Lee Gil-Rae’s Sculpture_ A Tree, Inherent Forms and Nature’s Original Form
Kho, Chung-Hwan (Art Critic)
Lee Gil-Rae’s work presents a possibility of post-sculpture, while maintaining an aesthetic of traditional sculpture as expressed, for example, in the labor intensive weaving process. His work presents a form that lacks massiveness, has a structure wherein the inside runs through the outside, and a pictorial situation. Through all of this, his work maintains a dual-tension relationship with traditional sculpture, and there the distinctive character of Lee Gil-Rae’s work begins. He has been consistently pursuing inherent or original forms of nature, and his subject matter has included such things as a lost castle, archeological excavations, creation, cohesion and recently he made his ‘Tree Series.’
A Lost Castle. Lee Gil-Rae’s earlier series of work ‘A Lost Castle’ reminds us of the remains of a civilized society. The conception and impression of the work seem to suggest the legendary Atlantis that is known to have sunk into the ocean after having developed highly civilized life styles or the ancient ruins of Pompeii that fascinated classicists, and at the same time it reminds of sentiments of romanticists who were more familiar with death than life. As we all well know, the romanticists tend to be excited about past rather than present, ideal rather than real life, death rather than life. They enthuse about traces of civilization such as tombs or ancient remains. The reason why they are fascinated by the traces of life rather than the life itself is probably because they remind them of the lost and the forgotten rather than a resurrection of the ancient civilization itself.
In this manner, Lee’s consciousness aims at the past rather than at actual life. In ‘A Lost Castle’, the castle signifies the childhood of the artist, the utopia existing in the inner self of the artist and also an imaginative city like sand castles made by the artist’s imagination. Through the mirage created by the work, the artist returns himself to his childhood, at the same time encounters his alter ego. This seems to suggest an aspect of the artist’s self-reflection over the evasion of reality.
Archeological Excavation. Fascinated by the remains of the lost ancient civilization, the artist imports the concept of excavation itself, and takes it a step further beyond the mere realization of the remains. For instance, after digging the ground, the artist puts fiberglass reinforced plastic into the hole in the ground, and then puts dirt into the shape again or sometimes puts some figure that he made before into the ground. Afterwards he excavates the figure from the ground. When he does this type of work, the artist is not prepared with the exact outcome of the work, but only guesses. The shape that is produced through the inter-related process of the surface of the ground with the FRP can be described as incidental and unexpected. It is a shape made by nature. Although the minimal beginnings of the resulting shape is provided by the artist, the finished shape itself has been naturally produced by the nature of the ground and the intrinsic characteristics of the materials. These forms as those of burial objects just excavated from the ground spurts out the energy of the earth and nature. In this way, the artist’s intention to excavate the significant forms through harmonizing himself with the truth of nature and the earth resembles the tendency of historians or archeologists.
Formation and Condensation. Lee’s awareness of expressions of the nature of the earth, dirt and nature naturally results in his usage of natural materials. The artist employs everything from traditional materials such as wood, iron and stone to natural materials such as clam shells, oyster shells, marsh snail shells, and fragments of pottery.
The artist constructs the overall form through the repetitive process of fixing these natural materials on sculptural materials like fiberglass reinforced plastics (FRP). Those forms are mostly minimalist geometric shapes such as round shapes, modified tetragon shapes or vertical pillars. In other words, the abstract forms and organic materials, which wouldn’t match on the external appearances, assimilate with each other and produce reverberation, energy and vitality from the inside. In this way, the relationship between the forms and the materials in Lee Gil-Rae’s work is opened to the point of contact where pure abstract ideas and the nature’s vitality meet. On the other hand, the artist also uses readymade objects like buttons or machine parts alongside natural materials.
Such recognition of the organic relationship between the parts and the whole became relatively more clear and standardized in the works made of copper pipes. In this series, after cutting pipes to a certain size, Lee repeatedly puts those round shaped pipes together. Since these assembled pipes are cut in the same size and shape, comparing to other works with the natural materials, the organic relationship between the part and the whole is revealed more clearly in this series.
A Tree. Lee’s interest in nature hits a turning point in the combination between the inner vitality of nature and the sensuous shapes of nature. Finally the artist is able to express the nature’s vital power and the formation of the nature through sensuous similar shapes of the nature in the same intensity as expressing the immanent energy of the nature in the suggestive and abstract manner. Therefore, the tree shape towering high toward the sky overlaps with the symbolic meaning of Omphalos, Obelisk, Totem poles, Sotdae, the tree of life, which all signify the centre of the world. The upright shape that gives a monumental impression reflects an occult wish that connects the sky to the earth and transcends life and death. In particular, the lighting installed at the bottom of the tree emphasizes such occult senses and even creates a kind of spiritual atmosphere.
On one hand, this series of tree shapes is distinguished from traditional sculptures that are based on massiveness for its lack of voluminous sense. While maintaining a sense of traditional sculpture by applying labor intensified weaving technique, the artist is trying to find a possibility of post-sculpture that is differentiated from traditional sculpture. Moreover, one can see his recognition of border or post-border from the structure of the trees that the inside and outside are interconnected to each other.
Combined with abovementioned factors, the decisive factor that differentiates Lee’s work from the traditional sculpture is its pictorial tendency. Not only the figurative shape, but also the repetitively accumulated form made by copper pipe fragments is associated with linear drawings. Lee’s work is rather trying to overcome the border between a painting and a sculpture and reach to an installation of space or a space presentation, and particularly he is trying to represent traditional landscape painting drawn in Chinese ink into space. Indeed, his work creates an illusion for the linear tree shapes installed on the wall as if we are walking inside a landscape painting.
As we all know, in traditional Korean landscape paintings, even if there is no human figure in the picture, the existence of a human is suggested. As the marginal space in the painting is not considered to be empty, the existence of a human exists in the painting in the manner of absence. From this, in effect, we can enjoy and relish the landscape paintings. When interpreting it with Laozi’s reasoning, that is the state of ‘enjoyment in untroubled ease’, and when interpreting it with Gilles Deleuze’s discourse, that is the nomadism of thinking. In any case, the artist realizes the desire to walk inside the landscape paintings, which is barely implied with the help of imagination. In this way, Lee Gil-Rae’s work suggests a totally different way of using space and realizing a desire.
LEE, GIL-RAE
Graduated from Dept. of Art Education, Kyunghee Univ.
M. A. Dept. of Sculpture, Kyunghee Univ.
Professor at Kyunghee Univ., College of Art (1994-2003)
The 7thSolo Exhibitions
Group Exhibitions
2000Miami International Art Fair (Galerie Bhak, Miami Beach Convention Center, Florida, U.S.A)
1999 San Francisco International Art Fair (Galerie Bhak Fort Mason Center, U.S.A.)
Awards
1995Special Award in Jung-Ang Biennale
1990Dong-A Art Award in the Dong-Art Festival
1989Special Award in the 8th Great Art Exhibition of Korea
1988Participation Award in the 11th Jung-Ang Greate Art Exhibition
1987Special Award in the 5th Greate Art Exhibition of the youth
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