15 pieces of media and installation created by observing microorganisms in the water of Damyang Yongso Falls are presented.
Solo exhibition at Hakgojae… Classical arithmetic and microscopic life movements on one screen
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Park Eui-rae = How many scenes can microorganisms moving in a drop of water contain?
The solo exhibition of artist Lee Lee-nam (57), who discovers images of mountain ranges, valleys, flows and vibrations in a microscopic world that the human eye cannot reach, is being held at Hakgojae in Sogyeok-dong, Seoul. It presents 15 media and installation works.
As the title of the exhibition says, 'Seeing in the invisible and hearing in the silent,' the movement of life and materials that are difficult to capture with the senses is brought to the screen and space.
The artist personally collected water from Yongso Falls in Damyang, observed it under a microscope, and captured traces of microorganisms that repeat creation and extinction within it. The movement and community of enlarged organisms are reminiscent of mountain ridges, clouds and fog, and the surface of flowing water.
‘Two Worlds’ is a media installation with a display featuring Kwak Hee’s ‘Jo Chun-do’ placed in a water tank at the entrance to the exhibition hall.
The screen is divided into two levels with the water as the boundary. Above the water, the original mountain landscape remains relatively intact, but under the water, traces of microorganisms photographed through a microscope seep in, transforming the familiar landscape into an unfamiliar landscape.
The water that fills the tank halfway is the boundary that separates the two worlds, and at the same time, it is a medium that connects images of different sizes and densities. By juxtaposing classical landscape and the microscopic world, it shows a landscape that changes depending on the conditions of observation and another layer that exists beneath it.
'Missi Landscape - Geumgangnae Mountain' is a folding screen-shaped media work measuring 480cm wide and 220cm tall, consisting of a light-emitting diode (LED) display, single-channel video, and sound.
Organic traces such as dots, stains, and cells that fill the screen appear as independent entities up close. However, at a distance, these small units are connected to each other and can be read as the shape of Mt. Geumgang, complete with mountains, ridges, and valleys.
The artist superimposes the world seen through a microscope on the pictorial form of a traditional folding screen, superimposing macro and micro orders on one screen.
‘One Water, Multiple Landscapes - Yongso’ is a work that interprets Yongso Falls, which was the starting point of this exhibition, in a different way.
Several monitors were stacked vertically like a waterfall.
Instead of capturing the entire waterfall on one monitor, the flow of water, swaying tree branches, light reflected on the water, rocks, and parts of the forest were captured on multiple monitors.
Each video plays at a different speed, and loosely and organically weaves together the fragments of time the artist collected in the field.
Lee Nam Lee is a media artist who has created a contemporary visual language by combining traditional painting and digital technology.
He has explored the intersection of tradition and modernity by transforming classical paintings and landscape images into video, and has expanded his scope of activities from museum exhibitions to large-scale media façades and public projects.
He directed the media art for the opening ceremony of the 2019 Gwangju World Aquatics Championships and the closing ceremony of the 2017 Budapest World Aquatics Championships.
He participated in the Google Arts and Culture Project and the Google Gemini Art Collaboration, and worked as a sponsored artist for Samsung Electronics from 2008 to 2013.
He received the Sun Art Award, Young Artist of the Year Award, and Gwangju Art Award, and major institutions such as the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, the National Museum of Korea, and the Leeum Museum of Art own his works.
The exhibition runs until October 24th.
