Seung-Taek Lee, Non-Sculpture of Korea
B1F, Seongsan Art Hall
This is a major retrospective solo exhibition for Lee Seung Taek (1932~), a pioneering Korean sculptor who declared his work “non-sculpture” in 1980 and explored the field of “experimental non-sculpture.”
1. Features “sculpted installation” or “installed sculpture” illustrating the essence of “experimental non-sculpture” made with a variety of non-sculptural materials such as ropes, ropes, fishing nets, cloth, cloth pieces, hair, feathers, pebbles, and buoys
2. Features video works and archives of various types of performances, such as a performance involving the artist twirling a large piece of red cloth, burning a painting and letting it go on the Hangang River, and earth painting using an expansive patch of land as a canvass
3. Features the works and archives that showcase the oriental “aesthetics of non-material” inspired by wind, air, water, fire, and soil
4. Highlighted as a special exhibition associated with the “Lee Seung Taek, Korean Non-sculpture” (domestic academic conference organized as an event at the Biennale)
Special Exhibition 1 features a wide variety of materials, motifs, subjects, and artworks from a number of different years that give visitors a broad perspective of Seung-taek Lee’s distinctive artistic style. Visitors will be given access to a new exhibition hall that feels far from boring or conservative. Rather, the unique aura and ambiance emanating from the art pieces set against the background of an old wedding hall are enough to intrigue visitors as they walk through the exhibition.
The first exhibition room, which is adjacent to the entrance to the exhibition hall, is very bright and spacious. It is a rectangular room with a high ceiling and two large glass walls. Among Seung-taek Lee’s collection of artworks, pieces that give visitors a chance to immerse themselves in the subject of the “Rhyme of Nature” such as “Wind,” which consists of red cloth draped from the ceiling to the floor, and “Objet Drawing Canvas,” which features canvas suspended in mid-air. The second exhibition room is the largest and most spectacular room prepared for this exhibition. In the past, the venue used to host large-scale wedding receptions. The exhibition room is adorned with Lee’s non-sculptural objects and photographic works, both of which he worked throughout his life to experiment and stylize, forming an interesting dynamic between them. The room also has large installation works consisting of branches and Hanji (traditional Korean paper) with a mirror covering one entire wall of the room. The installation works and reflection turn the exhibition room into a place where intangible images and tangible objects coexist in the same space. Meanwhile, the small room to the right-hand-side of the wedding hall (i.e. second exhibition room) is the third exhibition room, which showcases artworks emphasizing why archives are absolutely necessary as an artist builds his/her world of art. The room is a dramatized exhibition arranged with interview footage of the artist looking back on his world of art, self-portrait photographs, collages, plane drawings from projects, past works, and new works, rather than records or media resources.
✱The Changwon Cultural Foundation remodeled the “Seongsan Art Hall Buffet Hall,” an unused facility in the basement (B1F) of the Seongsan Art Hall (Seongsan Art Hall is the hosting venue for Main Exhibition 2 “To Non-Sculpture” at the Changwon Sculpture Biennale 2020), to use it for two special exhibitions and Community Program. The Buffet Hall, which is divided into three main areas (the kitchen, dining hall, and wedding hall), has been rearranged into a special hall of the Changwon Sculpture Biennale 2020. To convert the Buffet Hall into an exhibition venue, the Foundation cleaned up the entire hall and performed the necessary safety inspections. Wall partitions, however, were kept to a minimum to give visitors to immerse themselves in the culture of urban regeneration, which the Biennale aspires to promote.
