13-6.19 2017 Seoul art show, Three Persons Exhibition in a Booth (Coex)1 12.23-12.27 Berlin Fine Artist Invitation Exhibition Association(Berlin Urania), Conversation of Korean paper and Europe in digital era 5.27-6.2 Hongik Root Exhibition(Misulsegyei gallery), Breathing from breath 6.21-6.27 NICAF 2017(Jeonbuk Art Center) Rendezvous 6.30-7.6 Small Art Exhibition(Hwasun gallery Do) Art fragrance Hanmogeum, 6.29-8.26 Busan International Modern Art Exhibition(gallery Joy) 10.1-10.21 Modern Artist Arting Exhibition(Munwha Gallery) 11.1-11.15 Hongik Wawooyeoljeon(Hanjeon Art Center Gallery whole hall) 11.9-11.14 51th Korean Fine Artist Association Exhibition (Hangaram Art Museum in Seoul Arts Center),11.13-11.19 Pyungchang Winter Olympic Project All CONNECTED (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) 11.1-11.30 22th Hongik Alumni Exhibition Eunam Museum 12.22-12.26 2016 Hongik Root Exhibition(Misul Segae Gallery) 6.1-6.7 The 50th Korea art association Exhibition on Book 35th Hongik Root Exhibition(Misulsegye Gallery) 6.1-6.7 Reciscovery of Woman Image Art Forum International(Jeonju Korean Sound Culture Center), Asking the way on the road 11.4-11.10
Lee Myung Sook
4th Seorim Art Exhibition(Namdo Local Food Museum),10.18-11.3 Internal Southern Modern Arts Exhibition(Sori Arts Center of Korea) 10.28-11.3 Modern Artist Arting Exhibition(Hwasun Dogok Soso Arts Museum) 11.2-11.12 21th Hongik Alumni Exhibition
1978 B.F.A. College of Fine Arts, Hongik University, Seoul, Korea 1988-1989 Studied Fine Arts in University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
(Gwangju University Geukgigwan Art Hall) 10.20-10.31 2015 Art Forum International Exhibition (Jeju Culture & Art Center) 3.28-4.12 Gwangju International Contemporary Art Exhibition 6.27-7.7 (Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall) Hongik Root Exhibition(Misulsegye Gallery) 7.1-7.7
Solo & invitation exhibition
Hongik Alumni Exhibition(Museum of Chonnam National University) 11.7-11.18
2019 Gallery Pont des Arts(Paris, France) 4,9-4,15
Arting Exhibition of Modern Artist(National Museum of Gwangju 10.1-10.31
2018 Russo gallery(Busan) 8.3-8.13
Exhibition of International Exchange(Jeonbuk Art Center) 11.20-11.26
Arblue gallery(Yeosu) 8.22-8.28
More than one hundred group Exhibition except for them
Dosol gallery(Suncheon) 10.1-10.22 Gallery H(Seoul) 10.3-10.9
Present
Private view of 10th anniversary of the foundation of Dental
Member of Korea Artists Association
Hospital of Chonnam National University(Gwangju) 11.1-11.30
Member of Hongik Women Artists Association
Seohak art space(Jeonju) 12.6-12.12
Member of Hongik Wawoo
2017 N-Music Culture space (Cafe Bono Gwangju) 6.1-6.15
Member of Gwangju-Cheonam Hongik Alumni
2016 Chonnam National University Hospital Gallery 2.29-3.27
Member of Korea Southern Modern Artists Association, Corporation
A & C ARTFESTIVAL 2016, Solo Exhibition in a Booth,
Member of Art Forum International, Corporation
Hangaram Art Museum of Seoul Art Center 4.14-4.18
Member of Korean Association of full-time Artists
2015 GMA Gallery,Seoul 5.13-5.19
Member of Arting
Geumho Gallery 1&2 hall, Gwangju5. 21-5.27 Sunnyvale Art Gallery, Sanfrancisco, CA,USA 7.15-7.31
Address : 202-1 Champanro, Buk-ku, Gwangju(Dooamdong), Korea
Gwangju International Art Fare, Solo Exhibition in a Booth
Tel) Home +82-62-261-1462, Mobile +82-10-2616-1462
(Kim Dae Jung Convention Center) 9.3-9.6
E-mail : lms307@naver.com
Life fantasy
Life fantasy
2018.8.3(Fri)-8.13(Tue)
2018.10.1(Mon)-10.20(Sat)
free opening 8.3(Fri) 2:00-6:00
free opening 10.1(Mon) 2:00-6:00
LEE MYUNG SOOK
gallery
LEE MYUNG SOOK
Dosol gallery
473 Sunwhanro, Zoadong, Haeundaegu, Busan 051-747-5511
220-4 Daedaedong, Suncheonsi, Cheonnam 061-751-0011
Life fantasy
Life fantasy
2018.8.22(Wed)-8.28(Tue)
2018.11.1(Thu)-11.30(Fri)
free opening 8.22(Wed) 2:00-6:00
free opening 11.1(Thu) 2:00-6:00
LEE MYUNG SOOK
art bleu gallery
LEE MYUNG SOOK
gallery
108 Yeosu 1ro, Yeosusi, Chonnam 061-652-5434
33 Yongbongro, Bukgu, Gwangju 062-530-5500
Life fantasy
Life fantasy
Life fantasy
2018.10.3(Wed)-10.9(Tue)
2018.12.6(Thu)-12.12(Wed)
2019 April 9(Tue) - April 15(Mon)
free opening 10.3(Wed) 2:00-6:00
free opening 12.6(Thu) 2:00-6:00
Opening reception 2019 April 9(Tue) pm 4:00
7 Seohakro, Wansangu, Jeonjusi, Jeonbuk 063-231-5633
4rue peclet 75015 Paris France +33(0)9-8354-5076
LEE MYUNG SOOK
LEE MYUNG SOOK
LEE MYUNG SOOK
gallery H 10 Insadong 9gil, Jongrogu, Seoul 02-735-3367