Monuments: Kyuhak Lee

BLANK SPACE is pleased to present Monuments, Kyu-Hak Lee’s first solo exhibition in New York. Demonstrating the artist’s unique technique of mixed-media mosaic, this exhibition will feature reinterpretations of Vincent Van Gogh’s masterpieces that were vital to the development of Post-Impressionist style. This exhibition will mark the end of Kyu-Hak Lee’s decade long series dedicated to Van Gogh, and will survey the chronology of the artist’s artistic progression as well as his changing perception on Gogh’s work. The exhibition has been extended to June 18. 

Over a period of a decade, South Korean artist Lee has immersed himself in recreating paintings by Van Gogh in a distinctive method of mixed-media mosaic, which involves using Polystyrene foam, or Styrofoam strips as building blocks of his paintings. These constituents are wrapped in magazine and newspaper, which are then covered by a layer of hanji, traditional handmade Korean paper. The components adhere to one another on the canvas creating a mosaic-like assemblage that very much resembles the visible brushstrokes of Van Gogh.

Lee’s unconventional artistic approach is a social commentary on consumerism of modern civilization, and questions the intrinsic values of the millennial era. Using everyday materials as a gesture of upcycling, Lee uses Styrofoam as the base of his material as it best represents the vanity of contemporary culture. Styrofoam, whose fragility and flammability are subject to transience, is simultaneously non-biodegradable like plastic. The translucency of hanji wrapped over the layer of magazine and newspaper represents a reflection on human involvement in the world through the eyes of tradition, and the torn publications show letters and writing have lost their purpose as the fundamental tool for shaping tradition and modern society.