[Exhibition of the Week] Lee Gyojun Solo Exhibition 'Beyond the Canvas' · Kim Deokhee Solo Exhibition 'Sagwa wa Dal' and More

Editor's NoteThis week's exhibitions summarize and introduce a variety of attractive exhibitions that can be seen nationwide over the course of one week.

▲ Lee Gyojun Solo Exhibition 'Beyond the canvas' = Phoebe Gallery is hosting Lee Gyojun's solo exhibition 'Beyond the canvas.' Well known as a Geometrical Abstract Painting artist, Lee Gyojun has continuously questioned the essence of art throughout his 50-year career, experimenting with various media and materials to create variations. All these works are interconnected and consistently present the themes of 'plane' and 'division.' This exhibition highlights his recent paintings that question the essence of painting through objective analysis and inquiry.

Kyojun Lee, Untitled 23-28, 2023, Acrylic on white linen canvas, 130x130cm [Photo by Phoebe Gallery]

The orderly works composed of restrained colors and structures pose simple yet profound questions to viewers. What is the flatness of painting? Through his recent works, the artist proposes that we step beyond the categories we have recognized as painting and continue a serious contemplation of the plane.

At first glance, the recent works do not seem very different from previous ones in that they feature rational division of surfaces through horizontal and vertical lines. However, when standing still and observing the paintings, one can discover new forms of division shining through the canvas behind the painting.

Kyojun Lee_Beyond the canvas_Installation view_1. [Photo by PB Gallery]

To allow the viewer's gaze to pass through the canvas and reach the space beyond and then return, the artist created and used loosely woven fabric through which light can penetrate between the threads. At this time, the structure of the aluminum support holding the canvas overlaps with the divisions drawn on the plane, presenting new forms of division and space.

His consistent attitude of questioning the flatness of painting and discovering new space through division within the plane permeates and connects his work. In the late 1990s, he folded thick printmaking paper and lifted the divided surfaces into three-dimensional forms on the plane, exemplifying this approach. The artist generates three-dimensional space by partitioning surfaces and constructing lines within the two-dimensional plane without the 'act of drawing,' which has been recognized as a key identity of painting.

"The simplest things can contain everything."

The artist's work, containing fundamental questions and reflections on painting, forms the foundation for his other works and strengthens his artistic world. His long-standing theme of plane and division encourages many to reconsider what is taken for granted, while quietly embodying his ascetic attitude of seeking answers to the essence.

Perhaps his words are sentences needed by us in modern society, drifting and lost in the swamp of unrefined information flooding in every moment, or questions that make us reflect on the present, which increasingly seeks only the new at a faster pace. The exhibition runs until September 28, at Phoebe Gallery, Bukchon-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul.

'Night to Night' GB_Doki Kim_2024_From Night to Night [Photo by Gallery Baton]

▲ Kim Deokhee Solo Exhibition 'The Apple and The Moon' = Gallery Baton presents Kim Deokhee's solo exhibition 'The Apple and The Moon.' The artist, who has persistently explored the workings of the world and expressed her impressions through experimental installation works, presents a series of new works with an expanded interest in the cosmos.

In this exhibition, the artist showcases her representative installation works that sculpt pixels of low-resolution video devices, apply melted paraffin to spaces and structures, and new video works derived from the pixel works.

'Umbra' (2024) is a work where LED display modules in the form of rectangular upright structures and meticulously disassembled pixels form a large circle of light scattered on the floor. Each lamp, mixed and disordered so that the original video's image cannot be inferred, relies on sound to imply some pattern while creating a beautiful flow of light.

'Umbra' GB_Doki Kim_2024_Umbra [Photo by Gallery Baton]

'Partial Solar Eclipse' (2024) is a video work using LED modules. The use of low-resolution video devices with pixels distinguishable to the naked eye suggests that the conceptual and formal intentions of this series are in the same vein as 'Umbra.' The modules, irregularly arranged with spacing in the space, function as a medium to peek into the 'world' as a space.

In the video, natural and everyday scenes collected by the artist overlap with astronomical time and space, repeatedly appearing and disappearing. The image initially thought to be outer space is actually a blazing flame, and the image resembling a planet is in fact the surface of an apple, demonstrating a visual play. By moving between micro and macro images, subverting layers, and blurring boundaries, this work reflects Kim Deokhee's perspective on the world.

The exhibition title 'The Apple and The Moon' refers to one of Newton's anecdotes, which states that objects with completely different properties are actually connected by the same principle. Just as Newton observed the small world of an apple and thought of the large world of the moon, the works presented in this exhibition travel between the micro and macro worlds, tracing, imagining, and singing their connectivity. The exhibition runs until September 14, at Gallery Baton, Dokseodang-ro, Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

???????, Black Rabbit(70x70cm, Acrylic on canvas, 2023.) [Photo by Seochon TYA]

▲ Seo Soyoung Solo Exhibition 'Room of data' = Seochon TYA presents Seo Soyoung's solo exhibition Room of data. The artist creates paintings that translate figurative elements into abstract images. She expresses and fuses her illustration works in various forms such as graphics, painting, and design.

This exhibition features a total of 10 acrylic paintings. The artist pursues a unique atmosphere created by unrelated spaces and elements meeting, developing her work in a collage format, and is curious about and explores the unrefined pure emotions of the human self.

???????, World, Acrylic on canvas, 130x89cm, 2024
[Photo by Seochon TYA]

Regarding this exhibition, the artist states, "In this process where the word efficiency cannot be found at all, what an immature being can do is only to try and collide until finding the correct answer," adding, "In the vast ocean with no boundaries or exits, the only possible thing is to move toward the destination using the scattered numerous fragments and data in the already passed trajectory as a map."

Describing her work as a series of fantasy and inquiry processes, the artist invites viewers into the beautiful and unstable dreams and unconscious world forgotten as she grew, presenting a colorful inner sensory world. The exhibition runs until the 25th, at Seochon TYA, Jahamun-ro 5-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul.