2022. 3. 17 – 5. 7
Kyo Jun Lee

For its first project of 2022, PIBI Gallery presents the geometrical abstract painter Lee Kyo Jun’s solo exhibition titled Works on Paper (March 17 ~ May 7). Held at PIBI Gallery in 2019 and 2020 respectively, Lee’s two previous solo exhibitions largely presented his early conceptual installation and photographic works from the 1970s and the 1980’s, as well as geometric paintings and lead and aluminum pieces of the 1990’s and the space split pieces of the early 2000’s—all produced under the themes of “flat surface” and “division.” Lee’s third solo exhibition introduces his works on paper, produced between 1991 and 2004, as a bridge between the early installation and photographic works and the paintings. In particular, it explores the artist’s experiments and processes in the period when the conceptual installation and photographic works that had formed the crux of his art in the 1970s and the 1980s transitioned into paintings based on spatial division, thereby examining the essence of Lee Kyo Jun’s geometrical abstract paintings.

Korea’s avant-garde art manifested itself in a radical and experimental form in the 1960s, putting out works that emphasized conceptuality, such as Land Art, Environment Art, Object, Installation Art. Furthermore, Korean artists embraced art theories and trends from Japan and the West, while at the same time cultivating a discourse on Korean contemporary art. During this period, many artists began to recognize previously unimaginable elements such as the body, text, site, space, gravity and frame as components of art. Many artistic attempts were made to contemplate and experiment their fundamental application principles. Lee Kyo Jun was no exception.
After launching his artistic career at the 1979 Daegu Contemporary Art Festival, Lee participated in a number of major art exhibitions in the Korean art scene of the 1980s, including Independants (1981) at the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Ecole de Seoul (1981), and TA.RA Group Exhibition. His early experimental installation works were followed by the advent of his flat surface works in the early 2000s composed of various materials such as aluminum, lead and metallic plates. The artist’s renewed interest and re-interpretations of the “flatness” and the “frame” of his early photographic works later led to the discovery of the “division” element of the canvas. Lee scrutinized the geometrical compositions of dots, lines, and planes, the partitioning lines of the flat surface, and the planes created by the lines of the canvas, and thus continued to divide the flat surface by combining numerous possibilities of how all these elements may be connected or related to one another.

Lee’s works on paper can be seen as a bridge between the early installation and photographic works of the 1980s and the grid painting of the new millennium. Initially, he began by expressing malerisch gestures using charcoal and pencil on printmaking paper or hanji. Afterwards, he made attempts to create more substantial partitions of the flat surface with pencil and acrylic coloring.

Lee has created multiple layers of neat divisions of the side using ink pen on thin, hard paper. In 1998, he conducted an experiment whereby he divided a side by folding the paper and lifting it into a three-dimensional form from the flat surface. From the early 1990s to the early 2000s, Lee expanded his works on paper using diverse materials such as aluminum, lead, and plexiglass, and introducing a new form of division. Through this period of new attempts and experiments, he transitioned into paintings that divided the canvas using minimal form and color.

Furthermore, some of Lee’s works on paper (Fig. 1) visualized the stereoscopic effectiveness of paintings by suggesting the (three-dimensional) space that could be contained within a surface through the dividing of sides within a two-dimensional plane, and the construction of lines thereof. They were followed by the Window series (2007~2014)—flat surface paintings where layers created by sides and lines are overlapped—and the Void series (2009~2012)—three-dimensional presentations of the space connoted by layers composed of sides and lines. Along with the Window series, the Void series, which used layers of plywood, shows the artist’s long-standing experiment with flat surface and division.

Lee Kyo Jun recognizes sides and lines as independent elements, and seeks to newly identify spatiality and plane on the canvas. In addition, by exploring the frame of the canvas, Lee poses questions about the flatness of paintings and continues his efforts to overcome such limitations. Lee’s works can be described as art of new explorations, experiments, actions and concepts, which seek to go beyond the existing framework, and have thus laid the foundation for future works. By delving into the various experiments with paper conducted before his geometric abstract paintings took off in earnest, this exhibition confirms the identity of Lee Kyo Jun’s paintings, and provides an opportunity to re-examine his works in terms of Korean contemporary art.

Born in 1955 in Daegu, Korea, Lee Kyo Jun graduated from Keimyung University’s College of Fine Arts. Starting from the 1979 Daegu Contemporary Art Festival (DCAF), Lee took part in major contemporary art exhibitions of Korea throughout the 1970’s and the 1980’s. His experimental installations works of the 1970s and the 1980s were followed by flat surface works in the 1990s. In the late 1990s, Lee began focusing on flat surface works based on geometry. Since the 2000s, he has produced canvas works that convey the essence through minimal form, composition and color, thereby developing his own unique artistic realm.

Lee Kyo Jun’s first solo exhibition was held in 1982 at Soo Gallery, Daegu. Afterwards, he went on to hold many more at multiple venues across Korea, including Inkong Gallery, Park Ryu Sook Gallery, Gallery Shilla, Date Gallery, and The Page Gallery. Furthermore, he participated in a number of group exhibitions, such as Independants (1981) at the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Ecole de Seoul (1981) at Kwanhoon Gallery, and five TA.RA group exhibitions including TA.RA Group Exhibition (1983). Later, he took part in Korean Contemporary Art Today (1989) at Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Young Artists Exhibition (1989) at the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Daegu Contemporary Artists Association Exhibition (1999) at Daegu Arts Center, Nagasaki Contemporary Art Festival (2004) in Japan, Made in Daegu (2011) at Daegu Art Museum, Captive Space (2011) at Gallery Skape, Korean Contemporary Art Exhibition (2015), Korea Tomorrow (2016) at Sungkok Museum, Order/Disorder (2017) at Post Territory Ujeongguk, and many more. Lee’s works are house in the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Gwacheon), Seoul Museum of Art, Daegu Art Museum, Busan Museum of Art, Ilshin Spinning Co. Ltd. (Seoul), Korea Gas Corporation (Daegu), and Jeonbuk Bank among many others.

PIBI Gallery
125-6 Bukchon-ro, Jongro-gu, Seoul, Korea
+82 2 6263 2004

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