“Bodyscape was impressed by a line my baby left on the wall as she fell.”
— Kun-Yong Lee, up to date artist
Should artwork make you assume or really feel? Is magnificence created or found? These questions shouldn’t have simple solutions. But for many years, artist Kun-Yong Lee has explored them head-on — fairly actually together with his physique — in pursuit of an artwork that anybody can expertise.
Starting right this moment, June 2, a curated collection of 15 items from Lee’s works shall be out there on Samsung Art Store.1 Samsung Art Store is an artwork subscription service out there on Samsung Art TVs together with The Frame and QLEDs. Currently out there in 117 international locations all over the world, Samsung Art Store affords over 3,500 items of artwork in 4K decision from over 70 companions. To mark the event, Samsung Newsroom spoke with Lee about his inventive philosophy and what impressed this collaboration with Samsung.
Widely thought to be a serious determine in up to date Korean artwork, Lee has been on the forefront of the Korean avant-garde motion. He started gaining worldwide recognition within the 1970s with notable appearances on the eighth Paris Biennale in 1973 and the 15th São Paulo Biennale in 1979. Over the years, he has been honored with quite a few accolades such because the Grand Prize on the Lisbon International Show in 1979, the eighth Lee In-Sung Art Award in 2007 and the Order of Cultural Merit (Silver Crown) in 2022. Spanning drawing, portray, pictures, set up and efficiency, Lee’s expansive follow explores the dynamic relationships between the physique, the medium and the viewers.
▲ “Bodyscape 76-3” (2022, Kun-Yong Lee)
The Sensory Nature of Art
Q: You are well-known on your “Bodyscape” collection. What roles do the physique and motion play in your artwork?
The “Bodyscape” collection was impressed by a second when my younger daughter, simply studying to stroll, stumbled whereas holding a crayon and ended up drawing a line on the wall as she fell. That second sparked the concept that a murals could possibly be created with none intention to specific a particular idea — just by permitting the physique to maneuver naturally, with out even wanting on the canvas.
French thinker Maurice Merleau-Ponty argued that information comes from sensory expertise, not summary reasoning. Similarly, Austrian linguistic thinker Ludwig Wittgenstein as soon as stated, “Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent”— critiquing the boundaries of philosophy grounded in conceptual language. I resonate with the concept that that means arises not from language or rational thought however from the motion and sensation of the physique. Artistic expression, then, will not be merely a product of aware intent — it’s a means for the physique to instantly assemble and reply to the world.
▲ Lee typically positions himself behind the canvas or turns his again to it throughout his artistic course of.
That’s the place my work diverges from conventional portray strategies. I dip my physique or brush into paint and stretch my arms so far as they attain, including line over line. Sometimes, I deliberately flip my again to the canvas. While conventional portray displays what the artist consciously envisions, my work is formed by the pure strains that emerge via repeated movement — strains outlined by the construction and restricted vary of motion of my physique.
Q: Your work typically includes interacting with the viewers. How does this interplay affect your artwork?
I’ve been concerned in efficiency artwork since I used to be younger. Audience interplay is crucial, as efficiency is a medium that can’t exist with out a reside viewers. When viewers watch the artist’s actions, they start to surprise what the artist is doing or what’s going to occur subsequent. Every phrase spoken by the artist and each response from the viewers develop into integral components of the work itself.
“Art encourages us to see the world with larger curiosity — in the end serving to us lead extra fulfilling…
