Whenever I saw a sculptor’s work resembling a lump of clay or a bowl, I used to try to find out the artist’s intention. In the past when I created a piece I used to try to convey the meaning and the function of the project to spectators. However, there came a point in time, I don’t remember exactly, when I began to see a sculptor’s work without the need to understand the artist’s intention. Presently, I try to escape from the pattern of planning and following the plan, in my work because I have come to realize that forcing spectators to understand the artist’s intention and forcing artists to explain the work is a sort of intellectual violence, which blocks the flow if emotion on my heart. When I am freed from the obsession of the result of my creation, my freedom can give light to the memories in my heart so that I can re-live a spiritual journey.

Travel is both the source and purpose of my work. Usually I travel into the past space and time of human beings through my eyes, heart and work. In these travels bring a value to my humble existence as a member of the human race and my role in the culture. The journeys are very sweet, but to taste these sweetness travelers are required to overcome the unbearable pain of chaos and the temptation of corruption which entices the travelers in a mirage-like image. For me, the world is like a swift current, while the inside of my body is calm pond.

I dip one foot into the swift current and the other into the calm pond.

Sometimes after this, I feel an extreme chaos and tremble in the face of fear. In order to escape from the center of my weight from one leg to the other dip one foot deeper than the other.

When I was a child I liked to play seesaw. With the weight of my sister on the other side I could see the factories far away over the wall, and with a downward movement, I could see the blue sky becoming bigger and bigger.

I can still remember vividly the balancing on the seesaw. Today I enjoy the slow and calm balancing between the head and the heart, the swift current and calm pond, the factories over the wall and the blue sky.

Playing on the seesaw we can not feel the subtle changes of the world without an effort to balance. Even the seesaw requires both tension and rhythm to some extent.

 

HunChung Lee
BORN
 1967  Seoul, Korea

EDUCATION

2007 PH.D Architecture Kyung-won University, Kyungki-do, Korea

1993-1995 M.F.A. Sculpture, Graduate School at San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, U.S.A.

1991-1995 M.F.A. Ceramic Sculpture, Graduate School at Hong-ik University, Seoul, Korea

1986-1991 B.F.A. Ceramic Sculpture, Hong-ik University, Seoul, Korea

 

WORK  EXPERIENCE

1991-93 Hongik University Ceramic Research Center as a Researcher

1995-96 San Francisco Art Institute as a Teaching Assistant

2000 Art Forum 2000 as a Head Jury, Perm, Russia 

 

SOLO EXHIBITION

2012 R20th Gallery, New York, U.S.A.

2011 ilwoo Space, Seoul, Korea

2010 Lee HWAIK Gallery, Seoul, Korea

2009 idm Gallery, Busan, Korea

2009 MSU Copeland Gallery, Bozeman, U.S.A.

2009 On the Table, Daegu, Korea

2008 Seomi & tuus Gallery, Seoul, Korea

2007 Park Ryu Sook Gallery, JeJu, Korea

2007 SP Gallery, Seoul, Korea

2006 U-Ri-Gu-Rut RYU, Seoul, Korea

2006 Kangha Museum, Yangpeong

2005 Wong Gallery, Seoul

2004 Gallery Artside, Seoul, Korea

2003 Pack Hye Young Gallery, Seoul, Korea

2002 U-Ri-Gu-Rut RYU, Seoul, Korea

2001 Wong Gallery, Seoul, Korea

2001 U-Ri-Gu-Rut RYU, Seoul, Korea

2000 The Korean Culture ＆ Art Foundation Art Center, Seoul, Korea

2000 Tokonoma Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland

2000 U-Ri-Gu-Rut RYU, Seoul, Korea

1998 Total Museum, Jangheung, Korea

1997 Tho․Dorang, Seoul, Korea

1996 Tho․Art Space, Seoul, Korea

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITION

2012
Design Days Dubai (Dubai, United Arab Emirates)

2011
Friendship, Pink Gallery (Seoul, Korea)

LEEHWIK GALLERY 10th Anniversary Part 2, LEEHWIK GALLERY (Seoul, Korea)

Pink Art Fair, InterContinental Hotel (Seoul, Korea)

Korean Buncheong Ceramics, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Asian Art Museum (New York, San Francisco, U.S.A.)

