[Exhibitions of the Week] Jaehun Lee - Youngseok Cha Two-Person Exhibition · Byunggu Min Owl Exhibition and More

Lee Jae-hoon, Sparkle, Flash, Sparkle, 2022, Mural technique (Jangji paper, lime, ink, charcoal, charcoal powder, glue, sumi painting), 135x90cm. Photo by Payto Gallery

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] ▲Lee Jaehun and Cha Youngseok Two-Person Exhibition 'Line on the Line' = A two-person exhibition featuring Lee Jaehun and Cha Youngseok, two artists who use lines as the main sculptural element of their works and engrave and draw at their own pace, is being held at Payto Gallery. This exhibition showcases five new works by Lee Jaehun, along with Cha Youngseok’s sneaker works and the Secret Habit series.

Lines, along with dots, are the most fundamental sculptural elements. Lines, together with color and planes, are important means of expressing form, and in painting, lines themselves establish a distinct field. Through various techniques such as direction, speed, force, rhythm, shading, thickness, spacing, bends, and curves, lines can express emotions and intentions. Lines can unify with or independently personify and give life to the meaning or representation of the subject. Lee Jaehun’s lines are both spontaneous and sensory, while also showing the order between lines. Using lime and ink, he preserves the dry and rough texture of plaster walls and recreates graffiti or drawings quickly scratched on rocks or building exteriors as bas-reliefs, achieving tactile realism and painterliness while erasing narrative. Lee Jaehun’s lines embody an Eastern sensibility that brings the work to completion, combining figurativeness and the spirituality of Eastern painting on the canvas as representational abstraction, merging Eastern painting and abstract painting.

Cha Young-seok, Something_s-25, 2012. Pencil on board paper, 31.5 x 22 cm. Photo by Payto Gallery

Cha Youngseok’s labor-intensive works on paper using pencil, though slow in speed, resemble the works of a meticulous artisan. The artist calls this accumulation of sublime labor “elegant effort.” Various everyday objects vividly come to life at the tips of Cha Youngseok’s pencil lines. Rather than directly transferring the subject, the artist’s subjective interpretation and imagination stand out as “personal taste,” showing his unique drawing grammar and style through “detailed line drawing.” Lee Jaehun and Cha Youngseok develop their sculptural worlds on the canvas by accumulating the act of line drawing. The two artists break the common perception of drawing as merely a preparatory or unfinished stage for coloring, creating the present and moving toward the future through lines accumulated over a long time. The exhibition runs until November 13 at Payto Gallery, Dongho-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul.

Yoon Yeoseon, IN Between, 2022, digital painting, 225x120cm. Photo courtesy of Hakgojae Art Center

▲Yoon Yeoseon Solo Exhibition 'IN BETWEEN: vanish yet immortal' = Instead of paper, Yoon Yeoseon painted landscape paintings on heavy steel plates. The solo exhibition of Yoon Yeoseon, who is gaining attention for a new technique that breaks boundaries, is held until the 18th at Hakgojae Art Center. This exhibition features the use of Dongkuk Steel’s premium color steel plate 'Luxteel' as the canvas to capture Eastern conceptual landscapes and true-view landscapes.

This exhibition expresses the motif of ‘vanish yet immortal’ contrastively. It vividly portrays themes such as ‘between high tide and low tide,’ ‘between waves,’ ‘between the visible and the invisible,’ and ‘between reality and virtuality,’ infused with Eastern contemplation. The use of digital printing techniques on the heavy steel canvas draws attention by allowing the distinct strength and subtle afterglow unique to Eastern painting to be well expressed.

Through this exhibition, the artist attempts a new concept that breaks the boundary between artificial and natural. By combining and repeating elements that could not coexist?heaviness and lightness, coldness and contemplation, stillness and movement?she seeks to discover a new pictorial language.

Combining Eastern conceptual and true-view landscapes with Western processed landscapes, the artist expresses the exhibition theme of ‘between boundaries.’ She challenges pictorial concepts that transcend various boundaries through this exhibition. She explained, “Watching the waves of the night sea and the traces on the sand that endlessly unfold over things that vanish in an instant, I saw glimpses of hidden life in everyday moments. At the moment when high and low tides repeat, where disappearance and creation recur, and in the intense movement of waves, you can feel a new perspective on ‘life and desire.’” The exhibition runs until the 18th at Hakgojae Art Center, Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.

Min Byung-gu, Manwol 萬月, 50x72.7cm, Acrylic on canvas, 2022. Photo by Insa Art Plaza Gallery

▲Min Byunggu Solo Exhibition 'Owl Exhibition' = Famous as the owl painter, Min Byunggu is recognized in the art world for capturing an original yet popular world of Eastern art through his aesthetic sense honed in stage art and relentless effort. The artist’s connection with owls began in 2013 when an owl nested in the ventilation fan of his studio. He says, “Just as you can understand the nature of all living creatures?people, animals, or birds?by looking into their eyes, I carefully observed the owl’s eyes and tried to faithfully convey the feelings they transmitted onto the canvas.”

This exhibition presents works that consistently explore his unique painting style without being bound by materials. The artist’s experience, having tried everything from wood carving, welding, carpentry, blacksmithing, civil engineering, to dancheong (traditional Korean decorative coloring on wooden buildings), freely absorbed many materials and techniques into his own style. The exhibition offers viewers the passion of an artist who has devoted himself to various techniques and the delicately depicted diverse appearances of owls through detailed observation. The exhibition runs from the 19th to the 25th at Insadong Insart Plaza Gallery, Jongno-gu, Seoul.