Lee, Kyoung Jae

The Karma called Stone and the Smiling Stone

Live interview with sculptor Lee Kyung-Jae

Sculpture is 'the other' which is alienated from painting and stone sculpture also became 'the other' of sculpture. The biggest charm of stone sculpture is that carving method is used to enlivens it, not modeling. Elimination, thus getting rid of what is unnecessary is almost like the meaning of emptiness and nonpossession of the Buddhist philosophy. It is also in continuation of the aesthetics of Neoplatonism, believing that the spirit and soul exists within a material. In the era where concept is the most important, an era where concept overlooks substance, finding an artist who still sculpts in a 19th century style. The fact that excessive physical labor is required compared with all other genres of art and the belief that sincerity is secured at least in that moment of labor made myself turn toward the stone sculptor.

The Encounter with the Stone Sculpture

♣ Before meeting you in person, I had a vague expectation of meeting a sculptor that handles stones. Because handling stones seems quite anachronistic in the era of high-technology of today and at the same time, it seems precious. Stone sculpting looks extremely unfamiliar. I should ask you in the first place a foolish question, why do you sculpt stones?

▶ I am a single-minded person. I should rather say that the stone came to me like destiny. It would be the same for all genres of art but stone sculpture is just like the process of life. As you would know, marble has to be dealt with extreme care and a mistake cannot be accepted. That's why one has to approach a stone with a thorough plan from the beginning. Having done so all my life, it's a pity that I didn't have any other hobby.

♣ As the saying that media is the message, I keep on digging into what the stone means. Could you tell me in depth about your relationship with the stone?

▶ I think that 'imagination through tactile sensation' is the most important than any other thing while I am at work. For me, the texture of the stone such as marble, sandstone and granite is essential. Sometimes it feels soft and tender, quite often actually. The feeling that I am handling a flexible substance of variability is very attractive.

Getting a new opportunity!

♣ You have studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti, Carrara, Italy for 7 years, right? What kind of experience did you have in Carrara?

▶ A small city of Tuscany, Carrara, is a place where many sculptors with a strong figurative sense gathers. I have learned the expression of the human body, the basic of sculpture, in an exhaustive manner from the professors of the Carrara Academy. When I saw the sculptures in Rome and the Vatican, I said to myself in dismay, "Can I be called a sculptor?" "Can I ever do as they did?" It was difficult to overcome the sense of shame. The decision to study sculpture in Carrara had been the best choice that I could have chosen. And at the Academy, the teachers acknowledged each student's unique sensitivity and encouraged students to do whatever they wanted.

♣ I feel that your works have become easier and more charming after you have studied abroad when comparing to your works in the beginning of your stay in Italy. Why do you think you have made this change?

▶ I consider the reaction of the viewer as important. Whatever the reason, my works are made to make people happy and to give them a good feeling of what can be 'adorable' and 'comfortable.'

♣ It seems that your works also express a clear maternal instinct. Also in the way that along with the volume, they maintain the principle of frontality as in Egyptian sculptures.

▶ I agree. Expressing a feminine body is going closer to the prototype of maternal instinct rather than showing interest on the human body itself. It shows huge volume but the expression is relatively refined. This is to minimize the sculptural process and to refrain from expressing actions as much as possible. Static and contemplative image as if time has been stopped is the image I pursue.

A different view

♣ Your works of 2006 are certain Korean sentiment such as waiting and souvenirs is told by a narrative. Furthermore, this exhibition shows works that focus on 'relationships' in particular. For example, the series that convey the harmony of an orchestra or the married couple, mother and son, family, etc. What was the reason for such change in your works?

▶ My wife is a sculptor too and we had our baby after a long time. This changed my works a lot. You can say that I started to look at people and things with a more compassionate view. That's why I now describe the people who live in the 'relation of co-habitation.' This was such a natural change for me. And the theme of mother and child, isn't this the eternal theme that humanity desires for? The message of fundamental love and peace of humans.

♣ Your view with a warm heart toward the object has not changed. Maybe this was possible with the contact with nature, the stone, thus the status of becoming one with nature.

