Exhibition Information

세번째 공원과 파도

the Third Park and Waves
2019 60.2×126cm

Pale pink and Wall
2019 52×46.5cm

Strong Blue
2017 50×81×5cm

			One follows another for no reason. Chasing each other, two artists live and work in the same space. One is a sculptor and the other a painter. The sculptor suggests the painter that she should try and paint on hexagonal canvas rather than a rectangular one. He becomes curios as to why paintings must be done on only rectangular surfaces, and how images and landscapes would look captured in other forms. They take up each other's suggestions without questioning reason, and push their own work in their own private space. 

Lee Jeongbae crops natural landscapes in big cities, and simplifies it into an abstract image. Remembering how an artist once said that an artwork must seem uncanny, I find the joy of finding unfamiliarity in Lee's work. He coats over the planes of straight and curved lines with varnish and sands it with fine sand paper 150 times on average. Lee believes that this manual process of accumulating layers gives the work a sense of depth and impact. 

Lee Jinju's paintings which arouse psychological tension root from memories and questions that are repeatedly cast in everyday life. The delicate portrayal of hands and the resonance of weariness felt in the female figure often depicted in her paintings prompt the viewer to explore the innermost hidden memories of the artist. The familiar everyday objects, which stand as a metaphor for Lee's memories, stimulate the complex weaving of our neural system. 

The two artists who work with different mediums and subjects are aware of the fact that they have influenced each other's works for a long time. They make each other transformed canvases, and exchange discussions on the color tones and ambience of their work. In the Third Park and Waves, a collaboration between the two artists, the shapes in faint sky color which simplifies the outline of a park seen from above, and the long black wood suggestive of the waves, harmonize with Lee's delicate hands playing cat's cradle. They prioritize the unique formative beauty when each of their own works, independent of each other, come together without a reason. Their works were produced by hanging their completed works or after thorough discussion. Lee Jeongbae and Lee Jinju's works instinctively approach each other without having a reason to follow each other. It's exciting to see how the two artists, also a married couple, have influenced each other in their work throughout their lives. 

Jungran Cho