Time in Space, Macroom Town Hall Gallery (Cork, Ireland) 

Design Miami Bazel, Bazel, Switzerland

BE SMART WITH 3D, ARTSIDE GALLERY, Seoul, Korea 

2010
Warmth exhibition (Space wong, Seoul, Korea)

Yangpyeong Art Show (KOBACO, Yangpyeong, Korea)

Ceramic Art & Technology (AT center, Seoul, Korea)

Lyric Space exhibition, Chiwoocraft Museum, Seoul, Korea

Design Miami Bazel, Bazel, Switzerland

Free Style: A Dialogue Between Art and Design, Hongik Univ. Contemporary Museum, Seoul, Korea

Pagus 21.5, Boutique Monaco Museum, Seoul, Korea

2009
Lunch with Happiness. Dosirak exhibition, Arumjigi, Seoul, Korea 

Sulwha cultural exhibition, Kring, Seoul, Korea

Hongik art ․design festival, Hongik Univ. Contemporary Museum, Seoul, Korea

Design High, Seomi & tuus Gallery, Seoul, Korea

Design Miami Bazel, Bazel, Switzerland

Gyeonggi Annual Project Contemporary Ceramic Art, Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Ansan, Korea

Insa Art Center CLIO Cosmetic Jam, Seoul, Korea

Gallery Idm The Party with Ceramic Busan , Korea

2008
Daegu Textile Art Documenta, Daegu Arts & Culture Center, Daegu, Korea

Yangpyeong Eco Art Festival_Yangpyeong Project, Manas Art Center, Yangpyeong, Korea

THE 2nd CHINA CHANGCHUN INTERNATIONAL SCULPTURE CONFERENCE THEMATIC EXHIBITION

2007
Suwon Hwaseong Fortress Theatre Festival Installation Art, Suwon, Korea

2006
Melbourne Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, Australia 

Artist\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Garden, Clayarch Gimhae Museum, Gimhae, Korea

New York S.O.F.A., Regiment Armory, New York

2005
From Korea Function & Object D\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Art, Hillside Terrace, Tokyo, World Trade Art Gallery, New York, Mille Plateaux, Paris 

E-MOMM, E-Wha Womans University A-dong Museum, Seoul, Korea

The Beauty of Korean, Korean Embassy of Venezuela, Venezuela 

2004
Looking at the Atelier, Insa art center, Seoul, Korea

Sinawi Exhibition, Insa Art Center, Seoul, Korea

2004 International Exchange Exhibition of The Korean Society of Basic Design & Art, Kukmin Univ., Seoul

Melbourne Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, Australia 

2003
San Francisco International Art Exposition, Park-Ryu_Sook Gallery, CA, U.S.A.

Park-Ryu_Sook Gallery the 20th Anniversary Exhibition, Seoul 

2002
Melbourne Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, Australia 

Pusan International Art Fair, Bexco, Pusan

Korean Print Fair, Seoul Art Center, Seoul

Korean․Japan craft Exhibition, Sagan Gallery, Seoul

Artists at Art Fair, Parkryusook Gallery, Seoul

2001
Horizon of Crafts, Korean Craft Museum, Chongju

Archie Bray Foundation 50th Anniversary Clay Odessey Invitation Artist Show,

Archie Bray Center, Montana, U.S.A.

Ban-Ban, The Richmond Art Center, Richmond, U.S.A 

The Ware for Gift, U-Ri-Gu-Rut RYU, Seoul, Korea

Spring Ware, Korean Craft Promotion Foundation, Seoul, Korea 

Ceramic with Flower, Kumgang Art shop, Daecheon

The Ware for Spring, U-Ri-Gu-Rut RYU, Seoul, Korea

2000
Morasai, Sagan Gallery, Seoul, Korea

The 6th Seoul Print Art Fair, Seoul Metropolitan Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea

The Rice cake with Vessel, U-Ri-Gu-Rut RYU, Seoul, Korea

Seoul Living Design Fair, Coex, Seoul

Melbourne Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, Australia 

Millennium Christmas Exhibition, the makers Gallery, Seoul, Korea

1999
Wares for The Traditional New Year, Park Ryu Sook Gallery, Seoul, Korea

Wares for The Spring, Galleria Department Store Oasis Hall, Seoul, Korea

Ban-Ban, The Korean Culture ＆ Art Foundation Art Center, Seoul, Korea

Korea and Japan Ceramic Exhibition, NHK Gallery, Osaka, Japan

Craft Festival-For Weeding, Gana Art Space, Seoul, Korea

Gift for Full Moon Day, U-Ri-Gu-Rut Ryu, Seoul, Korea 

International Ceramic Expo. Art Fair, Seoul Art Center, Se