▶ Thank you for the reaction. As I am quite foolish, I dig into the object. Since I handle stones, perhaps I have become a man of stone. Stone is a living being which breathes, talks to you and comes close to you as if to softly seduce you but sometimes it can be oppressive and can seize me in an outrageous manner. Anyway, I strive to give the very opposite character to the stone, a light-hearted sensation and comfort, coziness to the immortal substance.

Patience or Sacrifice

♣ Artists referred to in art history seem to be people who have sacrificed themselves but who have survived in the end. I wonder if you also had a certain sacrifice to create such sculptures.

▶ As I have mentioned before, stone sculpture requires seemingly excessive patience and the elaborateness of the result is shown according to the time invested into it. That's why I had to live simply by going back and forth to and from my studio and home. A life far from the secular pleasure. I would like to change from now on, but I am not sure it it will work.

♣ Can you maintain this kind of life continuously?

▶ I think so. Any sculptor who handles stone would probably lead a somewhat lonely life, alienated in some sort. Be it marble or granite, stone work requires long hours of extreme concentration so other matters cannot be tended to. I am also human, of course I had moments when I wished to walk an easier path. It is too hard, let's go easier now, be more comfortable. But this never works for me. Since stone sculpture is all I've learned, this is my vocation. I have always wanted to enjoy other cultural things but only with my mind. I guess I have a artisanal nature inside of me. I get nervous when I leave my studio. I have to be in the studio even when I am not at work.

My Mentor, My Inspiration

♣ Who is the artist that has influenced your works until now?

▶ I respect the artists Igor Mitorai, Constantin Brancusi, Fernando Botero and Isamu Noguchi. Brancusi has expressed humans into a simple but sensuous form. When you see a work like <Bird in Space>, it does not resemble a real bird at all but the swift curve, glittering shape is beyond words' description; the beauty of a real bird's flight, the wings fluttering are even challenged by the sculpture. <Sleeping Muse> which depicts a figure's head, a glittering bronze sculpture, does not really look like a face but has a seducing power. I always think I would like to sculpt something like that whenever I see a piece like that. As if it's obvious.

♣ What is your idea of an artist like Botero who gives public joy and artistic satisfaction at the same time?

▶ Wouldn't it be all artists' hope? I also have the wish to have both sublime(or elegance) and humor(fun) together. Botero has shown this is possible and so, in the realistic perspective, Botero is one of the artists that I would like to resemble the most.

Standing in front of the Mirror after the Return!

♣ I think the facial expressions of your works are quite uniform. I wonder if the sculpted faces had each a little bit different expression, that is, showing a more dynamic one to depict human's happy, sad, angry and fun life, what would have been the result.

▶ I have been through the dilemma too. The works right after my return to Korea, at the beginning, I think that the archaic element and the rough and tough Korean sentiment coexisted. This is another homework to solve.

♣ Personally, the face of a Baekjae person among Buddhist sculpture, the expression of Miruk is strangely beautiful. Don't you have any ideas to benchmark it?

▶ I have a wish to study again the facial expressions of Korea in the past that we lost nowadays, a kind and sublime smile full of humanity which was our identity back then. I shall do it with the intent to start again if I'm in the beginning of my career. Art has no end or beginning. Art is what you just have to do.

"Here lies a project, as great as the world. And the one who saw this great project was an unknown man fumbling in the dark in search for food. He was totally alone, if he was truly a dreamer, he would have dreamed a long and beautiful dream. A dream that nobody would understand, a long, long dream in which a whole lifetime could be spent. The young man who worked at the factory in Sevres to earn his living was a dreamer with the dream that came out of his hands and he commenced to realize his dream without hesitation. He knew exactly where to start from and the serenity inside of him lead him to a wise road. Already we can find the deep conformity of Rodin with nature."

-Translated from the Korean translation of the excerpt of Rilke's "August Rodin"

Interview by Yoo Kyung-Hee(Art Critic/ Ph.D.)

(This is an interview essay based on the interview with the artist, Lee Kyung Jae.)

Lee, Kyoung Jae1988 Graduated from the College of Fine Arts, Mokwon University
1995 Graduated from CARRARA Fine Arts Academy(Italy) in Sculpture