Michael Schwan
106x160cm_Archival Pigment Print(Edition of 5)_2023
The value of a work of art is not only determined by its formal aesthetic appeal but also by its ability to elevate the human spirit. The work of German photographer Michael Schwan, who illuminate abandoned spaces and reflects on reality, elevate the decay of human-made artificial spaces into sublime and awe-inspiring realms. Those who have learned the contemplative attitude of humbly living life in awe of sublime landscapes may also discover wonder in numerous places across the past, present, and future. Michael Schwan’s focus on gloriousness of the past and the ruins of the present paradoxically offers a glimpse of hope for the future through insights into forgetfulness for modern individuals.
In the past, there were a small number of challenging female artists beyond social conventional wisdom, but the role of female artists is universal and its proportion is also remarkable in modern art. Sensitive social topics and gender concepts are no longer a major concern and the way women, as painters, live by growing themselves while communicating with society, in itself, results in painting. In other words, it is a way for extremely personal thoughts and actions to communicate with the world through the medium of painting. LEE & BAE practiced working and living on the same line in this exhibition through four female artists living in different generations from 30s to 60s and their purpose of working is life and self-discovery and want to confirm that the universal interests and truths that insight into life are unrelated with generations.
The eternal silence of infinite space is considered as horizons that individuals, who are insignificant beings, want to return to and a wonderful moment beyond fear and comfort in the Korean sentiment. LEE & BAE is pleased to announce an exhibition of “In the Law of Nature” from April 25 to June 17, 2023, inviting artists Myung-Gyun You and Minjeong Guem, who look at nature from a different perspective but artistically express their philosophy and insights as well as a human reflection to reach this horizons. We hope the viewer experiences a world of silence that approaches the echo from the inside through this exhibition that learning the order of life in nature. Myung-Gyun You’s work is reminiscent of words such as the shape of Mother Nature, the way of being and the spread. His work as a painting is like a world of flow in which the flow of time and the spread of space are integrated and as a three-dimensional structure, it is like the world of roots that can be seen deep underground or the original world of life. No human trace can be found in his work. His interest lies in the spatiotemporal spread of ‘life’ that coexists with nature, naturalizes with nature, and away from the human-centered way of existence. The artist recognizes himself as an individual in nature, the most fundamental horizon as a creature and deviated from the will or thought of the individual and focuses only on the echo from pure nature, the source of life. The artist’s “nature,” which began by collecting various soil throughout the United States, is reproduced as a fine and pure textured lipid using pure fiber materials. It is enough to realize the sublime nature’s providence in the face of the overwhelming scale of the work and to experience a return to the space and time of the beginning. For Minjeong Guem, nature is a memory, an emotion, and a philosophy of life. This is why the artist should immerse herself in nature. The artist expresses nature in her own way by evoking and sensing the nature in the past that the place remembers in a specific place. ‘Video Sculpture’ the video, which is the movement of light, is considered as a sculptural material and created by combining architectural materials such as wood and soil, is a new space sculpture and images become one with video images that visualize psychological experience or emotions about space. The artist’s video work replaces the artist’s feelings in the place with basic shapes and then mixes and fuses the actual images of the natural environment and reproduces graphically with the figure to express the movement of natural phenomena. By incorporating certain modes of movement into the actual nature that was created, her work talks about the attributes of human are emotion that feels nature.
LEE & BAE Collection is to clarify the direction of the gallery. LEE & BAE has been collecting and exhibiting artworks with a focus on contemporary Korean art and continuously reinterpreting or redefining the artworks in our collection.