LEE Kyo Jun

Today’s world is continuously projected onto a screen and excessively concerned with material goods. Everyday images flash in front of eyes more than dozens of times, and material goods overflow. In a world filled with visual stimulation, our perception reacts sensuously between illusion and matter. The gaze that follows may linger on the surface, but will disappear quickly. The world of the surface, referred to as epidermis, skin, shell, appearance and such, connect with the arts in its flat, two-dimensional conditions. The visual structure of the world in which the fluid phase often wavers, holds a rather strong sensuous impression. So then, what is the current state of abstract painting? In this contemporary world in which fiction and hyperrealism has become a reality, how will the abstracted language of the two-dimensional world bring about discussion after the art historical significance of non-representation, flatness and new objectivity? This question has been raised while viewing the works of Lee Kyo-jun, who has been relentlessly pursuing flatness since the 1980s.

By creating a flat surface structure using only a few lines, Lee’s works, like other abstract works, bring about rational, ideological and reductive meaning. Made from unprocessed material in its raw form, his works, through the coolness revealed through self-control, seem like a minimalist painting upon first glance. However, it is unsatisfying to discuss his works in such abstract and metaphysical concepts. This is because by approaching the neat painting closely, we can clearly observe the exquisite sense and layers revealed on the surface. In exploring the flat surface, the artist has taken canvas, paper, aluminum, lead plate, wood and other various materials. Each substance is presented individually, but through the relationship with other substances, they evolve into continual progress. Lee first began to explore the flatness in the early 90s, after working with sequential arrangement and spatial relationships in the 80s. At this time, he begins to develop the format of diving the picture like a chessboard, with the divided plane taking the same place as the surface. From the mid-90s, the picture is divided and attention is focused on the actual lines dividing the colored plane. From this point, in addition to the works that focus on the folded lines on a colored surface, the artist works with paper’s delicate surface, dividing, partitioning and coloring.

To date, division has been one of the most important elements of Lee’s work. Division does not consider any specific form or meaning, implying a most basic attitude. Therefore, division is different from geometric beauty, which is more similar to the general rules of creating the materials he uses, i.e. industrial production. The division formed by the vertical and horizontal lines that crisscross is like the skeleton that supports the empty picture. With such rational, numerical scales in the background, unexpected relationships arise on the surface. Through the lines of division and relationships between materials arise unexpected circumstances of tension, contrast, unification and parallax. In this way, Lee’s works finds its own route, different from typical abstract and minimalist paintings. Size, color, gesture and arrangement – all typical aspects of abstract works, are simply not important elements in Lee’s works. The more abstracted, hard to observe nature of matter explore the element of flatness. In the case of his paper works, aside from the lines created from folds, the small differences in height from the clashing of the divided papers tune the surface. In his lead plate works, appearing from the mid to late 90s, the substance’s identity is transferred onto the surface of painting. The natural traces on the surface of the lead plates form gestures of painting even more sensitive than an artist’s touch. Entering the late 90s, the lead plate works develop with more durable materials such as aluminum. By bringing soft and heavy matter into painting, the artist elevates his attention towards flatness in industrial materials.

Starting from the 2000s, the aluminum works persistently delve into flatness through the chaos and order of matter. The strength of the aluminum depends on the particles, while the characteristics of the surface change depending on the industrial sanding work. The artist introduces the world of matter where mass, density, strength, pressure and particles are carefully measured, into the realm of painting. In this way his blank picture contains elements immeasurable in the world of abstraction. The division of the blank canvas, white paper and cold metal is the only reversal on the remaining picture. This is equivalent to measuring the grain and breath of minute particles through rational and numerical order. The reason behind the aforementioned statement that Lee’s works cannot be defined simply through abstract concepts lies here. The skin of the tightly formed minute particles of matter inside a neat picture affects the ways in which we perceive flatness. Lee does not perceive flat surface through an abstract picture, but through the fine-tuning between order and chaos in a single body. In such way, Lee explores the furthered gap between the surface and the world through the elaborate measurement of physical sensations. He revives our lost sense of substance in between today’s illusion and matter, drawing our attention back towards the world of flatness.

<Journey to Illuminate the World of Flatness>
Somi Sim
Independent Curator

LEE Kyo Jun
Born in Daegu, Korea

EDUCATION
B.F.A., Keimyung University, Daegu, Korea

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITION
2015 Gallery Shilla, Daegu, Korea
2012 LEEAHN Gallery, Daegu, Korea
2011 BIBI Space, Daejeon, Korea
2009 YFO Gallery, Daegu, Korea
2008 Seok Gallery, Daegu, Korea
2005 BIBI Space, Daejeon, Korea
2004 Park Ryu Sook Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2003 Ci-Gong Gallery, Daegu, Korea
2002 Seohwa Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2001 Gallery M, Daegu, Korea
2001 BIBI Space, Daejeon, Korea

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITION
2011 Made in Daegu, Daegu Art Museum, Daegu, Korea
2011 Captive Space, Gallery Skape, Seoul, Korea
2010 Inside Out, Bongsan Cultural Center, Daegu, Korea
2010 Dup. the Meme, BIBI Space, Daejeon, Korea
2009 Painted Painting, Art Park Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2009 8 Artists New Works, YFO Gallery, Daegu, Korea
2008 Vacuum Space, Gallery Ssamzie, Seoul, Korea
2006 Nov.-Dec. 22, BIBI Space, Daejeon, Korea
2006 Quadrangle’s Colors, Gallery M, Daegu, Korea
2006 Art in Caso Osaka, Osaka, Japan