Landmark Exhibition of Korean Artist Lee Seung Jio's Work.

10 hours ago7 min read

The Tina Kim Gallery has mounted what can only be described as a cinematic retrospective for the senses, a landmark exhibition that pulls the often-overlooked Korean master Lee Seung Jio from the periphery of art history and places him squarely under the spotlight he has long deserved. This isn't merely a collection of paintings; it's a curated narrative, a visual symphony tracing the artist's uniquely Korean transformation of global abstraction, a journey that begins with the stark, almost architectural optimism of his 'Nucleus' series—those mesmerizing pipe-like forms that hum with a Space Age vision, suggesting both organic cells and futuristic cityscapes—and descends into the profound, meditative depths of his later black monochromes.Lee, a pivotal figure of the Korean avant-garde group Origin (Wonwonhoe), didn't just adopt Western abstraction; he metabolized it, infusing it with a philosophical rigor born from a nation navigating rapid modernization and its own complex identity. His early works, with their pulsating, rhythmic patterns and optical vibrations, are not mere exercises in Op Art but are deeply rooted in a quest for the fundamental building blocks of reality, a search for a stable core in a world of flux.The exhibition brilliantly juxtaposes these rare, vibrant pieces with the solemn power of his later black paintings, where the 'Nucleus' motif doesn't vanish but rather retreats, becoming a ghostly presence beneath layers of meticulously applied, dark pigment. This evolution is not a decline into obscurity but an intensification of focus, a move from the cosmic to the contemplative, from the outward gaze of the Space Race to the inward journey of the human spirit.It’s a masterclass in how an artist can refine their vocabulary to its most essential, potent form. Seeing these works united allows us to appreciate Lee Seung Jio not as a regional footnote but as a major contributor to the dialogue of 20th-century art, a painter whose dialogue with form and void speaks with a quiet, unshakeable authority that feels remarkably contemporary. The curation feels less like a history lesson and more like a revelation, framing his career as a single, coherent, and powerful statement on perception, existence, and the serene power of reduction.

#featured

#Lee Seung Jio

#Tina Kim Gallery

#art exhibition

#Korean abstraction

#retrospective

#painting

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