Lee, Min joo

From Disunion to Union

Kim, Junghee(PhD,Art history)

An Korean Painting artist MinJoo Lee held her 17th exhibition. In her paintings on display, she combines two of the major factors of her recent paintings. One is 'Kong Myung Pil Sun(共鳴筆線)', her unique line shown since 1998. The other is the concept of 'Motherland' from her 16th exhibition last year. This is the reason why the English title of the exhibition is 'Universal Resonance' while the Korean title is 'from Disunion to Union'. Minjoo Lee claims that her work is to define the Indian ink paintings of Korea and to represent it in the concrete. She is going to achieve her goal via "Kong Myung Pil Sun" which she suggests as the Korean Painting's line of the 21st century. This line, according to her definition, is 'the one with energy and spirit. It is created by absorbing the cosmic wavelength as the wavelength from the material resonate in the artist'.

Her line is represented in three patterns in her paintings. The first one is created as she draws moving her whole body to the music and the canvas is itself is the field of the action. The artist has become THE FIVE IN ONE - head, chest, body, hand and the paintbrush. The line is nothing but the trace of the artist's status incarnated as Indian ink on the paper. Thus this line is like her personal handwriting, and exposes her individuality best. Reminded that 'Resonance' means 'sound produced by sympathetic vibration', this line is the trace of the resonanceof her inside and surroundings, herself and materials (indian ink, water, paper, paintbrush) and best corresponds to 'Kong Myung Pil Sun'. The paper on the floor represents the physical world where she lives. The other two lines are representative while the first one is abstract. The second line

represents the objects such as people or mountains using thick lines or thickened lines by being painted over. The third one is drawn with the stroke of a vertically held brush, and can be told to be a variation of 'oriental traditional method of the brush stroke' in that parallel lines are repeated. Last year, this line helped visualize the vein, the family bond, which she regards as the base of her conscience of nationality that she obtained by the discovery of her fatherhood. Unlike her last exhibition in which the third line was dominant, this time the three lines are used uniformly

Min Joo Lee is a prolific artist. She seems to have so many 'stories'. In her exhibition, it seems that there are too many works on display in comparison with the size of the place. Her pamphlet which contain articles and pictures densely fall under the same category. They seem to resist against physically saving marginal space. This individuality is shown best in her works. Most ofher works make audience feel tense rather than comfortable. This happens not only from <An Abyss of Consciousness> but also even from <Rest for Peace>. This uneasiness experienced more than in front of the works of F. Clemente is not just because of the lack of the empty space of the canvas. It is because of the visual 'chaos' transmitted from her chaotic state of her consciousness.When Minjoo Lee's described that her 'status of art' as 'chaos itself' and 'disorder' in one of her 'Artitst's Note, she expected to 'get the real freedom on her screen as she controls this chaos'. The memos in her pamphlet reveal confusions and that there is a lot of leap of logic in her self- consciousness and her point of view of the society. She said that this exhibition is the record of the process and the evidence of breaking everything which encages herself. It seems that the artist could achieve the 'breakthrough' and the state of 'Freedom' when she allows getting some 'things to talk about and to draw about' off the canvas. The audience, then, would finally fall into the resonance and the rest. (2002 )

 

Lee, Min joo (이민주) <李珉柱>

M.F.A. & B.F.A. The department of Painting, College of Fine art, Seoul National University

*Selected SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2008 The light for the new birth(Findearts people gallery, USA)

MinjooLee on stage(Watergate convention center, Seoul)

2007 The connection between War & Peace(Gallery Artodrome, Germany)

2005 *The 29th solo exhibition -Gana Insa Art center-"Blue-X:Resonance among lives"

*"Anecdotes:The war for peace!?"(Gallery at Korean delegation to UN ,New York) *The power of blood (White space, The Netherlands, Den Haag)

2002 *Universal Resonance "East meets West"(Galerie im Neuenkranzler Eck, Berlin )

2001*Searching for my Animus through my father-Fatherland-Reunification of Korea(Gongpeong Art Center, Seoul)

2000 *"Healing Brush stroke"(Julian Scott Memorial Gallery, U.S.A.)

1993 *The Void &The Substance 3-White shadow(Seoul Art Center)

1992 *"The Void &The Substance 1"(Gallery Madrid National University, Spain)

1991*"The Infinite Meditation for TAO"(Gallery SchloB Greiffen Horst , Krefeld, Germany)

1989 *The 2nd one woman show -"Material+Brushwork"(Gallery Hyundai, Seoul)

Selected International Art Fairs

1997-2009 CIGE Beijing) ,Shanghai art Fair/China,New York Art Expo/USA, KIAF, MANIF-Seoul, Korea/ Europ'Art Geneva,Zurich Art Fair/Switzerland/Barcellona art Expo, MAC21-Marbella/Spain Innsbruck art fair/Austria MANIF(Seoul, Korea)

Selected Awards

The silver prize of SWAF/ The grand prize for Korean Artistic development/

The23thinternationalfanpainting(Internationalfanpaintingaward ,Tokyo museum, Japan) / Freeman Alternate' Grant(Vermont Studio Center, USA)

Selected International Exhibitions

2006 Bangladesh Biennial(Bangladesh)

Korea-China ink paintings(Kwansanwol museum, Shincheun, Chaina)

2005 prominent artists from Korea(George Mason Univ, Washington ,USA)

India-Korea exchange exhibition(Habitat center,&Montage gallery, New delhi)

2003.Korean contemporary art exhibition(Xian museum, China)

Art of ink in Xian(Xian Sanchi historic museum, China)

2000 Art of Ink in America, Newark Museum, (Newark,USA)

Special exhibition of Korean artists(Gross Kunst Ausstellung, NRW, Dusseldorf, Germany)

1997 International Art EXPO at Carnegie Hall(USA) , Salon Comparaison (Paris, France)

Invitational Exhibition-(India National Museum of Fine Art, India)

1992 Salon de la Jeune Peinture/ Grands et jeunes d'aujourd'hui (Grand Palais, Paris)

Collections

National museum of Contemporary art /Seoul Art Center /Gyunggido Museum, Museum of Park, Soo Keun/BBInternationalfineartsGmbh,Sparkasse Schwyz(Zurich,Switzerland) and etc.