Seahyun Lee
South Korea’s traditional illustration and art history is immovable, but cultural and artistic experimentation will always be relentless. Sea Hyun Lee proves with his art that he knows how true the above statement is. He manages to combine the two forces of the past and the present to create “Between Red”. He is known for his series “Between Red” (2006 to present). These oil paintings are inspired by his time in the Korean military when he monitored the Demilitarized Zone, an area that serves as a physical buffer between North and South Korea. Lee left Korea in 2003 to study at Chelsea College of Arts, where he earned his master’s degree. From memory, he creates detailed landscape paintings of the iconic region, rendered in shades of crimson that simultaneously reference the infrared goggles the artist wore while on night watch, and are meant to highlight the complicated and painful legacy of his homeland. Lee’s paintings are not overtly political, but they purposefully combine elements of the North and South Korean terrains, merging the two halves of the divided Korean peninsula in a gesture that seems both nostalgic and utopian.
1967 born in Korean.
EDUCATION
1989 BFA Department of Western Painting, Hongik University, Seoul
2001 MFA Department of Painting, Hongik University, Seoul
2006 MFA Department of Art, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London Lives and Works in Seoul
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2019
- Between Red, KUNSTHALL 3.14, Bergen, Norway
- Red Sansu, Gallery Bundo, Daegu, Korea
2018
- Red Sansu, The Moments, Sinsegae Gallery Centrum City, Busan, Korea
2015
- Red- Silly Dream, Mimesis Art Museum, Paju, Korea 2014 Between Red,
- VOUS ETES ICI Gallery, Amsterdam
2012
- Plastic Garden, Hakgojae Gallery, Seoul
2011
- Between Red, Nicholas Robinson Gallery, New York 2009
- Between Red, Zonca & Zonca Gallery, Milan
- Between Red, Harewood House, Leeds, UK
- Between Red, ASPEX Contemporary Art Gallery, Portsmouth, UK
2008
- Between Red, Union Gallery, London
- Between Red, One and J Gallery, Seoul
2007
- Between Red, MIKI WICK KIM Contemporary Art, Zurich, Switzerland 2001 Daily, Contemporary Museum of Hongik University, Seoul
1999
- THE, Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Yangju, Korea
1998
- The Navel of Sea, 21st Century Gallery, Seoul
1997
- The Garden of Narcissus, Deokweon Gallery, Seoul
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022
- (Forthcoming) Berlin Meets Seoul, Bermel von Luxburg Gallery, Berlin, Germany (curated by CHOI&CHOI Gallery, Bermel von Luxburg Gallery, KUNSTLEBEN BERLIN Art Guide UG)
- (Forthcoming) FLOWER, CHOI&CHOI Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2018
- Gyeonggi Millennium Docufesta, Gyeonggi Archive-Now,Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Anshan, Korea
- Gyeonju International Residency Art Festa 2018. Through-Harmony, Hwangnyongsa Historic Museum, Gyeonju, Korea
- Pohang Steel Art Festival, Pohang, Korea
- Wall of Vision , Art Delight Gallery, Seoul, Korea
- TR3S ESPEJOS DE COREA, Museo Nacional de las Culturay del Mundo, Mexico
- The Third Print, HOMO ARCHIVIST, Dohing Art, Seuol, Korea
- Jeju 4,3 is Now Our History,National Museum of Korean, Seoul,Korea
- Korean Culter Hong Kong Grand Opening Exhibition, Bloming at the Junction,
- Korean Culter Hong Kong , Hong Kong
2017
- Unccd Cop 13 “Save The Eath” Green Corps Exhibition, Planting for Hope, Land for Life, Ordos International Convention and Exhibition Center, Ordos Inner Mongolia, China
- Neo - naturalism, Ilwoo Space, Seoul, Korea
- Six Perspective on Landscape, Muan Seungwoo Oh Museum of Art, Muan, Korea
- KOREA TOMORROW2017, Narrative Landscape, Sungkok Art Museum,Seoul,Korea
2016
- Please Return to Busan Port, Vestfossen Museum, Norway
(collaboration curated by CHOI&LAGER Gallery, Cologne / Seoul)
2015
- EAST BRIDGE 2016 - Plastic Garden , Force Gallery, Beijing 798, China
- “Have a Good day, Mr, Kim”, Michael Horbach Foundation in collaboration with Choi & Lager Gallery, Cologne, Germany
- “Seoul ‘Vite Vite’ Tripostal Museum, Lille, Curated by Jean-Max Colard, France
2012
- Cynical Resistance, Canvas International Art, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Prelude, Space Cottonseed, Singapore
- Future Pass, National Taiwan Museum of Art, Taichung, Taiwan
2011
- We are who you are, Gallery Jijihyang, Paju, South Korea
- Future Pass - from Asia to the World, Collateral event of the 54th Venice Biennale, Abbazia di San Gregorio, Venice, Italy
2010
- Enormous Eyes, Forbidden Fruit in Mumbai, The Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai, India
- Plastic Garden, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China
- A Different Similarity, Museum Bochum, Bochum, Germany
2009
- A Different Similarity - Towards the Sea, Santralistanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- City net Asia 2009, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea
- Landslide, I-Myu Projects, London, UK
- Reshaping the Landscape, Neuberger Museum of Art, New York, USA
- My Name is Red, FURINI Arts Contemporanea, Arezzo, Italy
2007
- Late at Tate Britain, Fold07 performance, Tate Britain, London, UK
- Sense of Moment, Cais Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
- The Catlin Art Prize 2007, My Life in Art Gallery, London, UK
- Salon Nouveau, Engholm Engelhorn Gallery, Vienna, Austria
2006
- Susak Expo, Susak, Croatia
- Still Dynamics, Jerwood Space, London, Uk
2003
- Difference of Time, Noam Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
2001
- Humidity, Kwanhoon Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
- Origin, Sejong Centre for the Performing Arts, Seoul, South Korea
1999
- Korea-Australia Exchange Exhibition, Dansoung Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
1997
- FROG, Dukwon Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
- WSIN WIND NOW ’97, Museum of Hunabaci, Japan
1994
- Korea - Japan Modern Art Exchange, Arts Hall, Seoul, South Korea
- Self Portrait - A Net of Time, Arts Hall, Seoul, South Korea
1993
- Young Views, Mikun Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
- Self Search of Correspondent, Beakah Museum, Daegu, South Korea
1992
- I Don’t Talk, Batanggol Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
- KEY, Indeco Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
- New Direction 1989, Yoon Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
- The 15 INDEPENDANTS, Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea
- Man Matter from the Existence, Kwanhoon Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
- Glass Table, Gallery Doll, Seoul, South Korea
1989
- SYNDRAME, Total Museum, Seoul, South Korea
- The 11th Joong-ang Art Exhibition, Hoam Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
- The 7th National Art Exhibition, The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Gwacheon, South Korea
1986
- The 9th Joong-ang Art Exhibition, The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea