Lee SungKeun

Lee SungKuen was born in 1954 in Seoul where he currently lives and works.

He graduated from Hongik University, where he has been teaching fine arts in parallel to his personal practice and the consultation work he does for the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Korea.

Building a bridge between man and nature, Lee’s work is a perfect illustration of the concept of vital energy 氣, which is omnipresent in the secular artistic culture of Eastern Asia. He creates sculptures of primordial shapes that, at first sight, evoke human cells or the notion of fertility. Made out of entangled piano wires, which the artist sometimes brightens up with vivid colors; they establish a dialogue between fullness and emptiness while sustaining the resonance of their initial role. Once suspended in air, the vibrating play of light on the sculptures, and the apparent fusion with their surroundings into one symbiotic unity, bring the ovoid shapes to life. The inner core of Lee SungKuen’s artworks can be resumed to their title: Human + Love + Light.

Recently exhibited at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in a group show celebrating the 120 years of friendship between France and Korea (Korea Now), Lee SungKuen is a leading figure of the Korean Art Scene. His artworks are now to be found in the most prestigious collections, from the National Contemporary Museum of Korea to the Triennale of Milan, via the Korean Ambassy in Beijing.