Exhibition Information

			A Narrative of Nothingness

We are now in front of a highly special world of an artist. This artist does not flaunt himself. He conceals his world in the cliff of the abyss. However, the act of hiding is considered the most powerful expression. The artist is called Lee Myeong Gi. The artist once stated: “Humans are largely divided into two categories. One, who has faith in the world. Another, who is agnostic.” Lee Myeong Gi belongs to the latter.
Modernity was born by declaring a rupture with the past. The pre-modern past built its cultural foundations from a firm belief, which was absolute trust in God. Modernity also has faith. The origin of modernity is based on the belief that truth is guaranteed by the flow and accumulation of history. In this regard, modernity can be called “secularized theology.” Modernity, in sum, is the attitude of removing God from all thoughts to open the world anew on the basis of absolute trust in human reasoning. Its basic creed is focused on parading the human power while putting God aside. Nevertheless, the more human knowledge became solid and the more they believed that they were able to protect themselves from nature, the more they suffered from a feeling of futility. The feeling of futility is an emotion aroused by recognition of the inevitable mortality of human beings. People created culture in order to forget the presence of death. No one can avoid death. However, it is possible to forget it for a while. Yes, we can forget death through art.
Art is the embodiment in which how an artist looks at the world is inscribed on a material (media). While appreciating an art work, we join the artist's view of the world. However, art is not able to surpass history. It is infallibly constrained by a specific time and space. Art is born when an artist has a conversation with the forms practiced by previous artists and constantly asks questions about what kind of world he/she lives in now. Lee Myeong Gi ponders over the mysterious truth of our era in which we feel emptier as science develops and information accumulates.
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Lee Jinmyeong / Curator, Art critic & Specialist in Oriental Studies

(Source = Date Gallery)